Can You Do Rome and the Amalfi Coast in 5 Days? Yes, With Three Cuts

Yes, you can do Rome and the Amalfi Coast in 5 days, but only as a trade: two nights in Rome, two on the coast, one transfer between them, and no Pompeii. Add Naples, Pompeii, and Capri to that list and the trip stops being a trip and becomes a series of connections.

The transfer is not the problem. Rome to Naples is about an hour by fast train. The problem is the stretch after Naples, which is slower than the map suggests, and the fixed-time bookings on the Rome side, which do not care about your schedule.

This is a judgment about feasibility, and we will mark where the judgment starts. The facts under it (train times, ticket rules, opening hours) are linked to their sources.

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The Core Facts

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Why this combination is tempting, and why it is tight

Rome and the Amalfi Coast look close on a map because the high-speed train is so quick. Rome to Naples is about 70 minutes, per Wikipedia's article on the Rome-Naples high-speed line.

That fast leg gets you to Naples, not to the coast. Everything after Naples is slower, and it is where most 5-day plans quietly fall over.

Five days is also not five days. The day you land and the day you leave are partial. We treat it as three full days plus two partial ones. That is our working assumption, and it is the budget the rest of this page spends.

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The transit math

Leg	Published time	Source
Rome to Naples (high-speed)	about 70 minutes	Wikipedia
Naples to Sorrento (Circumvesuviana)	about 68 minutes; roughly an hour for the 47 km line	Wikipedia
Amalfi Drive (SS163), Vietri sul Mare to Positano	40 km, single road	Wikipedia

Three things follow from these numbers.

Rome to the coast is a half-day move, not an hour. Seventy minutes to Naples plus roughly an hour more to Sorrento is already over two hours of rail, before you add the walk to the station, the connection, and the last leg to a hotel. Our estimate is a half day door to door. We have not put a number on the final bus or ferry leg to Positano or Amalfi because published times vary widely with traffic and season, and because Wikipedia notes only that buses and ferries run along the coast. Treat the last 40 km as the slowest part of the trip, whatever the map says.

The coast is a single road. The Amalfi Drive is the only land route in. A 40 km road is easy to underestimate because the distance sounds trivial. It is not a place to schedule a tight connection.

The fast train makes the first leg deceptive. A plan that is correct on the Rome to Naples leg and wrong on the Naples to Positano leg looks fine in a list. That is the exact failure this page is meant to help you catch.

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What a realistic 5-day version looks like

The nights are our judgment. The sights it leans on are sourced in the next section.

Day	Where	What
1	Rome	Arrive, walk, early dinner
2	Rome	Colosseum with a pre-booked slot, Forum, and one other anchor
3	Rome to the coast	Early train to Naples, onward to the coast, afternoon off
4	Amalfi Coast	One town, one boat or one walk, not three
5	Coast to departure	Leave from the Naples side or return to Rome

That is two nights in Rome, two on the coast, and one real move. If you fly into Rome and out of Naples (or the reverse), you remove the return transfer entirely. That is the biggest saving in the plan.

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Where a 5-day plan breaks

The failures here are the fixed-time bookings, not the trains.

The Colosseum. The official site says sales open 30 days before the visit date, a reserved time slot is compulsory for the Colosseum, and tickets are issued in the holder's name, with ID to be shown at the entrance. Hours from 25 October 2026 to 28 February 2027 are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, with last entry at 3:30 pm. It is closed only on 25 December and 1 January. Because you are on a 5-day clock, one missed booking window takes out your only Rome anchor day.

The Vatican Museums. Aside from the last Sunday of each month, the museums are not open on Sundays. The Vatican's own page lists the last-Sunday opening as 9:00 am to 2:00 pm with final entry at 12:30 pm, and free. A plan that lists "Vatican Museums, Sunday morning" is wrong unless it is the last Sunday, and the free day will be crowded.

Pompeii. The official Pompeii site lists winter (15 October to 15 March) as 9:00 to 17:00 with last entry at 15:30, and summer (16 March to 14 October) with last entry at 17:30. Tickets are nominative, and in summer the park caps entries per time slot. Add a Rome to Naples train in the morning and you are arriving at Pompeii in the afternoon with, in winter, very little time before last entry. This is why it is first on the cut list.

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What to cut, in order

The ordering is judgment.

1. Pompeii. It needs a half day on its own, it sits off your route, and in winter the last-entry time is early.
2. Naples as a stop. Use it as a connection. A real Naples visit competes with the coast for your two remaining days.
3. Capri and a second coastal town. One town, one boat or one walk.
4. A second Rome anchor. A single well-timed Colosseum slot beats two rushed attractions.

What you should not cut is the buffer on transfer day. The day you move is the day a late train or a slow bus costs you the evening.

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Your action plan

1. Book the Colosseum slot as soon as your dates are fixed. Sales open 30 days ahead and tickets carry the holder's name.
2. Check the day of the week for anything you plan in Rome. The Vatican Museums do not open on most Sundays.
3. Decide your arrival and departure airports together. An open-jaw ticket removes a transfer.
4. Schedule the coast transfer as a half-day. Do not place a booked activity on the day you move.
5. Run the finished plan through a check. The sequence that looks fine in a list (train, bus, check-in, dinner) is where a hidden gap lives. Paste it into Vet My Itinerary and it will flag tight connections and closed venues.

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Related guides

• Amalfi Coast guide -- where to stay, what to skip, and how the towns connect
• 3 days in Rome -- if Rome is the main event
• Italy travel guide -- the broader overview
• Is 7 days enough for Japan? -- the same test applied to a different trip
• ChatGPT built your itinerary: what it gets wrong -- why plans like this look right on paper

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can you do Rome and the Amalfi Coast in 5 days?

Yes, if you treat it as two nights in Rome, two on the coast, and one transfer, and you drop Pompeii, Naples, and Capri. The high-speed train from Rome to Naples is about 70 minutes (Wikipedia), but the leg from Naples to the coast is where the time goes.

How long does it take to get from Rome to the Amalfi Coast?

Plan on a half day. The high-speed train to Naples is about 70 minutes, and the Circumvesuviana from Naples to Sorrento is about 68 minutes (Wikipedia). The final leg along the coast road depends on traffic and season, so we do not quote a single figure for it.

Is 5 days enough for Rome and the Amalfi Coast?

It is enough for a trimmed version. It is not enough for Rome, Naples, Pompeii, and the coast together. A transfer day plus two partial arrival and departure days leaves you roughly three full days, which is two Rome anchors and one coast day. That is our working assumption.

Should I go to Rome or the Amalfi Coast first?

Rome first is usually easier if you are flying into Rome, because it keeps the fixed-time bookings early and the flexible coast days late. If you can fly open-jaw, finishing on the Naples side avoids a return transfer. The choice is judgment, not a rule.

Can I visit Pompeii on the way from Rome to the Amalfi Coast?

You can, but we would cut it from a 5-day plan. Pompeii's winter last entry is 15:30, summer 17:30, tickets are nominative, and it needs a half day to see properly. Stacking it on the transfer day is how a 5-day plan breaks.

When should I book the Colosseum?

As soon as your dates are fixed. The official site says sales open 30 days before the visit date, a reserved time slot is compulsory, and tickets are issued in the holder's name.