Why this ride
122 km from Maiori to Maiori, about 2 h 32 of riding. It goes by way of Pompeii, Herculaneum and back through Pompeii.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Costiera Amalfitana and Herculaneum
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 122 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 32
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Amalfi Coast Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 42 km this is Amalfi Coast Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 42 km
- Named road
- Amalfi Coast Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Costiera Amalfitana
The Amalfi coast road is the reason many riders first dreamed of Italy, and it lives up to the legend and then some, with a few catches. The SS163 Amalfitana, carved into the cliffs above the sea in the nineteenth century, winds along the southern side of the Sorrento peninsula from Positano to Vietri sul Mare, with hundreds of bends, sheer drops, tunnels, bridges and villages clinging to the rocks. Amalfi itself, a small town of about five thousand people at the mouth of a ravine, was once a powerful maritime republic that rivalled Venice and Genoa in the Middle Ages, and its cathedral, with its striped facade and Arab-Norman cloister, is a reminder of that glory.
Read the complete Costiera Amalfitana write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Costiera Amalfitana is where the day begins. Next is Pompeii.
2. Pompeii
Nobody in Pompeii knew that Vesuvius was a volcano. The town had been shaken by a violent earthquake in 62 AD and was still rebuilding in August 79, when the mountain exploded, burying the streets under a rain of pumice and then a hot flow of ash. About two thousand people died in the town, and the ash preserved bread in ovens, graffiti on walls, ruts in the stone roads and the hollows left by bodies. Excavation began in 1748, and in the 1860s the archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli poured plaster into the hollows to produce the figures you see in the museum. UNESCO listed the archaeological areas of Pompeii and Herculaneum in 1997.
Read the complete Pompeii write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Pompeii comes up about 42 km into the recorded legs. Next is Herculaneum.
3. Herculaneum
On the morning of 24 August in AD 79, as the story is usually told, Vesuvius blew its top, and Herculaneum, a small seaside town on the Bay of Naples, was buried under around twenty metres of volcanic material. Pompeii gets the headlines because it was buried in ash and pumice, but Herculaneum was overwhelmed by superheated surges of gas and ash, and that violence did something kinder to the evidence: it carbonised wood. Roof beams, doors, beds, shop shutters and even food were preserved in a way that Pompeii cannot match, and the town feels smaller, closer and more intact.
Read the complete Herculaneum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 63 km into the recorded legs you reach Herculaneum. Next is back through Pompeii.
4. back through Pompeii
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pompeii write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Pompeii, late in the day. Next is Costiera Amalfitana.
5. Costiera Amalfitana
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Costiera Amalfitana write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Costiera Amalfitana. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Costiera Amalfitana to Pompeii
Costiera Amalfitana → Pompeii is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pompeii to Herculaneum
Pompeii → Herculaneum is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Herculaneum to back through Pompeii
Herculaneum → back through Pompeii is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Pompeii to Costiera Amalfitana
back through Pompeii → Costiera Amalfitana is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.