How NOT to Travel from Naples to the Almafi Coast

Learn from my mistakes

During my recent honeymoon in Italy, I spent a few days in Naples. I didn’t know much about the region but I knew there was one place we had to see.

The Almalfi Coast.

I am someone who likes to have every single detail figured out before I do something. However, for this trip, I tried to let go of that control a little bit and not over-plan it.

So I didn’t book anything in advance to get from Naples to the Almalfi Coast.

I really regretted it.

The day before our excursion to the Almalfi Coast, I looked at the different options available to us.

Renting a car was out of the question for us as the roads are narrow and treacherous.

We could have booked a guided tour of the coast, which included transport from and back to Naples. We felt that it might be a waste of money as there were cheaper options available. In hindsight, I think this is the option I would have used.

Instead, we chose to take a train from Naples to Sorrento and then a ferry from Sorrento to either Positano or Almalfi.

I didn’t check the ferry schedules, trusting that there would be several options available. That was a mistake.

The morning of our trip, we took a train from Naples to Sorrento. It took about an hour. The train was crowded and warm and we weren’t able to sit for the duration of the trip. However, it was cheap and convenient so we were still confident at that stage of our trip.

Then we got to the Sorrento train station and decided to walk down to the port to buy tickets for the ferry.

If you know anything about the Almalfi Coast, you might know that it is built on cliffsides.

The trip from the train station at the top of the cliff to the port at sea level and, therefore, the bottom of the cliff, including going down long flights of stairs. But the views were incredible.

We got down to the port only to realize we had missed the morning ferry and the early afternoon ferry was full. Which meant that our only option was a ferry in the middle of the afternoon.

We figured it was a shame as we would get to spend very little time in Almalfi or Positano but it was still better than nothing.

However, we then learned that the late afternoon ferry was going to Almalfi and coming back and that there were no other ferries afterwards. If we waited for that ferry, we would have no way of getting back to Sorrento, and, therefore, to Naples.

Determined to still find a way to the Almalfi Coast, we decided to take the bus, which left from the train station.

That meant going back up all the stairs we had just come down.

We made our way to the bus stop, bought our tickets at the train station, and joined the huge line waiting for the bus. We waited almost two hours in that line.

Eventually, we got on the bus, which was crowded. We were lucky to get seats but a lot of people had to stand.

There is 30 km between Sorrento and Almalfi. But the road follows the coast and is therefore full of twists and turns and tight corners. At one point, our bus was stuck for half an hour because it encountered another bus going in the other direction under a tunnel. They had to make the line of cars behind the bus go back in order to leave sufficient space for our bus to go.

The bus trip took two hours. The views were spectacular. But after two hours of twisting and turning roads, I had never been happier to step off a bus.

All in all, between all the traveling and waiting, it took us over 6 hours to make our way from Naples to Almalfi.

We spent about an hour and a half in Almalfi.

And then we found a ferry bringing us directly back to Naples.

Here are the mistakes we made:

• Not having a solid plan to get to the Almalfi Coast
• Not checking the ferry schedules or booking our tickets in advance
• Traveling to one of the busiest places in Italy at one of the busiest times of the year

If I had to do it again, I would do so many things differently.

Despite that, and despite how little time we got to actually spend in Almalfi, I’m really glad we went. There is a reason why it is one of the most popular destinations in Italy. The views are truly mindblowing.

If you are lucky enough to visit the Almalfi Coast, make sure you know how to get there because winging it is not an option.