Amalfi Coast Shared Small Group Tour from Sorrento
Eight seats and a driver who does this road daily, from Piazza Tasso.
From $112 per person
Check AvailabilityDriving the Amalfi Coast: the SS163, Leg by Leg
The Strada Statale 163 Amalfitana is 50.36 kilometres of two-lane road carved into a cliff, and it is the only way along this coast by land. Whether you drive it yourself is the single biggest practical decision of an Amalfi Coast trip, and this page is here to settle it.
What the road actually is
Ferdinand II of Bourbon ordered it in 1832 and it was widened, bridged and buttressed into something carriages could use by about 1850. It was numbered SS163 in 1953 when ANAS took it over. For most of its length it is cut into the rock face, with a drop to the Tyrrhenian on one side and the cliff on the other, and it passes straight through the middle of Positano.
Two lanes, hundreds of bends, and coaches that sometimes have to reverse to let each other past. It is not dangerous. It is slow, and it does not forgive an optimistic schedule.
How long each leg really takes
These are typical times in light traffic, not promises. In July and August they can double, and on a bad afternoon in Positano they can do worse than that.
| Leg | Typical drive, light traffic | In August |
|---|---|---|
| Sorrento → Positano | About 45 minutes | An hour and a half or more |
| Positano → Praiano | About 15 minutes | 30–40 minutes |
| Praiano → Amalfi | About 25 minutes | 45 minutes |
| Amalfi → Ravello | About 25 minutes up the valley | 35–45 minutes |
| Amalfi → Maiori | About 20 minutes | 35 minutes |
| Maiori → Vietri sul Mare | About 30 minutes | 45 minutes |
| Sorrento → Amalfi, end to end | About an hour and a quarter | Two hours or more |
The four ways down this road, compared
| Way | What it costs you | What it buys | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your own hire car | Fuel, tolls, parking and the plate rule | Total freedom over where you stop | Confident drivers out of season |
| SITA Sud bus | A few euro and a lot of waiting | The cheapest way between towns, and a high seat for the view | Budget travellers with a whole day to spend |
| Ferry, April to October | More than the bus, less than a taxi | The fastest link between towns, and no road at all | Anybody based in a ferry port |
| A driven day, shared or private | From $110 a person | Somebody else handles the road, the parking and the timing | Most first visits, and anybody short of time |
The alternate-plate rule, and how to work round it
On the busiest dates the coast road is closed to half of all number plates. Between Vietri sul Mare and Positano, from 10:00 to 18:00, even-numbered days admit only even-numbered plates and odd days only odd. The scheme runs under an ANAS ordinance and the dates are set each year, so check the current ones before you commit to a self-drive day. Motorbikes, residents, blue-badge vehicles, taxis and buses are exempt — and so, in effect, are you, if you book a private Amalfi Coast tour and let somebody else hold the licence.
Parking, and why it is the real cost
There is very little of it. Positano's garages are private, expensive and full by mid-morning in summer; Amalfi has a garage cut into the rock at the eastern end of the seafront and a queue for it; Ravello asks you to leave the car outside the centre and walk in. Budget for parking as a real line in the day's cost rather than an afterthought, and add the time it takes to find a space to every journey above.
What the bus is like
SITA Sud runs the scheduled service and it is genuinely good value. Buy the ticket before you board, from a bar or a tabaccheria, because the driver does not sell them. Sit on the seaward side if you can. In July and August you will stand, and at Amalfi you may watch one bus go by full before you get on the next.
Motion sickness, honestly
This road unsettles more people than the sea does. If you know you are susceptible, take something before you set off rather than once it starts, sit forward rather than back, and pick the boat instead where you can — Amalfi Coast boat tours cover the same coast without a single hairpin.
So should you drive it?
If you are out of season, confident on narrow roads and staying somewhere with parking, yes: the road is one of the great drives and it is a shame to see it only from a passenger seat. In July and August, on a first visit, or if anybody in the car gets carsick, no. The arithmetic is straightforward — a shared guided day starts around the price of a day's car hire plus parking, and removes the whole problem.
Days that handle the road for you
Private Tour Amalfi Coast from Sorrento
A minivan small enough for the tighter corners, and nine hours to use it.
From $331 per person
Check AvailabilityFull-Day Amalfi Coast Experience from Sorrento, Naples or Salerno
The cheapest way to be driven the whole length of it and back.
From $110 per person
Check AvailabilityIf you would rather compare the options first, all the Amalfi Coast tours from Sorrento are set out side by side, and the full list is on Amalfi Coast Italy Tours.