Essential Amalfi Coast

Date: Thursday, January 5, 2006
Places visited: Positano, Amalfi town, Campania
Weather: 50s-60s, sunny
Fares:
Sorrento-Positano 1.30 euro one way
Sorrento-Amalfi 2.40 euro o/w
Amalfi-Ravello 1.00 e o/w

Everyone should experience the Amalfi Coast, especially via the SITA buses. It is the most economical and perhaps efficient way to travel to the Amalfi Coast from Sorrento. There is a SITA bus stop from Sant'Agnello (in front of Bar Western, across from the Circumvesuvania entrance steps). If you are departing from Sant'Agnello, ask the bar owner if "SITA pullman per la Costiera Amalfitana" still departs in front of the bar (or verify with a local). Otherwise, you can depart in Sorrento (near Circumvesuvania). The fare is very cheap, considering other travel options within Italy. It's only 1.30 euro o/w.

Read this post on Sorrento transportation to help you decipher Italian lingo.

NOTE: These times were valid for when we were there! Check the current bus schedules. I am not responsible for any changes in service times. I'm only posting times to tell you what the schedules were like when we were there.
When we were there, we picked up a Sorrento-Campania region transportation schedule from the Sorrento TI (tourism info office). The bus route is Sorrento-S.Agnello-Positano-Amalfi (and the reverse). There is bus service between Amalfi and Ravello. You will need to pay an additional euro for that, but hey it's still a good deal! The SITA buses depart as early (on workdays) as 6:30 a.m. from Sorrento (and Sant'Agnello) with an ETA of 7:10 a.m. in Positano and 8:00 a.m. in Amalfi. From Amalfi, the latest departure time is around 8 or 9 p.m. depending on the day of the week.

Duomo, Amalfi Town















Our bus ride along the AC was full of boisterous Italiani. I don't think there were any non-Italians on board. I didn't expect the bus to be so full, but it was. I hear during the summer the buses get packed, and that sometimes or usually on the way back you have to start in Amalfi (instead of Positano). Anyway, we got off at Positano first (there are two stops for Positano, I think we got off at the wrong stop, as usual)... so we had to walk a lot more than usual! It was ok, because we just followed all the signs "alla spiaggia" (although we didn't really go to the beach, because it was a little windy for that). Instead, we admired the homes, shops (which weren't open), and the coastline. The most convenient stop in Positano is "Sponda" - it stops in the city center.

Homes in Positano
Positano was actually kind of dead, because it wasn't spring or summer. I could tell the store owners were starved for shoppers. At the same time, I could see how in the summer Positano and the rest of the coast is bustling with shoppers. Since neither my sister or I had a lot of euros to our name, we decided to go down to the next spot, Amalfi. We walked to the bus stop and awaited the bus...






Strolling in Amalfi
Amalfi, is larger and more "metropolitan" than Positano. Metropolitan is a bad word, because it's not really a city. There is a pier or dock, wharf area, some restaurants and businesses, a small city center (where the cathedral is, we didn't go in because we didn't want to pay... we had seen a lot of art and figured we would see a lot more during our trip), and home to old paper mills. Instead, we got some gelato and walked around. It's cute, there is a lot of ceramic signs, like most of Campania (in Capri we saw a lot of that). True beauty.




After strolling around Amalfi, we headed back to the bus stop... a nice uphill trek and waited for the bus... and enjoyed the ride back. Oh, on the way back, make sure you sit on the side of the bus driver. (On the way to the Amalfi Coast, sit on the opposite side of the bus driver... for best views!)


Helpful Sites:
Amalfi's Coast www.amalfiscoast.com
Positano www.positano.com
SITA www.sitabus.it