Salerno sits at the head of its own gulf in Campania, about 50 kilometres southeast of Naples, at the point where the Amalfi Coast road ends and the flat Sele plain begins. It is a working city of around 130,000 people, and it is the cheapest comfortable base for the Amalfi Coast by a wide margin.
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THAT LAST POINT IS THE PRACTICAL CASE AND IT IS WORTH STATING PLAINLY. A room in Positano in June costs several times what the equivalent costs here, and from Salerno the coast is a ferry ride: boats run along to Amalfi and Positano through the season, the SITA buses go the same way, and the trains reach Naples in forty minutes and Rome in under two hours. A great many people who want the coast without the prices stay here and go out daily. Our Amalfi Coast packing list covers what you will be going to see.
WHAT MOST GUIDES MISS IS THAT SALERNO IS A REAL CITY RATHER THAN A CAR PARK. It has a dense medieval centre of narrow lanes above a long seafront promenade, a Norman cathedral that holds the tomb of Saint Matthew, and a genuine claim to historical importance: THE SCHOLA MEDICA SALERNITANA, operating here from around the ninth century, is generally regarded as the first and most important medical school in medieval Europe, and it admitted women as teachers, of whom Trota of Salerno is the best known. For a city most visitors pass through in twenty minutes that is a considerable thing.
THE HONEST LIMITATIONS: Salerno is not pretty in the way the coast is, parts of it are plainly industrial, the port is a working container port, and there is no beach worth the name in the city itself. It is a place to live in rather than to look at, which for a week's base is often the better arrangement.
The Cathedral, the Lungomare and the Castle
An apostle's tomb, a long promenade, and a fort on the hill above.
THE DUOMO is the thing to see and it is remarkable. Built by the Normans in the 1080s, its atrium is a colonnaded courtyard of columns taken from Paestum, which is the sort of reuse that tells you how old this coast is, and the crypt below holds the TOMB OF SAINT MATTHEW, brought here in the tenth century. The two mosaic ambones in the nave are twelfth century and the whole building is free to enter.
THE LUNGOMARE TRIESTE is the other civic pleasure: a kilometre and a half of palm-lined promenade along the gulf, which the city claims is among the finest in Europe and which is certainly the place Salerno walks in the evening. The passeggiata here is a real institution and is pleasant to join.
THE MEDIEVAL CENTRE above it is a tight grid of lanes along the Via dei Mercanti, with the Giardino della Minerva, a restored medieval botanical garden on terraces that was the teaching garden of the medical school and is one of the oldest of its kind in Europe. The view from its upper terrace over the gulf is the best in the city and it costs very little.
THE CASTELLO DI ARECHI stands 300 metres above the city and is reached by bus or a steep walk; it is a Lombard and Norman fortress with a museum and the full sweep of the gulf. Go late in the day.
AND IN WINTER, LUCI D'ARTISTA, a festival of large-scale light installations through the streets and parks from late autumn into January, which draws very large numbers from across the south and is the one time Salerno is busier than the coast. Dates vary each year.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Coast, Paestum and the Cilento
Ferries west, Greek temples south, and a national park beyond.
THE AMALFI COAST starts immediately west: ferries to Amalfi take about 35 minutes and to Positano about 70, which is a far pleasanter approach than the bus and avoids the road entirely. RAVELLO is 40 minutes up from Amalfi and is covered in our Ravello packing list.
PAESTUM is 40 minutes south and holds three Greek temples of the fifth and sixth centuries BC that are among the best preserved anywhere, standing in open fields with very few visitors compared to anything in Sicily. It is the single best day trip from Salerno and is startlingly underused.
THE CILENTO beyond it is a large national park of mountains, empty beaches and hill villages, World Heritage listed, and is where Campanians go rather than where visitors do. POMPEII is 35 minutes north by train, covered in our Pompeii packing list, and NAPLES 40 minutes, covered in our Naples packing list.
Getting around: SALERNO IS THE ONE PLACE ON THIS COAST WHERE YOU DO NOT NEED A CAR, which is much of its appeal. The station is central with frequent fast trains, the ferry terminal is on the seafront, the bus station is beside the station, and the city centre is flat and walkable. A car is a liability given the parking and is unnecessary for everything described above.
When to Go
April to June and September to October. July and August are humid.
A warm Mediterranean climate at the humid end. Summer from June to September runs 29 to 32C with high humidity and warm nights; winter from December to February is mild at 13 to 15C and is the wet season; spring and autumn are warm and settled and are much the best.
APRIL TO JUNE IS THE PICK: warm, dry, the coast not yet full, and the ferries running from around Easter. SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER are equally good, with the sea at its warmest and the coast emptying after the first week of September.
JULY AND AUGUST are hot, humid and busy, and the city is noticeably more bearable than the coast because it has shade, air conditioning and a breeze off the gulf. Ferragosto in mid-August closes a great deal.
WINTER IS MILD AND HAS LUCI D'ARTISTA, which makes Salerno one of the few places on this coast with a genuine winter season. The ferries to the coast stop, the Amalfi Coast largely shuts, and the city itself stays open and busy.
ONE PRACTICAL NOTE ON THE FERRIES: they are seasonal, typically running from spring to autumn, and they do not run in winter or in rough weather. If the coast is the reason you are here, check the service before booking out of season.
Is Salerno Safe for Women Travelers
Ordinarily safe, with the usual caution for a southern Italian city.
US State Department travel advisory: the Italy advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
ON CRIME, Salerno is a normal working Italian city and markedly calmer than Naples. Petty theft is the realistic risk: pickpocketing and bag-snatching around the station, on crowded buses and on the Lungomare on a busy evening, and scooter-borne bag snatching, which is a southern Italian pattern rather than a Salerno one. The practical answers are the ordinary ones: a bag that closes, worn across the body on the side away from the road, nothing in a back pocket, and nothing left on a cafe table. The area immediately around the station is run-down and busier at night and is not somewhere to linger, though it is not dangerous to pass through.
THE TRAFFIC IS THE SECOND CONSIDERATION and it is assertive in the way southern Italian traffic is: crossings treated as advisory, scooters in gaps, and a general expectation that pedestrians commit. Cross decisively rather than hesitantly, which is counterintuitive and is what locals do.
THE HUMID HEAT IS THE THIRD, and the medieval centre has shade while the Lungomare has none at all.
THE SEA is a working gulf with a container port in it, and the city has no proper beach; swimming happens along the coast rather than here, and the beaches west towards Vietri are the nearest. Where you do swim on this coast, there are rarely lifeguards.
Italy is in the EU, so a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as an Italian resident. That means the same ticket, the co-payment Italians make, rather than nothing, and it does not cover repatriation, so travel insurance sits on top of it. Italian public hospitals are good and the emergency department, the pronto soccorso, treats anyone who arrives. Pharmacies, farmacie, are marked with a green cross, are staffed by pharmacists who can advise and dispense for minor problems, and post a rota for nights and Sundays on the door. Tap water is drinkable across the country, including from the public fountains that are common in Italian towns.
Socially, Salerno is a university city with a large student population, which makes it comfortable: a woman eating alone draws no attention, the evening passeggiata is busy and mixed, and there is life on the streets until late. Less English is spoken than on the coast, and street attention is more direct than in northern Italy without being threatening.
The Salerno Packing List
A bag that closes properly
This is the first item for a southern Italian city, and it matters more than any garment. A zipped crossbody worn on the inside away from the road handles the realistic risk here, which is opportunistic rather than confrontational.
Base layers for humid heat and cool evenings
Humidity is what makes cotton miserable in this climate: it soaks and stays soaked. Merino keeps moving moisture and does not hold smell across consecutive hot days, and it covers the cooler evenings off the gulf in spring and autumn. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women also serves as sun cover on a ferry deck.
Sun protection for the promenade and the boats
A wide brim sun hat and high factor sunscreen. The Lungomare has palms and no real shade, the ferry decks have none, and a day on the water burns people who did not think they were sunbathing.
Comfortable flat shoes
The centre is flat and you will walk a great deal of it, and the medieval lanes are stone and uneven. If you plan the Castello walk or the Cilento, waterproof hiking boots and merino wool socks.
Something that covers shoulders and knees
The Duomo and the smaller churches expect it, and in this humidity a light long-sleeved layer carried in a bag is more practical than a scarf.
A light rain layer
A packable rain jacket for women. Campanian autumn and winter rain arrives in short heavy bursts, and a ferry crossing in it is wet.
The small things
An insulated water bottle. Swimwear, for the coast rather than the city. A ferry timetable checked for the day rather than the season. AND THE ONE DECISION THAT SAVES THE MOST MONEY ON THIS COAST: base here and travel out, rather than paying Positano prices to sleep.
Essential Resources for Women in Salerno
Emergency numbers: 112 for all emergencies, the single European number for police, ambulance and fire. 113 for police directly. 1530 for the coastguard. Coverage is good throughout the city.
Main hospital or clinic: the Ospedale San Giovanni di Dio e Ruggi d'Aragona is the main hospital with a 24 hour emergency department and is the referral hospital for the whole province, including the Amalfi Coast. That is a genuine advantage of basing here rather than on the coast. Dial 112.
Official health authority: the Ministero della Salute, the Italian health ministry. Carry a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU card. Salerno's hospital is the referral centre for this whole province including the Amalfi Coast, so serious care is closer here than anywhere on the coast road
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Rome.
Official tourism authority: ENIT, the Italian national tourist board. And with the Salerno tourist office, which holds the seasonal ferry timetables to Amalfi and Positano, the Giardino della Minerva opening hours and the Luci d'Artista dates, all of which change
Salerno is the cheap base for the Amalfi Coast. Ferries to Amalfi take about 35 minutes and to Positano about 70, at a fraction of the cost of sleeping there.
The ferries are seasonal and do not run in winter or rough weather. Check the service before booking out of season.
Paestum is 40 minutes south and holds three Greek temples among the best preserved anywhere, with a fraction of the visitors of any comparable site.
You do not need a car here, which is unusual on this coast. Trains, ferries and buses all leave from the centre.
Solo women safety assessment: Salerno is a working university city with a large student population, which makes it a comfortable place to be alone: a woman eating by herself draws no attention, the evening passeggiata along the Lungomare is busy and mixed, and there is life on the streets until late. Less English is spoken than on the coast and street attention is more direct than in northern Italy without being threatening. ON CRIME it is a normal southern Italian city and markedly calmer than Naples, with petty theft the realistic risk: pickpocketing and bag-snatching around the station, on crowded buses and on the promenade on a busy evening, plus scooter-borne snatching, which is a regional pattern rather than a local one. A bag that closes, worn across the body on the side away from the road, with nothing in a back pocket and nothing left on a cafe table, handles almost all of it; the streets immediately around the station are run-down and are not somewhere to linger late, though passing through is fine. THE TRAFFIC IS THE SECOND CONSIDERATION and is assertive in the southern Italian way, with crossings treated as advisory and an expectation that pedestrians commit, so crossing decisively is safer than hesitating. Third, humid heat with no shade on the Lungomare. And note there is no real city beach: swimming happens along the coast, usually without lifeguards.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the Italy travel guide for women. For the coast this city serves, see the Amalfi Coast packing list and the Ravello packing list; for the obvious northern day trips the Pompeii packing list and the Naples packing list. For why wool rather than cotton in humid heat, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
