Salerno – Less Touristy (Relatively Flat) Jumping off Point for the Amalfi Coast!

By: Caroline Rausch

Accordion music seeping through the shuttered windows, nighttime street processions for the Festival of Santa Maria, melt in your mouth gelato and pizza, Italian language spoken all around you. . . If this sounds like your type of vacation, read on to see how our multi-generational, untouristy Amalfi summer vacation all came together.

When planning our trip to the Amalfi Coast, I knew I was up against several challenges:

My Mother-in-Law did not do well with lots of hills or steps and the Amalfi Coast Towns are peppered with both.
Summer is the high season which meant that it would not only be expensive but crowded as well.
Transportation needed to be simple with our group of 6 ranging from 70 to 6 years old.
Easy access to Pompeii and the Greek ruins at Paestum. The kids and my Sister-in-Law were very interested in Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii while I had wanted to explore the well-preserved Greek ruins at Paestum.

So, where to stay? Amalfi is right in the heart of the coast action with easy ferry and bus access, but it would be crowded to say the least. Sorrento is lovely but if using public transportation, you have to take the Circumvesuviana train and the last time I took that train, I recall many many steps to reach the correct platform plus hordes of people. It seemed ripe for pick pocketing our easily distracted group. Positano is straight up the hillside. Several other small towns looked idyllic but were hard to find affordable lodging for 6 people (or didn’t have frequent ferry/bus connections). I kept coming back to Salerno – would it work? A portion of it was relatively flat, it had easy ferry and bus access up the coast, a train station with high speed trains to Rome and beyond… maybe, just maybe… I hadn’t read much about the town and it seemed relatively off the radar. I found several affordable air bnb’s in old town and decided to go for it. This was the best decision ever!

We hired a driver to take us from Rome to Pompeii and then to Salerno. This allowed us to avoid changing trains and stations in Naples and Pompeii en route to Salerno. We had a guided tour of Pompeii which was hot and underwhelming – I would seek out a child-focused guide next time – however, Pompeii was still a must-see and an amazing stop for all. After driving down the Amalfi coast and admiring the views, we arrived in Salerno around 6pm with just enough time to check into our amazing old town air bnb and pick up some groceries at the store for the next day.

I woke up the next morning to my Mother-in-Law crying happy tears. She had been listening to the accordion music drifting in through her open window for hours. It could not have been a more perfect start to our stay.

The accordion player right outside our air bnb. Perfection!

Day 1 Agenda: Sunday: Ferry to Amalfi and Lunch at Bar Ristorante Santa Croce:

We were all exhausted after our long day of travel the day before so we had a lazy morning of making breakfast, getting coffee (for me it’s a caffe lungo – espresso with water and for Kam it’s anything iced) and having interesting conversations with locals at the coffee shop. Around noon, we made our way to the ferry terminal where we unsuccessfully boarded one ferry to have it return to the dock due to engine problems. . . we finally boarded a second ferry bound for Amalfi. We arrived in Amalfi around 2.

We were starving by this time, so I quickly called the number for Ristorante Santa Croce and soon their water taxi appeared in the harbor (at the dock on the far lefthand side as you face the port). After a quick 10 minute boat ride, we arrived at the hidden restaurant – accessible only by water – and settled into the only empty table. We were surrounded by Italian families enjoying their Sunday afternoon. The boys passed time skipping rocks down on the beach while we ordered the most divine white wine with fresh peaches that we spotted on other tables. Our afternoon slipped away punctuated with fresh seafood, pasta, grilled vegetables, and caprese with local buffalo mozzarella. Combined with the azure blue water and the buzz of conversation surrounding us, it was the perfect afternoon.

Protip: Even though we didn’t have any problem walking up and purchasing tickets for the next ferry at the end of June, it is wise to check ferry schedules online and consider buying tickets in advance. Also, there is not a lot of shade in the waiting area for the ferries in either Salerno or Amalfi. Bring plenty of water and sunblock! https://www.livesalerno.com/ferry-connections

We returned to Amalfi to catch the second to last ferry back to Salerno. Kam had time to run up and visit the cathedral but we knew that with short legs and stairs that quick trip was not in the cards for the rest of the group. Once back in Salerno, we were pleasantly surprised to find vendors and activities all along the seaside promenade. The kids oogled over the gummy stand, enjoyed a puppet show in Italian and we all slurped down yet another perfect gelato as we meandered down the warmly lit cobblestone streets and back to our apartment.

Day 2 Agenda: Monday: Paestum, Laundry, Salerno

Up bright and early to catch the 8:15 train to Paestum (so we could return to Salerno on the 11:15), we ate a quick breakfast and sauntered 20 minutes through peaceful, car-free old town Salerno to the train station.

Pro tip: Check train timetables to plan train times. We knew there were no trains returning to Salerno between 11:15-14:00 so we got up early to beat the heat and make the return train. Also – snap a picture of the timetable in the train station so you know the train schedule, platform, and return times for your journey.

Upon arrival in sleepy Paestum at 8:50, we walked along the dirt road between the station and the ruins. It was already toasty so we decided to cool off in the museum before tackling the ruins. It was great timing – the cool, air conditioned museum refreshed us. It was a manageable size for our kids to explore and take pictures with our phone while we read the excellent descriptions (in English and Italian). I especially appreciated the Tomb of the Diver – it’s from around 470BC, was very well preserved, and has beautiful artwork on all panels. The diver portrayed on the tomb represents the human jumping into the afterlife. Beautiful symbolism and artwork.

After recharging at the museum, we filled our water bottles, donned our hats, sunblock, and oh-so-chic cooling towels and set out to explore the ruins. These ruins were quite impressive – they are apparently some of the best preserved Greek ruins anywhere on Earth – and they did not disappoint. You can explore 2 of the temples on foot and the third one you can walk around and admire the columns. Not being Greek architecture experts, the brochure from the museum and Rick Steve’s guidebook walking tour explained what we were looking at in an approachable manner. We also found a water fountain in the site – perfect to refill the water bottles on that warm morning.

We had plenty of time to walk leisurely back to the train station where we purchased our tickets in the machine. Note to self – if “someone” in your group is playing with the flap where your ticket falls out (even though you tell them to stop), their ticket may get stuck on the flap….. even though kids were free, we couldn’t add another child’s ticket without purchasing an additional adult ticket. We are very grateful to the kind Italian woman behind us who added a child ticket to her own purchase and gave us another children’s ticket for our ride. My mantra, “I love my son, I love my son..”.

Once back in Salerno, we grabbed our laundry and went to meet my mother and sister-in-law at the laundry mat. After stashing our laundry in a washing machine, we searched for a nearby restaurant to eat while waiting. We found a GEM just around the corner – Ristorante Pizzaria Reginella – very little English spoken, but we managed to communicate with my broken Italian and lots of hand gestures. Fantastic service, food, and prices. This was Kam’s favorite restaurant of our trip.

After the meal, we packed up our laundry and headed back to the air bnb. On the way, we decided to stop into the Duomo di Salerno – the Salerno Cathedral – and boy were we in for a treat. It was covered in mosaics including gorgeous gold mosaics ceilings over alters and multicolor mosaics decorating the columns. We have seen the mosaics in Ravenna and these are every bit as beautiful. We had time for a siesta (electronic time for the boys) before venturing out to try the pizzaria our host recommended – Criscemunno – which was, hands-down, the best pizza we had in Italy. Following this, we decided to do some window shopping and grab snacks for our train ride the next day when we stumbled upon a procession of local singers/men carrying a statue of Santa Maria to the Duomo courtyard where they continued to sing. We love these local slices of life and were sad that this was our last night in this lively, down-to-Earth, real-life Italian town.

Protip: Salerno has great, high speed connections to all the major cities. Both Trenitalia and Italo had options for our trip to Florence. We booked our seats online in advance with Trenitalia and found that it was easy to find our seats and show our paper tickets upon boarding. In a little over 3 hours, we had arrived at Florence’s Santa Maria Novella Train Station and were on our way to our next adventure. (Also, kids 4-14 receive a 50% discount on fare – great for family travel!)