Salerno's cruise terminal (Stazione Marittima) is central, and the city's position gives you the best choice of any cruise port in southern Italy: the Amalfi Coast by ferry (Positano 70min, Amalfi 35min — the approach BY SEA is the way the coast was designed to be seen), Paestum by train (30min — the 3 best-preserved Greek temples in the world + buffalo mozzarella farms), Pompeii by train (35min — the frozen city), or Salerno itself (the medieval medical school, the Norman cathedral, the Luci d'Artista in winter). The Campanian tip: in southern Italy, the waiter who brings your limoncello at the end of the meal is offering you a gift. Accept it. Drink it. Say "Salute!" And leave €2-3 on the table. The limoncello was free but the gesture was priceless. The cycle of generosity: the oste gives, the guest receives, the guest tips, and the oste gives more next time. This is the ancient Mediterranean economy of hospitality. It's been running for 3,000 years.
Plan my Salerno cruise day →Travelmar ferry from Salerno Porto to Amalfi (35min, €8) or Positano (70min, €14). Option A (Amalfi + Ravello): Ferry to Amalfi. Walk the waterfront, the Duomo (Arab-Norman, the Cloister of Paradise with its interlaced arches, €3). Bus up to Ravello (25min, €1.30) — Villa Cimbrone Terrazza dell'Infinito (the viewpoint — €8), Villa Rufolo gardens. Lunch in Ravello (€25-40). Return bus to Amalfi, ferry to Salerno. Option B (Positano): Ferry to Positano. Walk down through the village to the beach (Marina Grande). Swim. Lunch at a beachfront restaurant (€25-40 — the view IS the restaurant). Ferry back to Salerno by 4pm. The ferry approach: as you approach Positano from the sea, the village cascades down the cliff in a vertical rainbow of pastel buildings. This is the photograph. Have your camera ready as the ferry rounds the headland.
Train Salerno→Paestum (30min, €4). Walk 10min to the archaeological site. The 3 temples: Temple of Hera II ("Neptune," 450 BC — the most complete Doric temple in the world), the Basilica (Hera I, 550 BC), Temple of Athena (500 BC). The Museo Archeologico: The Tomb of the Diver (480 BC — the ONLY surviving Greek painting from the Classical era. A young man diving into eternity). €12 combo. After the temples: drive or taxi to a buffalo mozzarella farm (Vannulo, 5min — watch the production, taste the freshest mozzarella in the world, €5-8). This combination — 2,500-year-old Greek temples + mozzarella still warm from the vat — is one of the 10 best day experiences in Italy. Return train by 3:30pm.
Train Salerno→Pompei (35min, Trenitalia — NOT the Circumvesuviana, which goes to a different station). For the Pompeii educational itinerary, see our school trip guide — the route works for any visitor. Highlights in 4 hours: Forum, Thermopolium, Lupanare, Villa dei Misteri, plaster casts at the Orto dei Fuggiaschi. €16. Return to Salerno by 3pm.
Walk from port (5min) to Via dei Mercanti (the medieval main street — palazzi, churches, the atmosphere of a real southern Italian city that isn't performing for tourists). Duomo di San Matteo (11th century): The atrium with 28 Roman columns from Paestum, the bronze doors from Constantinople (1099), the crypt with St. Matthew's relics. Free. Giardino della Minerva: The terraced medieval herb garden of the Scuola Medica Salernitana — the first organized medical school in Europe. €3. Castello di Arechi (hilltop): Panoramic views over the Gulf of Salerno, the Amalfi Coast visible, and Paestum in the distance. €5. Lunch: Vicolo della Neve (Via Vicolo della Neve — €25-35, traditional Campanian). Luci d'Artista (November-January): If your cruise is in winter, Salerno's Christmas lights are the most spectacular in Italy — artist-designed illuminations covering the entire centro. Free. Return to ship by 5pm.