The Amalfi Coast before you book: the practical facts we checked

Naples International Airport (NAP), at Capodichino, is the airport most visitors use. From 1 to 30 November 2026 it is shut for runway works, with some flights moved to Salerno. At the rank outside arrivals, licensed taxis charge the City of Naples' fixed fares, per car, with luggage, night and holiday supplements included: €145 to Positano, €155 to Amalfi, €160 to Ravello and €125 to Sorrento, motorway tolls and a €5 minivan supplement extra.

Curreri's coach runs eight times a day to Sorrento, 75 minutes on its timetable, for €13, for the SITA bus on along the coast. From April to early November, a €24 taxi or the €5 Alibus takes you to Molo Beverello for the fast boats: Positano Jet's spring and autumn timetable has two direct sailings a day to Positano in about 70 minutes for €31, and NLG sails to Positano for €32 and Amalfi for €32.50. All year, the Alibus to Napoli Centrale and a fast train reach Salerno in 36 minutes, and from the quay beside Salerno station Travelmar sails to Amalfi in 35 minutes for €12, Minori in 40 for €10 and Positano in 70 for €17. Salerno's airport (QSR) has few flights; its Airlink bus reaches the station in about 30 minutes for €8. From Rome, Frecciarossa and Italo trains reach Salerno in 1 hour 26 minutes to 2 hours 12.

Drive times below are routed from the Naples terminal forecourt (40.8846, 14.2901) with the roads clear, by OSRM and by FOSSGIS Valhalla; the two disagree on the coast road, so each is a range.

No, and most visitors are better without one. The coast has one road, the SS163, and parking is scarce: Hotel Marina Riviera tells guests to arrive by public transport, transfer or ferry, and among the ten parking runs from free to €100 a day.

The boats run between the towns without the coast road. Travelmar sails all year from Salerno to Maiori, Minori, Amalfi and Positano: €5 from Amalfi to Minori, €10 from Amalfi to Positano, €12 from Salerno to Amalfi, a bag €3. From 1 April NLG and Alicost, to 3 November in 2026, and Positano Jet, to 31 October, add sailings to Sorrento, Capri and Naples: Positano to Capri takes 30 to 40 minutes for €28 to €29 with Capri's €5 landing contribution, and Sorrento to Positano costs €18 to €21.50.

SITA Sud's buses run the coast road and climb to Ravello and Scala; on the autumn 2026 timetable Amalfi to Positano Sponda takes 40 minutes. Tickets are sold by UnicoCampania's sellers and in its app: singles are priced by distance, from €1.60 since 1 October 2026, and the COSTIERASITA ticket gives 24 hours on SITA's buses between Sorrento and Salerno for €10, with your name and date of birth written on it. Bags over 50 x 30 x 25 cm need their own €1.50 ticket.

On foot the distances are short and steep. Positano's Spiaggia Grande to the church of Santa Maria Assunta is 2 minutes; Amalfi's Duomo to Atrani 11 minutes along the coast; Ravello's Duomo to the gate of Villa Cimbrone 10 minutes by lanes and steps, and to its Belvedere dell'Infinito 13.

Yes, in every town of the ten, and each comune sets its own, by the hotel's star rating and for the months it chooses. Room rates are quoted with IVA, 10% on hotel stays, already in the price; the imposta di soggiorno is normally added and paid at the hotel. Our from prices follow that rule, with IVA in and the tourist tax out, except at Caruso, whose rates include Ravello's tax.

As the ten hotels' checked records found it for 2026: Positano charges €5 per person per night at five-star hotels from April to October, children up to 10 exempt; Praiano €4 at four-star hotels from 1 April, for up to 7 nights, under-10s exempt and nothing from November to March; Amalfi, which also covers Borgo Santandrea, €5 at five-star and €4 at four-star hotels from 1 April to 2 November, under-10s exempt; Ravello €5 at Caruso, for up to 7 nights, under-16s exempt; Scala up to €5 for the first 7 nights from March to October, children up to 12 exempt; Minori €4 at four-star hotels, under-14s exempt; and Conca dei Marini, by Monastero Santa Rosa's own rate, €7. Caruso includes the tax in its rate.

Breakfast is in the rate at all ten. The extras are parking, the beach and the boats. Most beaches are pebble, with stabilimenti renting loungers and umbrellas beside free public stretches: at Minori, Lido California, which works with Hotel Santa Lucia, charges €20 to €40 a day for an umbrella and two sunbeds. Il San Pietro and Borgo Santandrea keep beaches for their own guests.

The coast keeps a season. From their own booking engines and pages, Palazzo Pascal opens on 12 March 2027, Hotel Marina Riviera in mid-March, Palazzo Murat on 25 March, Le Sirenuse on 27 March, Monastero Santa Rosa and Il San Pietro in early April, Caruso on 13 April and Hotel Tramonto d'Oro on 19 April. Most close at the end of October or in early November; Caruso's prices run to 14 October. Hotel Santa Lucia and Borgo Santandrea close for the winter, roughly November to March, with no dates published.

Open-Meteo's reanalysis data for Salerno, averaged over 1996 to 2025, give afternoon highs of 12.5°C (54°F) in January, 17.9°C (64°F) in April, 26.4°C (80°F) in June and 29.5°C (85°F) in August, falling to 21.5°C (71°F) in October; August nights average 21.9°C (71°F). Rain falls on about 5 days in July and in August, against 11 in October and 14 in November.

The dear weeks are Easter, on 28 March in 2027, July and August, and Ferragosto, 15 August. The Ravello Festival opens its 2027 edition on Sunday 4 July; the 2026 edition closed on 5 September. At the hotels whose own rates could be read across the year, the opening weeks in March and April and the last weeks of October were the cheapest at almost every one, and June to September the dearest.

Italy uses the euro. Visa, Mastercard, American Express and the Italian Bancomat cards are the main payment systems, accepted alongside cash, and banks have ATMs open around the clock. Keep receipts: Italian businesses must issue one for every purchase.

Tipping is not compulsory in Italy and there are no fixed rules, says Italia.it, the national tourism portal, though when diners are pleased with the service it is customary to leave something close to 10% of the bill. Restaurants may add a coperto, a cover charge per person, which must be shown on the menu or price list; it is not a tip.

Carry some cash for the small things. SITA bus tickets are sold before boarding, by UnicoCampania's sellers or in its app, and ferry tickets online or at the quay offices. Visitors who live outside the EU can reclaim IVA on goods bought in shops that offer tax-free shopping.

Flying home to Great Britain, the allowance is 42 litres of beer and cider, 18 litres of wine, and 4 litres of spirits or 9 litres of drinks up to 22%, plus 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars or 250 g of tobacco and other goods worth up to £390. There is no alcohol or tobacco allowance under 17. Between EU countries, goods for your own use are not taxed again, with guide amounts such as 800 cigarettes or 10 litres of spirits.

Italy is in the Schengen area, so American and British citizens need no visa for a short visit: up to 90 days in any 180, counted across the whole Schengen area. British passports must have been issued less than 10 years before the day you arrive and be valid for at least three months after the day you plan to leave the Schengen area. The EU's rule for all non-EU visitors, Americans included, is the same: a passport issued within the last 10 years and valid for at least three months after you leave.

Passport stamps have given way to the EU's Entry/Exit System, which registers non-EU visitors at the border: passport details, a photograph of the face and, for those who need no visa, four fingerprints; children under 12 are not fingerprinted. It began on 12 October 2025 and has run at every external crossing since 10 April 2026. It is free and needs nothing done in advance, but the checks take longer, at Naples on arrival and on the way home. The record lasts three years.

ETIAS, the EU's travel authorisation for visitors who need no visa, was not yet in operation in October 2026, and the EU says it will announce the start date several months ahead. When it begins it will cost €20, with under-18s and over-70s applying free, last up to three years or until the passport expires, and be applied for only on the official ETIAS website or app.

In Italy your hotel must register your passport with the police at check-in, and under-18s cannot check in to a hotel without an accompanying adult.

The airports changed most. GESAC, which runs both, closes Naples airport from 1 to 30 November 2026 to rebuild its runway; some flights move to Salerno, and a bus runs between Piazza Garibaldi in Naples and Salerno airport, eight a day each way for €12. Salerno, reopened to scheduled flights in 2024, opened a new terminal in July 2026, which takes commercial flights from November; Aeroitalia based an aircraft there from May 2026, and Wizz Air starts flights to Budapest, Tirana and Warsaw on 6 June 2027.

At the border, the Entry/Exit System began on 12 October 2025 and has run in full since 10 April 2026; ETIAS has not started.

On the ground, a new UnicoCampania fare table took effect on 1 October 2026, with the shortest SITA single rising from €1.50 to €1.60, and the Circumvesuviana from Naples to Sorrento has run a train every 30 minutes each way since 17 October 2026. Praiano revised its tourist tax from 1 April 2026, to €4 a night at four-star hotels; Positano kept its 2025 rates for 2026, €5 at five-star hotels.

Among the ten, Hotel Tramonto d'Oro added annex rooms with private Jacuzzis in 2026, Palazzo Pascal renovated its annex in 2024, and the Roman villa behind Hotel Santa Lucia in Minori has been closed for restoration since August 2025. Caruso reopens for 2027 on 13 April.