Salerno · Go deeper
Getting around
Salerno’s a transport hub, which is half its appeal. A major train station, a port, and, since 2024, an airport of its own put the whole south within easy reach, and the compact centre and its long seafront mean you can live here without a car at all.
Getting there
Its own airport, at last
Salerno Costa d’Amalfi (QSR), out at Pontecagnano about twenty minutes east, took its first scheduled flights in 2024 and keeps adding European routes. For decades the coast had no airport of its own; now it does, and it lands you closer than Naples ever could.
Naples, an hour north
Capodichino (NAP) still has the bigger network, and it’s about an hour away by train or car, the backup for anything the Salerno airport doesn’t fly yet.
A major rail hub
Salerno’s station is a real one, right in town: fast trains reach Naples in about 35 minutes and Rome in under two hours, and the line runs south toward Reggio Calabria. You arrive in the centre, not at the edge.
The port
From the Molo Manfredi, ferries run up the Amalfi Coast, Amalfi and Positano, and, in season, down to the Cilento and across to Sicily. In summer the boat beats the road to the coast without contest.
Around the city
On foot & the Lungomare
The centre is flat and walkable, and the two-kilometre seafront promenade is the city’s living room. Most days you won’t need more.
The metro (Metropolitana di Salerno)
A small urban rail line stitches the centre to the eastern districts, the beaches, and the outskirts, handy if you settle out toward Pastena or Arechi.
City buses (Busitalia)
Cover the hills and the quarters the metro misses. Cheap, if not always quick.
Ferries to the coast
From late spring into autumn, the fast boats to Amalfi and Positano turn the commute into the best part of the day.
By train & ferry
Rough typical times from the centre. Ferries are seasonal and weather-dependent:
Naples
train ~35 min
Rome
train ~1h 50m
Amalfi
ferry ~35 min
Positano
ferry ~1h 10m
Pompeii
train ~35 min
Paestum
train ~30 min
A note on cars
A car’s more usable here than out on the peninsula. This is a real city with real parking. But the old town is a limited-traffic zone, kerb space in the centre is tight, and in summer the traffic heading for the coast backs up along the waterfront.
Live in the centre and you can skip it. Up in the hills or out east, you’ll want one.
Times vary by service, season, and weather. Check live schedules on Trenitalia ›