Naples to Positano: Sea or Road, and the Stairs Between

Naples to Positano by sea or by road: where each one leaves you

• By sea, to November 3, 2026 (nothing later published yet): NLG's direct boat leaves Molo Beverello at 10:00 and 15:35 daily, €32 one way plus €5 for each bag beyond one small one, and lands you at sea level, the bottom of the town. Positano Jet's timetable adds sailings to October 31.
• By road: no SITA bus runs from Naples to Positano. The cheap way is the train to Sorrento, then SITA bus 5070 (its September 14, 2026 timetable has no end date), which stops up on the road, at the top of the town.
• With suitcases: a transfer booked ahead (from about €200 a car) or a Naples taxi at its fixed €145 fare gets you as close as the road does; if your hotel is off the road, expect stairs.

How to get from Naples to Positano comes down to the month and your bags: the direct ferry while its published timetables run, the train and bus via Sorrento once they end, and a car for heavy suitcases. Positano has a bottom and a top, and the boat and the bus leave you at opposite ends of the stairs.

The table sets the four ways side by side: where each one leaves from and where it leaves you. Times, fares and bag costs follow in each way's own section below.

Light bags and a steady stomach suit the boat, and a tight budget suits the train and bus. Suitcases, a group of three or four, or a late landing are where the car earns its price.

The ferry from Naples to Positano: direct, seasonal, and a fee per suitcase

The ferry from Naples to Positano leaves from Molo Beverello, and NLG and Positano Jet both sail it direct: NLG on a timetable that runs to November 3, 2026, Positano Jet on one that ends October 31. NLG's 10:00 from Naples is due in Positano at 11:35.

Arriving by train or plane, plan getting to Molo Beverello from the station or the airport the night before, not on the curb outside arrivals.

The table holds both companies' 2026 sailings between Molo Beverello and Positano, in each direction, with the dates each timetable covers; fares and what your bags cost follow right after it.

NLG's fares are €32 one way and €65 round trip for an adult. One small bag rides free, up to 50x30x15 cm and 5 kg; every other bag pays €5 each way, and loading, stowing and watching it on board is your job. Tickets are sold at NLG's offices at Molo Beverello and at the Porto di Positano. Positano Jet charges €31 for an adult, with hand luggage free and larger luggage extra, and its timetable notes that times and prices may change.

If you're traveling light, the boat is the best way in: it skips the coast road, though not the sea, and it can leave you properly seasick. In high summer the ferries on this coast run packed, a miserable place to stand with two suitcases, so count the fees above and the stairs at the other end first. Positano Jet warns that rough seas can change its departures; on a windy day, keep the bus or a car as plan B.

I took the morning direct boat from Naples in early October. Around the tip of the peninsula the sea got up, the fast boat slammed into every wave, the open deck was no place to stay, and inside the cabin people were getting seasick. My backpack was no trouble; a suitcase would have been, because Positano's landing is a short concrete pier, and you haul your bags off onto it through a tight crowd.

Train and SITA bus via Sorrento: the cheap way, in two legs

No SITA bus runs from Naples to Positano, so the cheap way comes in two legs: first to Sorrento, then SITA's bus 5070 along the coast road to Positano. The first leg, the Circumvesuviana or the airport bus to Sorrento, has its own guide, so this one picks you up in Sorrento.

In Sorrento, the bus leaves from its terminus on Piazza G.B. De Curtis, the Circumvesuviana station's square. On the September 14, 2026 timetable, line 5070 runs to Positano 27 times a day Monday to Saturday and 17 on Sundays and holidays, taking 25 - 50 minutes to the Chiesa Nuova stop, depending on the run. The first leaves at 06:30 (Monday to Saturday) and the last at 19:50, or 19:15 on Sundays and holidays. In Positano it calls at two stops, Chiesa Nuova and Sponda.

Single tickets are sold at partner ticket offices or online through Unico Campania. The other option is COSTIERASITA, €10 for 24 hours of SITA buses from its first validation, Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi included: first stamped at 16:00, it still works until 16:00 the next day. It's personal, so write your name and birth date on it in pen. Whatever you hold, validate it on board, on every bus.

A carry-on up to 50x30x25 cm rides free if you keep it with you. Every other bag needs its own €1.50 ticket and goes in the hold, which you load yourself, if there's room. Two suitcases and a full bus is where the cheap way starts charging in other currencies.

In season the buses can be very full, and a full one sometimes drives straight past the stop. In mid-September I got on one with only a backpack, and the hold was already packed solid with other travelers' luggage; I spent the whole ride standing in the narrow aisle with the pack clamped between my feet, hemmed in on every side, and got off worn out. The coast road turns stomachs too, whatever you ride it in. With light bags and an early start, the bus does the job; with suitcases in August, it's the car's turn. There's also a boat for the second leg: Alilauro sails from Sorrento to Positano until October 31.

A private transfer or a Naples taxi: when the car is worth it

A private transfer from Naples to Positano costs from about €200 for a car of up to four, booked ahead, and takes about an hour and a half by the transfer company's estimate.

For a group with suitcases, the car is worth the money: no buses to squeeze onto, no driving to deal with. Four adults with a suitcase each pay €148 one way on NLG's boat at the fares above; a car starts at about €200 and is booked for your arrival, not a timetable. Check the class when you book: the cheapest car may not fit four suitcases, and a class that does costs more.

Book a standard car at least 16 hours ahead. At the airport, the price typically includes 1 hour 30 minutes of waiting after your scheduled landing. Standard bags usually go up to 158 cm in total dimensions; put anything bigger in the order comment. Cancellation is typically free up to 16 hours before for standard cars, 24 for higher classes. From Naples Central Station, the same company also starts at about €200. The car gets you only as close as the road does, so ask your hotel how far that is from its door.

A Naples taxi will run you to Positano at a fixed €145 per cab, one way, bags included, if you ask for the fixed fare before the ride starts. Autostrada (highway) tolls are extra, and so is €5 for more than four passengers or if you ask for a seven-to-nine-seat car; the driver must give you a receipt before setting off. It's cheaper than the transfer, which adds a car booked ahead and typical waiting time after your landing.

Driving yourself means the same coast road, with nobody else to blame for the bends. Before you book a rental car, settle parking with your hotel; a car is only as useful as the place it sleeps.

Arriving in Positano: the port below or the road above

Positano has two arrival points. The boats come in at sea level, at the bottom of the town; the SITA bus stops up on the road, at Chiesa Nuova and at Sponda, and a car gets no closer than the road does. Between the bottom and the top are the stairs.

The ferry pier is at the Porto di Positano, on the edge of Spiaggia Grande. Positano Jet calls it the Spiaggia Grande pier; NLG's ticket office is at the same port. You step off at sea level, so if your hotel is higher up, the climb starts the moment you're ashore.

Coming from Sorrento, the bus is heading on to Amalfi and calls at Positano (Chiesa Nuova) first, then Positano (Sponda); on the way back toward Sorrento, Sponda comes first. Which one is nearer your hotel is a question for the hotel, so ask when you book.

From the port to the Chiesa Nuova stop is about 770 m, about 10 minutes by a route planner, on flat-ground time. The planner doesn't count steps, and Positano is generous with them: be ready to walk a lot of stairs.

If you have suitcases and a hotel up the hill, arrange the bags before you arrive. Positano Luggage Service, a local company, transports and stores luggage, and it also lists transport for elderly and disabled travelers. It publishes no prices, so ask for a quote, and where it meets you, when you book.

I first saw Positano from the open deck of the boat from Naples. We rounded one more big headland, the coast fell back, and there it was: a huge spill of colored houses, stacked one above another straight up the cliff and running all the way down to the blue water. It didn't look like a real place. What I kept thinking about was the people who had looked at a drop that steep and decided to build a whole town on it.

The road arrival has its own reward. The bus sets you down at the top, and from the stop the town lies below you, stairs and all. Look at it properly there; for the next stretch you'll be watching your feet.

Positano to Naples and the airport: the last boat and the evening cutoffs

From Positano to Naples, the last direct boat leaves at 16:24 (16:35 from May 1) while NLG's timetable runs; for Naples airport, the easy way is a car. The last Circumvesuviana from Sorrento to Naples leaves at 22:02, and on the timetables the last SITA bus from Chiesa Nuova due in Sorrento before it is the 21:05 Monday to Saturday, or the 20:50 on Sundays and holidays, both due at 21:40. Don't plan on that last pairing: take an earlier bus, because in season a full one sometimes doesn't stop.

The table gives the last ride back from Positano by each way, on the timetables in force in October 2026, and where each one leaves you.

From Positano to Naples airport, the boat beats the bus, especially in the afternoon: a morning or midday boat, then across Naples, suits an evening flight. For a cheap day, take the bus to Sorrento in time for the last airport bus, though its company recommends boarding at least five hours before your flight.

An early flight, suitcases, or no boat at all is the case for a car. The same transfer company runs Positano to Naples airport from about €200 a car, more for a minibus, and a hotel pickup typically includes 15 minutes of waiting. Set the pickup time from your flight, not from the boat timetable.

Naples to Positano FAQ