Arriving in the Amalfi Coast by car

Getting to the Amalfi Coast by car

First, a warning: It is not particularly fun to drive the Amalfi Coast itself, for reasons explained here (in brief: narrow, impossibly twisty road with oncoming buses taking up both lanes; also, limited parking).

However, if you do wish to stick with your own car, you can drive either to Sorrento and then down the coast, or—again, less desirably—up the coast from Salerno. (Or, even less desirably for most, over the mountains directly to the Amalfi area.)

How to get to the Amalfi Drive by car

There are two main road access points to the Amalfi Coast.

If you want to see the best of the Amalfi Coast, start from the Naples and Sorrento end. That way, you get to drive the fabled Amalfi Drive from west to east, on the outside lane, affording you the best sweeping panoramas down the coast—and the most vertiginous views straight down into the waters below. » more

• Via Sorrento
  • Take the A3 south from Naples.
  • Get off at the exit for Castellammare di Stabia.
  • Take the SS145 toward Sorrento.
  • In Piano di Sorrento—just after the road takes a sharp bend to the right—turn left up Via dei Platani/Via Cavone, following the blue signs for Sorrento, Positano, and Amalfi.
  • At the next T intersection, continue straight (do not turn right toward Sorrento).
  • When the road ends, turn right towards Positano and Amalfi.
  • Congratulations. You are now on the SS163, which—after a few frightening switchbacks—will become the famous Amalfi Drive along the Amalfi Coast.
    • Note: If you are actually coming form Sorrento, just follow Corso Italia east out of town and turn right when you see signs for Positano and Amalfi.
      
      
• Via Salerno
  • Stay off the highway (the A3). Follow the SS18 (Corso G. Garibaldi/Via Benedetto Croce) west out of town toward Vietri sul Mare.
  • In Vietri, soon after passing the remarkable ceramic-studded facade of Solimene factory, you will need to fork/turn left to follow the SS163 "Amalfitana" road (lots of destinations are listed in the blue sign, the first shuld be Cetara, the last Positano).

The mountain roads to the Amafi Coast

There are also a few impossibly twisty, sometimes scary, seemingly interminable—though beautiful—roads that wend and wind their way up over the mountains and lead—eventually—to the coast either just east or west of Amalfi.

However, few tourists use those as they take quite a long time to navigate, and you miss out on the coast itself (not that the Latteri Mountains aren't lovely). A big part of touring the Amalfi Coast is driving the Amalfi Drive coastal road.

The SS366 is an exit off the SS145 in Castellammare di Stabia (signposted in blue for Gragnano, Lettere, and Agerola, and in brown for "Costiera Amalfitana"). Soon after the looping exit, you'll want to follow the main road as it turns right to head up into the mountains, climbs up over the peninsula, dives through a tunnel near the top, then switchbacks its way down through the villages of San Michele and Furore and—eventually—hits the Amalfi Coast road a few miles west of Amalfi.

The other two mountain roads start at Corbara (just east of the Angri exit off the A3 Autostrada), shortly after which they split. The right fork leads over the mountains to Scala, Ravello, and Amalfi; the left fork—eventually—ends up in Maiori.

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