Four days on the Amalfi Coast.A weekend with no car at all.
Four people, Friday 28 to Monday 31 August 2026: ferries instead of a rental car, two gardens high above the coast, a high path that only ever goes downhill — and on the Saturday night the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester on the belvedere of Villa Rufolo. Places, opening days and the festival date are sourced; the flight and room prices were queried on 10 August 2026.
The backbone
Day by day
Ferry and cathedral
Travelmar across the Gulf of Salerno, around 35 minutes, €12 per person — the Salerno port tax is included. Leaves from Molo Masuccio Salernitano on Piazza della Concordia, about 300 metres from the station, and lands right in the centre of Amalfi.
A striped facade above the wide flight of steps, and behind it the cloister of 1266 with its white pointed arches. Ticket €3 for the cloister and the museum.
Two gardens, a concert at night
A Norman garden above the coast, a cloister and the tower museum, and below it the two domes of the Annunziata. Ticket €8, on site only, no reservation needed.
A terrace of marble busts high above the Gulf of Salerno, with the garden and a stone pavilion behind it. Ticket around €10 — the official site names no price, so check it on site.
Belvedere di Villa Rufolo, 19:30. The Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester under Philippe Jordan: the prelude to Wagner’s “Parsifal” and Bruckner’s Fourth. Ticket €60, €20 under 26 and only at the box office. Introduction at 18:00.
Uphill by bus, downhill on foot
From Piazza Flavio Gioia on line 5080 up to Agerola, arriving in Bomerano at 08:55 — a good 40 minutes. Buy the ticket at a kiosk beforehand; there are none on board.
7.8 kilometres of high path above the coast, around three hours of walking, no ticket. The view drops down onto Praiano; from Nocelle some 1,500 steps lead towards Positano.
After the descent down the steps of Nocelle: a bay full of boats, a pebble beach, the town stacked up the slope. Back to Amalfi in around 25 minutes by ferry, about €10.
Paper mill, then home
A 13th-century paper mill in the valley of the mills, Via delle Cartiere 23. The stamping mill and the vat run in front of you. Ticket €4.50.
At 0.12 km² the smallest municipality in Italy by area, ten minutes on foot from Amalfi. One square, narrow lanes, a church above the beach. Reached through the tunnel on the coast road or the stairway above it.
Back across the water to Molo Masuccio Salernitano, around 35 minutes, then the train Salerno → Naples and the Alibus to the airport.
Questions about this trip
Around €617 per person on “Balanced”, four people: flight €278, three nights at the Hotel Aurora approx. €215 (€858 for four, queried on 10 August 2026), festival ticket €60 and around €64 for ferries, buses and entry tickets. “Lean” lands at approx. €554 (flight via Rome); “Open” carries the same total as “Balanced”.
Sunday is the walking day because the 08:15 from Amalfi to Agerola carries timetable code “H” and runs on Sundays and holidays only; Monday is left for the paper museum, which opens on Mondays too. And the Ravello Festival (4 July to 5 September) plays on Saturday 29 August at 19:30.
Yes, there is no car in this plan: Alibus and train to Salerno, then the Travelmar ferry (around 35 minutes, €12) to Amalfi; on the coast, SITA buses (single fare €1.50, tickets at kiosks only) and ferries. Sunday’s high path runs downhill: bus to Bomerano, on foot to Nocelle, ferry back from Positano.
Verified: places, opening days, entry prices and the festival date (cathedral €3, Villa Rufolo €8, Museo della Carta €4.50, concert €60), and since 10 August 2026 also the flight (€215 via Rome, €278 nonstop, per person return) and the room (€858 for four people, three nights). Not sourced: the Villa Cimbrone ticket — around €10, check on site.
On two of the four evenings, both 19:30 on the Belvedere di Villa Rufolo, tickets €60 (€20 under 26, on site only): Saturday 29 August (Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester — the one in the plan) and Sunday 30 August, which cannot be reached from the walking day. Friday and Monday are dark.
The 08:15 from Amalfi to Agerola carries timetable code “H” (Sundays and holidays), the 08:05 next to it “F” (Mon–Sat) — take the wrong one on Sunday and you walk the Sentiero degli Dei uphill. Codes like that live only in the timetable PDF, in no booking platform.
Four of you, one budget.
Two double rooms, one concert ticket, one ferry: the moment four people have a say, agreeing is the actual problem. That is what a shared channel is for — instead of a group chat.
Plan a group tripThe other trip
Not brochure shots but four trips lying completely open: a weekend in Lisbon, Friday 4 to Monday 7 September 2026, ten days on Sumba from 6 to 15 October, four days on the Amalfi Coast from 28 to 31 August, and four days in Barcelona built around La Mercè on 24 September. Flight, hotel, day plan, prices and the rule behind every stop — the flight and hotel prices queried on 10 August 2026 via Google Flights and Google Hotels, and where a query returned nothing, it says so.
Now yours.
One sentence is enough: where, when, how much. The rest — comparing flights, checking hotels, searching local events, sorting the days — is on TakeMeTo.