Driving the Amalfi Coast, Italy

"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678) 06/07/2016 at 13:55 • Filed to: None

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A particularly wide two-way street on the Amalfi Coast

Picture this: A winding coastline of jagged cliffs and beautiful vistas, a nice little rear-wheel-drive European econobox, and nothing to do but drive to your hearts content. The Amalfi coast is just like that except if you also had a death wish. Now I am not saying that it was a bad experience, but it is definitely not for the faint of heart. Lumbering tour buses around every corner, insane mopeds passing at all times with millimeters to spare, and careless pedestrians. Sure that might also sound like any Italian city center but just take the Italian driving culture, amp it up a few notches, and then add it to the incredible geography there, and you get this unique experience.

A typical thing to see while driving. Sucks to be that Merc, I experienced it more than once!

Even on it’s own, the roads would be harrowing at speed with one-way traffic. But since the geography only really allows one road here, it is of course “two-way”. Now I say that with quotation marks because there are many times where the tour buses will literally force you off the road or into reverse in order for traffic to continue moving in either direction. Some areas are so tight though, that even two small subcompacts or even a car and a moped could fit together. It just ends up being luck that two cars don’t try to pass there at the same time.

Waking up to this view every morning though makes it all worth it!

With all of that said though, the view is just ridiculous. There is not a place that you could be where you don’t have some sort of amazing view. The higher you get up, the more gorgeous it gets too. It makes it worth waking up at 530am just to admire the sunrise and then spend the day cheating death while you explore the area.

Just a very special place.

We only had two days there so we spent the first day in Positano and the second in Ravelo. Just spectacular views. I did not really drive all that much distance (the two towns are 20km apart) but thanks to the winding roads and traffic, I definitely got enough time to fully experience it. Eventually, I really did get used to the driving and passing cars within inches became somewhat natural. Every corner still felt like some sort of lottery but it got less white knuckling over time.

Yes, this is again a 2-way street with parked cars on it. Seems like a great place for tour buses!

Could I do it every day? Hell no! Would I recommend others to try it? Probably. See, the other forms of travel in the area (walking, bus, or ferry) take a lot of time to get around and are just quite inconvenient with the elevation changes. It is definitely a good idea to limit the driving and spend some time relaxing to enjoy the view but it is totally worth the experience to do the drive. Other people who were staying at our airbnb were impressed that I drove through Positano and made it out alive but it really isn’t that bad. I definitely recommend a small car but otherwise just be safe and watch out for mopeds.

Smart for four! Served us well for the nearly a week that we had it. Feels large here though!

Having had the option for a larger car at minimal cost to upgrade, I am glad that I turned that down. Sure a more powerful car might have been nice on the autostrade during the transits between places. But having the tiny smart car was great for the Amalfi coast. At some point, I definitely wished I had the Smart For Two instead but the For Four was much more useful with luggage. The manual transmission made for a very fun time since it really needed every gear to be rung out.

This just looks like the right car to have!

The last thing to consider is, would I go back? The answer to that is positively yes. The insanity of it all definitely eats away at you while driving but the views you get to see are so so worth it. That along with the actual fun of the experience makes it so worth it. I know I am a little nuts but I would love to go back there but with a car MUCH smaller and much older. It would have to be a classic Fiat or other Italian car just to make the whole thing even more authentic.

deprecated account > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 06/07/2016 at 14:03

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*plays Gran Turismo 4 internally*

Out, but with a W - has found the answer > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 06/07/2016 at 14:12

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Meh, if buses can pass, it’s clearly wide enough for three Smarts!

Just joking, it looks amazing. Haven’t gotten that far south yet, but I spent a couple of days in the Dolomites and Italian Alps last summer, so I’m somewhat familiar with narrow roads, Italian drivers and tour buses. The most harrowing road I encountered has to be the Passo di Gavia (check it out on Streetview, it’s on average about 1.6-1.8 cars wide), which I enjoyed so much, I’ll probably be doing it again in two weeks.

vondon302 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 06/07/2016 at 14:20

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Gorgeous.

Rico > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 06/07/2016 at 14:25

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I am living vicariously through your posts. You are living life man, I hope you continue to enjoy your time out there and more pics!!

Also after seeing your pics I’m about this close to selling drugs:

Nerd-Vol > deprecated account 06/07/2016 at 14:44

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My first thought.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Out, but with a W - has found the answer 06/07/2016 at 14:44

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Well it was not so much driving as it was "navigating". Tour buses being "capable" of passing was definitely a matter of luck. There were definitely streets where I my side mirror ended up in a bush in order to get around a normal sized car. Double parked cars were hilarious because the whole road would get blocked to all but a moped.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Rico 06/07/2016 at 14:48

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Hah, thanks! I could be building a larger savings account or paying off student loans faster but instead I am traveling places. I figure it is a better use of my money and as long as bills get paid, I think I am doing it right. Flights to Europe can be cheap as hell though if you plan it right. Round trip was right around $500 for me!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > deprecated account 06/07/2016 at 14:49

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Now I really want to have a tour bus to drive in GT4 lol. Then I could reenact the drifting tour buses on the ring!

Rico > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 06/07/2016 at 14:50

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Whoa how far in advance did you book? That’s crazy cheap.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > vondon302 06/07/2016 at 14:50

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As I said to my girlfriend every time she said the same thing about these places, "Not as gorgeous as you!" I think she got sick of that by the end of the trip lol.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Rico 06/07/2016 at 15:09

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I believe we had booked in late January for the late May/ early June flights. So it was a pretty normal advance booking date for international flights. We managed to get them so cheap by using Google Flights explore destinations feature and planning our trip around cheap flights instead of picking the destination first. First, it was cheapest flight from the NY area (so Newark or JFK) to the cheapest location in Europe. This mostly came up with Copenhagen, Bergen (Norway), and London. Then, we looked at all of the options within anywhere in Europe that we could get affordably from one of those airports and found out that Bergen to Rome was only about $50 via Norwegian (with a $200 flight NY to Bergen). Since we had an 18 hour “layover”, we decided that would explore Norway for a day. Then to get home, we planned our trip around how the cheapest way to do that would be. By luck, we found a nonstop flight Naples to JFK for $250 via Meridiana 10 days later so that was the trip planned for us! The rest of the details for where to go followed after that.

So overall, my advice is to use google flights and be flexible with your destination. We were pretty much up for exploring wherever and didn’t bring much luggage so it worked out perfectly.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Out, but with a W - has found the answer 06/07/2016 at 15:25

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SP29 seems friggin awesome! Even just picking a random place on google maps on street view is just great. That road width looks eerily similar too haha. But at least there are fewer buildings in the way.

Out, but with a W - has found the answer > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 06/07/2016 at 15:34

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Fewer buildings indeed, you really get an uninterrupted view while you plummet to your death. Truly an amazing road, I was coming from the north (spent the night on the Stelvio), and was blown away by the desolate landscape on the top. Worst piece of patchy asphalt I encountered on the trip though, but that might’ve been good, since it prevented ambitious driving.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Out, but with a W - has found the answer 06/07/2016 at 16:05

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Hmm, and that area is only about 4 hours from Venice. My girlfriend really wants to visit Venice in the near future so I could definitely swing that drive into the trip! I imagine the winter weather up there probably has something to do with road surface conditions.

Rico > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 06/07/2016 at 16:26

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I’ve never thought of doing it this way and what is the deal with Norway and cheap flights??? Some girl I met in Paris a few weeks ago told me she visits her friends in Norway once a month for 80 euros round trip!

Out, but with a W - has found the answer > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 06/07/2016 at 16:48

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If you’re in Venice, I’d actually suggest to just head north to the Dolomites for a day trip, it’s an area with nothing but squiggly bits. You can actually drive some of the best passes over there in a loop: Passo di Campolongo - Passo Gardena - Passo Sella - Passo Pordoi (as seen in Clarkson’s review of the Disco Volante).

If you are willing to spend a night (or two) outside Venice, head further east and you’ll reach Bozen/Bolzano, in which one of my all-time favourite roads begins: the Penserjoch. It’s not the prettiest, nor the most challenging, but it’s got a bit of everything: you start off with a canyon-like technical bit, dotted with tunnels, progress through a sweeping high-speed valley road and end with a quick climb up the mountain, with perfect sight lines.

Once down the other side, turn to the south again (Jaufenpass) and head towards the Timmelsjoch. The Austrian side is a toll road (and worth it if you’ve got the time), but the best views are on the Italian side.

You can then continue to the Stelvio (highest paved pass in Europe), but try to get to it at the end of the day (6 pm) for less traffic. Head up the west side, or take the Umbrail from the north. The east side is the famous one with all the hairpins, but it’s the dullest thing you’ll ever do. You can stay at one of the hotels on the top if you’d like, this’ll give you the chance to have the pass all for yourself early in the morning (and it’s a great place for stargazing as well).

Finally head south for the Gavia, and continue south to Garda lake before turning back to Venice, and you’ll have had an amazing slice of driver’s heaven!

Thomas Donohue > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 06/07/2016 at 17:28

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Very cool. A few years back I rented a 125cc scooter for the day, and drove the coast from Sorrento down to Positano and back. It was insane, it was awesome, and I still have nightmares of the wet cobblestone curves and crazy drivers. Next time I would choose a Fiat 500 or something. Preferably Abarth, but I don’t think they rent those.

Enjoy the rest of your trip.

Nauraushaun > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 06/07/2016 at 23:48

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Very different to the tight but empty roads in Gran Turismo’s Costa di Amalfi. I loved that track, it’s a shame such awesome roads are so permanently clogged.

I didn’t know there was a new ForFour!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Out, but with a W - has found the answer 06/08/2016 at 10:25

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This sounds like an awesome trip itinerary. I gotta figure out a way to get a great car for a decent price for that! Got any suggestions for rental companies that would work for that? I really like Turo (relayrides) in the US but curious if Europe has anything like that. Seems so difficult to get something other than a newish econobox from the standard rental places.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Rico 06/08/2016 at 10:27

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Well it seems like flying within Europe in general is very cheap. Especially compared to driving or taking the train around there. But yeah Norway, especially with Norwegian Air, seems to have some cheap cheap flights.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Nauraushaun 06/08/2016 at 10:28

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I think I am going to plug in my PS2 just to play this when I get home from work today. Or did they redo this track in GT6? Because that would definitely be easier for me to play lol.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Thomas Donohue 06/08/2016 at 10:31

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Well it was the end of my trip, but a very great way to end it! Yeah you definitely are insane to try and moped there haha. I think if I were a local there, I would definitely do it just because it’s so efficient to get around. But otherwise, just a small car is perfect. I felt bad for the giant Mercedes I saw every once in a while. Not only is the car huge but also expensive so scraping it along a wall would be much worse.

Out, but with a W - has found the answer > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 06/08/2016 at 11:37

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Not really aware of any Turo alternatives (perhaps someone on Oppo knows one?), but even with the standard econoboxes you should have a lot of fun, it’s just foot to the floor as much as you can. You might be able to find something interesting in the Hertz Dream Collection, but that’ll be costly. You can also search for local/niche rental companies, they occasionally have some very cheap and/or quirky offers.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Out, but with a W - has found the answer 06/08/2016 at 12:58

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well yeah im not really looking for something fast or fancy. I am just talking about renting something older with more character. I never mind that a car is slow, I just hate the numbness of some econo cars. It is nice to be reminded of how raw my Miata feels when I get home though. Even like 90s cars though just feel way more like the controls are connected to the car, even if it all goes relatively slowly. I am just curious if the European rental companies are any better than the American based ones. It seemed like Budget who I rented from had a lot of automatic cars or larger wagons that would have not fit on those roads. Seemed to me like they were catering to the typical American.

Out, but with a W - has found the answer > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 06/08/2016 at 14:05

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Yeah, I know what you’re saying. Normally Europcar, Sixt and the like should mainly have small manual hatchbacks (Up!, 500, Adam, ...) that should still feel a bit more raw than stuff like a Golf. It’s possible that if you indicate you’re from the US, their sites primarily display automatics? It wouldn’t be the first case of online profiling.

Anyway, there are also a lot of classic car rental companies in Italy, so they might have something affordable (and very cool!) as well.

Nauraushaun > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 06/08/2016 at 19:02

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They didn’t for 5 or 6 :( But I’m pretty sure it’s in the PSP version too ;)