If you are planning to drive along the Amalfi Coast in 2026, check your licence plate before you check your hotel booking. The SS163, the famous coastal road that threads Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello together, is under the alternating licence plate rule again this year, following the long-running ANAS traffic management framework. The rule bans certain plates on certain dates between 10:00 and 18:00, it now runs from Easter right through the October weekends, and it catches out more hotel guests than you might expect. Here is exactly when it applies, who is exempt, and why ferries are almost always the smarter move anyway.
The Short Version
In 2026 the alternate-plate rule on the SS163 applies from 10:00 to 18:00 on: March 30 to April 6, April 25 to May 2, weekends and holidays in June and July, every day in August and September, and weekends in October (the remaining dates are October 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25 and 31). Odd dates ban odd-ending plates, even dates ban even-ending plates. Motorcycles and scooters are exempt. Hotel guests are exempt only for arrival and departure movements, NOT for all-day driving. Arrive before 10 AM or after 6 PM with your booking confirmation in hand. For day trips between towns, use ferries or SITA buses.
- The 2026 calendar
- How the odd and even rule works
- Who is exempt
- What to carry
- October and the rest of the year
- Campers, coaches and ZTLs
- Rental cars and foreign licences
- Ferries
- Buses and taxis
- Parking
- Drive or not?
- FAQs
Amalfi Coast alternate plate calendar for 2026
The 2026 windows on the SS163 are set by ANAS ordinance 340 of 2019, which is renewed with the same pattern each year. All of them operate only between 10:00 and 18:00. Outside that band, any vehicle can circulate freely. The dates below are those published for 2026 by the coastal municipalities and summarized in the Distretto Turistico Costa d’Amalfi summary of the ANAS ordinance.
| Period | Days the rule applies | 2026 dates |
|---|---|---|
| Easter week | Every day | March 30 to April 6 |
| Liberation Day and Labour Day bridge | Every day | April 25 to May 2 |
| June | Saturdays, Sundays and holidays | May 30 and 31, June 1 and 2, then June 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21, 27, 28 |
| July | Saturdays and Sundays | July 4, 5, 11, 12, 18, 19, 25, 26 |
| August | Every day | August 1 to 31 |
| September | Every day | September 1 to 30 |
| October | Saturdays, Sundays and holidays | October 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25 and 31 |
The first spring window covers Easter week and Easter Monday. The second covers the Liberation Day and Labour Day holiday bridges. From the end of May the rule returns at weekends, becomes daily for the two busiest months, and then drops back to weekends for October. From November until the following Easter there is no plate rule at all.
The restriction framework is not new. It has run on the Amalfi Coast in various forms for years under ANAS authority and is coordinated with the 14 municipalities of the area, the 13 on the coast plus Agerola inland above Amalfi. The aim is crowd and traffic management on a road that simply cannot handle peak holiday volumes, and the 10:00 to 18:00 window targets the midday period when day-tripper pressure is highest.
What the odd and even rule means for your vehicle
The logic is simple once you read it the right way round, and many websites get it backwards. On dates with an odd calendar number (April 25, May 1, October 11, October 31), vehicles whose last plate digit is odd are banned. On even dates (October 10, October 24), even-ending plates are banned. In other words, your plate must be the opposite of the date. The digit that counts is the last number on the plate, so on an Italian plate such as AB 123 CD it is the 3, not the final letter.
The rule is enforced along roughly 40 km of the SS163 from Vietri sul Mare to Positano, passing Cetara, Maiori, Minori, Atrani, Amalfi, Conca dei Marini, Furore and Praiano. Additional municipalities may impose their own supplementary measures during peak days, so always check local notices if you are staying in a specific town. The road from Sorrento to Positano on the western side and the mountain roads down from Agerola and the Valico di Chiunzi are the approaches where most visitors meet the first checkpoint.
Who is actually exempt
The exemption list is narrower than casual readers assume. Residents of the 14 municipalities are exempt. Disabled-badge holders with the badge holder physically on board are exempt. Taxis and NCC chauffeur vehicles with valid authorization are exempt. Emergency and police vehicles are exempt. Non-resident workers with valid employment contracts in those municipalities are exempt for their commute. Non-resident homeowners can be exempt once they have obtained an attestation from the town hall.
Motorcycles, scooters, and two-wheeled vehicles are exempt entirely. This is why you see so many scooters along the coast during restricted windows. If you are a confident two-wheel rider, this is the one legitimate way to cruise the SS163 on a restricted day, though the road’s blind corners and oncoming tour buses demand serious attention regardless of your vehicle.
The exemption that catches most tourists out is the accommodation-guest rule. Hotel and B&B guests with a valid booking are exempt, but only for necessary arrival and departure movements. That does not mean you can drive to dinner in Ravello and back to your hotel in Amalfi at 3 PM on a restricted day. The exemption covers check-in on your arrival date and check-out on your departure date. If you want to drive around the coast during your stay on a restricted day, your plate still has to be a permitted one for that date. A rental car has no special status: it is treated like any other private car.
What to carry if you drive
If you are exempt under the accommodation-guest rule or any other category, carry documentary proof. Your hotel booking confirmation printed or on your phone screen. Your rental car contract showing your name. Your passport or ID. If you are a worker, your employment contract. Disabled-badge holders must have the physical badge visible and the badge holder on board. Verbal claims to police at a checkpoint are not enough. The system works on document verification at the roadside.
For travelers using the Amalfi Coast as part of a wider Italy itinerary, the practical move is often to skip the rental car entirely for the coast section. The SS163 is notorious for slow traffic, scarce parking, expensive parking where it exists, and white-knuckle encounters with tour buses. The restriction rules are only one reason among many to leave the car behind, and our comparison of the coast with a car or without one sets out the trade-offs.
Driving the Amalfi Coast in October
October is when the question comes up most, because visitors assume the rules ended with summer. They did not: in 2026 the plate rule still applies on October 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25 and 31, from 10:00 to 18:00. Monday to Friday in October there is no plate restriction, which makes midweek the easiest time of the whole season to travel the road by car: traffic is lighter, parking is easier to find, and the light is better. Two cautions apply. Ferries run a reduced timetable from mid-October and stop for the winter around the start of November, with sailings cancelled in rough seas, so check the day before. And autumn rain brings occasional rockfall closures on the SS163, which ANAS announces at short notice.
Other limits on the coastal road: campers, coaches and ZTLs
The plate rule is only one of the regulations on this road. A separate ANAS ordinance (337 of 2019) limits heavy and oversized vehicles on the SS163, with daytime bans on motorhomes, caravans and trailers and length limits and time slots for tourist coaches, which is why organized tours run on smaller buses here. If you are touring the region in a camper, plan to leave it in Salerno, Sorrento or Agerola and continue by ferry or bus. Each town also has its own ZTL, a limited-traffic zone: in Positano the lower lanes toward the beach are closed to non-residents, in Amalfi the streets behind the Duomo are pedestrian, and Ravello’s center is reached on foot from the car parks below the tunnel. Vehicle access to a hotel inside a ZTL has to be arranged by the hotel in advance.
Rental cars and foreign licences
Car rental companies do not let you choose a plate, so you cannot guarantee an odd or even number at pickup; you can only look at the plate you are given and plan your days around it. If the car is collected in Naples, Salerno or Sorrento on the day you check in, the arrival exemption covers the drive to the hotel, and the same applies on the day you leave. For the days in between, treat the car as parked on every restricted date unless the plate happens to fit.
Visitors from outside the EU, including Americans, Canadians and Australians, can drive in Italy on their own licence for up to a year, but Italian law requires it to be accompanied by an International Driving Permit or a sworn translation; the IDP is issued at home before travel (in the United States by AAA) and rental desks and police can ask for it. Most rental companies want the driver to be at least 21, often 25 for larger categories, with a credit card in the driver’s name. Choose the smallest car that fits your luggage: on this road a compact is the right tool.
The ferry is almost always the better way along the Amalfi Coast
Travelmar operates the coast ferry network from Salerno, with its spring 2026 timetable running from April 1 and services continuing into the autumn. Salerno to Amalfi takes about 35 minutes. Amalfi to Positano takes about 25 minutes. Salerno to Positano takes about 70 minutes. Intermediate stops serve Cetara, Minori, and Maiori, and other operators link Positano and Amalfi with Sorrento, Capri and Naples. The ferries run regardless of the alternate-plate rule, carry you directly past the scenery that makes the coast famous, and drop you at walking distance from each town’s main square.
For a coastal day trip on a restricted date, a ferry is faster, cheaper, less stressful, and produces better photographs than driving. Fares are roughly €10 to €15 for a single hop between the main towns, tickets are sold online and at the pier kiosks, and in August the mid-morning sailings sell out, so buy the day before.
Buses and taxis from Positano to Amalfi and Ravello
Combine the boat with the SITA Sud bus network for the stretches ferries do not cover (Amalfi to Ravello, for example, which requires the uphill bus or a taxi), and you have a complete car-free day without having to glance at your plate number. Buses run the whole road between Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi and Salerno, tickets must be bought before boarding from a tabaccheria or the SITA app, and day passes are sold under the Unico Costiera name. In high season the buses fill at the terminals, so read how the bus queues work in peak season and allow time for the bus to ferry connection in Amalfi. Taxis and NCC drivers are exempt from the plate rule and are the simple answer for a dinner in another town, at a price, so agree the fare before you get in. In Positano itself, check how hotel access in Positano works before deciding anything, because many hotels are reached by stairs from the road.
Parking reality, with or without the ban
Even on unrestricted days, parking on the Amalfi Coast is a separate challenge. Official tourist parking in Amalfi, Positano, and Ravello is limited, expensive (often €5 to €10 per hour), and frequently full from late morning through evening during peak periods. The Comune di Amalfi promotes the InfoParkingAmalfi app and a Viabilità Amica traffic assistance service to help drivers find available spots, but the underlying shortage is structural.
Many hotels do not have their own parking. Those that do often charge separately for it. Small B&Bs sometimes offer no parking at all and refer guests to off-site garages. Before you book anywhere on the coast, confirm how parking actually works for your specific property and budget accordingly. The parking fee can easily reach €25 to €40 per night in high season.
A quick guide to choosing: driving or not?
Bring a car if you are staying in one of the quieter places such as Praiano, Furore, Conca dei Marini, Tramonti or Agerola, if your hotel has confirmed parking, if you are visiting between November and March, or if the coast is one stop on a longer road trip through Campania and you can leave the car parked on restricted days. Leave it behind if you are staying in Positano or Amalfi, visiting in August or September when the rule applies every day, travelling as a day visitor from Naples, Sorrento or Salerno, or uneasy on narrow roads with coaches coming the other way. For most first-time visitors the second list is the one that fits, and our guide to a first trip to Italy explains how to reach Salerno or Sorrento by train before switching to the boat.
Frequently asked questions
Are there driving restrictions on the Amalfi Coast?
Yes. On set dates from Easter to the end of October, cars are barred from the SS163 between Vietri sul Mare and Positano from 10:00 to 18:00 according to the last digit of the plate. There are also separate limits on campers and coaches and a ZTL in each town.
What is the odd even rule in Amalfi?
On odd-numbered dates, cars whose plate ends in an odd digit may not use the coast road between 10:00 and 18:00; on even-numbered dates, plates ending in an even digit may not. Residents, taxis, motorcycles and guests on their check-in and check-out days are exempt.
Can I drive the Amalfi Coast on my hotel arrival day?
Yes, even during a restriction window, because the accommodation-guest exemption covers arrival. Carry your booking confirmation, your ID, and your rental contract. Plan for slow traffic: the coast road runs slowly even without restrictions, and parking near your hotel may require a short walk.
What if my rental car plate is the banned one for the date?
Between 10:00 and 18:00 on a restricted day, you cannot use the SS163 unless you have a valid exemption. You can travel before 10 AM or after 6 PM without issue. For everything between, use ferries, buses, or taxis.
Are there fines for violations?
Yes, the standard Italian road-traffic fine framework applies, with penalties starting at roughly €80 to €90. Enforcement is visible during peak windows: police set up checkpoints at key access points, particularly near Maiori and Cetara on the eastern side and near Positano on the western side. A rental company will pass any later notice on to you with its own handling fee.
Do the restrictions continue after summer?
Yes, through October at weekends: in 2026 the last restricted dates are October 24, 25 and 31. After that there is no plate rule until Easter 2027. Check the Comune di Amalfi notice board before traveling for any changes.
Is there a travel ban to Italy right now?
No. Italy is open to visitors, and citizens of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia can enter visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180. The only recent change is at the border, where the EU Entry/Exit System now records fingerprints and a photo on arrival.
Are Americans allowed to drive in Italy?
Yes. A valid US licence is accepted for visits when carried with an International Driving Permit, which you obtain from AAA before leaving. Rental companies may refuse the car without it.
The plate rule is less a ban on visiting and more a nudge toward the transport option that was always going to serve you better. The ferry and the bus do what the car cannot: they let you actually see the coast instead of staring at the bumper in front of you. Plan around the rule by planning away from the car entirely, and the restricted windows become invisible to your trip.