We ended up in Salerno because of a last minute decision + a budget B&B was reccommended to us by some other travelers we ran into. We loved both the city and the B&B. "My Salerno Apartment" was really comfortable and the english host was a huge help with local reccomendations and transit. We felt really at home there. Salerno's food was great (and cheap - we ate near the B&B one night: 2 spagetti dinners with 'vino della casa' - less than 11euros total!)... we did all the tourist stuff around the coast but at the end of the day preffered Salerno as there was less tourism pushyness and it seemed more authentic. We had no problems there and everyone was really nice there & we felt safe (unlike Naples). We were surprised as someone referred to Salerno as 'little Naples' and that just was so far from the truth! Salerno also has a condensed area of restaurants and nightlife which was really great.

We had planned to go to Positano but as the hostel couldn't confirm our reservation, we decided to get off in Salerno. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made! It's a very Italian town with hardly any foreign tourists. It's a great base for exploring nearby towns such as Pompeii, Amalfi etc. Don't go here if you want to party all night but if you want a nice Italian holiday - this is the place to be.