If, like me, you can’t help but be drawn to spend time in Italy then the Amalfi Coast is simply somewhere you have to visit with it’s beautiful towns and picture perfect landscapes that have been inshrined into modern culture through movies an TV. And if you also love to ride your bike then the Costiera Amalfitana has to be experienced at least once in your lifetime. I say experienced rather than ridden because it somehow manages to encapsulate both the best and worst experiences of driving in Italy. Best ridden just outside of tourist season as it southern Italy of still plenty warm but without the hassle that all the extra tourists bring.

The Amalfi Drive is best ridden from Sorrento to Salerno past the beautiful town of Positano, Atrani and others. The Amalfi coast towns most recently brought into fame in the TV series retelling The Talented Mr. Ripley and the last of the Equaliser movies with Denzel Washington.  You will find lots of twists and turns including some wonderful switchbacks and short stretches between them where you can find a safe spot to stop and take in the stunning views as you wind your way to the next piece of Italian beauty somehow defying gravity, as it rises up the mountain from the beach, full of tranquil life and cafes. Choose to ride this road with a more relaxed attitude and you will get on well.

The reason why I say this is also the worst ride is because the roads are narrow and at times you will get stuck behind a bus filled with sometimes local, sometimes tourists, and of course lots and lots of cars & it only takes one car driver ‘enjoying the view’ a little to much for a traffic jam to quickly build up. This can be a real damper to your riding enjoyment as you’ll be stuck on your bike just like everyone else, even pedestrians can get stuck in places. On top of that there were new rules to driving the road from 2023 – you can only drive every other day. Very Italian for sure, more on that later. The road is really well kept, it is a UNISCO world heritage site after all but part of that is the expected road works from time to time and the occasional bit of the mountain finding its way onto the road during the rainier months, although these are minimum so you should be lucky.  There are some narrow points along the ride where those big buses that jump out at you from round the corners can get stuck meaning someone has to reverse a bit to make space and it might be another bus so keep well clear if one is in front of you as they might reverse, local buses do drive at a good local speed though.

Now the wonderfully Italian solution to cut down on the number of tourists using the road: The Alternating License Plate System For Non-Resident Vehicles. This means from April to October if your place ends on an even number then you get to drive on one day & if it ends in an odd number it’s the other day. Yep so very Italian. In essence it just means your number/license plates last digit corresponds to the date, odd last digit means you can ride/drive on any date that ends with an odd number, the 7th 15th, 27th etc… with even number on your plate the opposite, so if you are driving with a group then check that before hand. The exception to this is if you have a booking in a hotel and are going to check-in or leaving from checking out. You could risk booking into a hotel in Sorrento and then book into a hotel in Salerno for the next day.

However way you choose to to this road you’ll get to experience the some of the most iconic tarmac Italy has to offer but it can come with many tradeoffs that you’ll have to balance out for yourself. Not a ride to be entered into lightly.

Get more information on the License Plate Rules by clicking on the buttons below. Information correct as of July 2025