"The Amalfi Coast on a budget".. Probably not a sentence you think you'd ever read, right?
Well the Amalfi Coast was right at the top of our bucket list this year and somewhere along the lines we must have forgotten that we were budget travellers. However, we are proud to say that we did it! And we're here to tell you how..
tours/activities
Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi are similarly beautiful post-card-perfect towns, and if you are in the area we recommend making a trip to all of them!
Sorrento
Sorrento is great for views, shopping, eating and swimming. It is probably not the view you have seen in the pictures of Amalfi Coast but it's still a beautiful town and it's fun walking through the streets taste testing some local Limoncello.
Positano Positano was our favourite of the three towns. This is the town that you see on all the postcards, travel magazines and google image searches. We felt like it had it all. We enjoyed taking photos from look-out points, walking around the narrow streets, looking at shops and spending time at the free beaches, swimming in the beautiful Mediterranean sea. The view looking back up at Positano from the water was amazing!
Amalfi We came into Amalfi from the sea so it was a different perspective and we took some amazing photos here. Again we walked around the town, then went to the free beach and went for a swim!
There are lots of activities you can do in these places such as:
- Capri island tours
- Paddle boarding
- Kayaking
- Snorkelling
- Boat cruises
- Swimming and sun-baking
- Shopping
- Taking photos
As we are very much budget travellers, we didn't pay to do any extra activities but these are just some examples of things you can do here if you want.
accommodation
We spent a lot of time scrolling through different websites looking for accommodation on the Amalfi Coast, but we realised it just wasn't realistic for us on our budget. So, we started to look at alternatives and we found that staying in Naples was the best option for us. It was cheap to get to Naples from Rome on the train, and we had a lot of options to explore the Amalfi Coast once we got to Naples. We got an absolute steal at Hostel of the Sun in a private room with private bathroom for four nights, which cost us about $80 per night. This included breakfast and they even put on a free dinner every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Being the honest folk that we are, we'll tell you that Naples is not the prettiest city in the world. It's pretty grubby and dodgy, but you don't come to Naples to see Naples, you come to Naples to see the Amalfi Coast and/or Pompeii. The staff were really friendly and gave us heaps of information about where to go and what to see. The room was quiet, air-conditioned and comfortable. The location is quiet good as there is a metro station and supermarket nearby. All-in-all we had a good experience here and it is a good hostel/budget accommodation option.
Comfort: 7/10
Staff: 7/10
Breakfast: 6/10
Vibe: 8/10
Overall: 7/10
transport
Rome to Naples
To get to Naples we caught a train from Roma Termini in Rome. We booked this through Trainline (who we book most of our trains and buses through) for €12.60 each. You can book your tickets through the Trenitalia ticket machines at the station, but we are not sure whether there is a difference in price. Once we arrived in Naples, it would've been very easy to catch a metro towards our hostel, but being the budget travellers that we are, we decided to walk. We didn't have coins for the metro, which cost €2.20 each, and it was only a 30-minute walk. On a hot summer's day. In the middle of the afternoon. We arrived at our hostel dripping in sweat. In hindsight it would've been nice if we had coins on us.
Naples to Sorrento
Ahh the Circumvesuviana.. Not only is it difficult to read and pronounce, it's a difficult experience to endure. We're joking. It's fine. Sort of. It's just a really old, slow, hot and crowded train in the summer months, but it is also extremely cheap and convenient for budget travellers. We were the ones that chose to navigate our way around Europe in the summer, not this poor old train from 1924 with no air conditioning. Anyway, all jokes aside, it costs €3.90 one-way and runs approximately every half an hour from Naples, everyday of the week. You can catch it from either Porta Nolana Station or Garibaldi Station. We got our tickets from the ticket office at Porta Nolana Station. It was only about a 20-minute walk from our hostel. A lot more people get on the train at Garibaldi, so we were glad we got on at Porta Nolana. This train also takes you to Pompeii, so if you're think of going there, then this information is also helpful. It took almost 2-hours to get to Sorrento, as it was really busy on the train we took at around 10am. However, we took the same train back to Naples and it took about half the time.
Naples to Positano and Amalfi
To get to Positano and/or Amalfi, you will need to catch our beloved Circumvesuviana train to Sorrento first (1.5-2hrs), then catch a bus to Positano (0.5hrs) and a ferry to Amalfi (0.5hrs). We bought our tickets for the bus and ferry once we arrived at the train station in Sorrento. You can buy these tickets right across the road from the station where there is a small kiosk. If you only want to catch the bus, you can buy them for €10 inside the ticket office at the train station. Our bus/ferry ticket combo cost us €15 each, which included a bus Sorrento > Positano, a ferry Positano > Amalfi and the return bus from Amalfi > Sorrento. We made a map (see below) for you guys to make it a little easier to understand. Please note: you can only pay for these tickets with cash and if you suffer from motion sickness just be aware that the buses are very crowded and the roads are narrow and windy with a cliff to one side.
original map image from https://ravellobarandgrill.com/amalfi-coast-map/
We then took the train back to Naples. Doing the Amalfi Coast this way is amazing. The view from the bus to and from Positano is incredible and the view looking back onto the land from the ocean once you're on the ferry to Amalfi is equally incredible. It was a very long day. It is very crowded and very hot, but it's worth it. You can do basically what we did ourselves on a group tour for about €100 per person.
food/restaurants
As per usual, we recommend buying food from supermarkets. We were lucky enough to have breakfast included in our accommodation, where we also made sandwiches for lunch to take with us during the day. But, if you're planning on visiting the Amalfi Coast, be prepared to sell a kidney to afford a meal. You're paying for the location and views, not the food here, so by buying food and snacks from the supermarket, you will save a lot of money.
We did treat ourselves to a pizza at Sirena in Amalfi, which only cost us €8 and it was really nice! It is also a pretty average price for pizza in Italy. You'll find a decent pizza anywhere from €5-€10 in most places. A lot of restaurants charge a cover charge just to sit at their table, but Sirena didn't, which was a nice touch and the staff were lovely.
other tips/advice
- Have coins on you for train/metro as the ATMs in Naples charge exorbitant amounts. We lost roughly $15 for using an ATM out of necessity.
- If you want to rent a sun-bed at any of the beaches on the Amalfi Coast be prepared to pay lots of money. For a basic deck chair it will cost around €18 per chair, and more if you want an umbrella and food/drinks. There are usually 'free beaches' that anyone can sit at though that are just as nice but a bit more crowded!
- If you go in the middle of summer like we did, be prepared for VERY hot weather and VERY crowded trains and beaches. We would recommend going in maybe spring or autumn for a nicer experience.
- We do very much recommend doing the Amalfi Coast - it's one of those places you should see once in your lifetime - but we also found that it was a little overrated. It is beautiful and postcard-perfect, but also overcrowded, overpriced and overhyped.
Show us some love and ask any questions or leave a comment below!
jorgiandkate
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