Amalfi Coast
I had been dreaming about going to the Amalfi Coast since I was a kid. I had a Lexus brochure (lol) and it had a night shot of the Amalfi Coast at sunset time. I remember thinking it looked like such a magical place.
I finally had the chance to go, and I was a bit disappointed. I felt like I met my childhood hero and they were rude and it didn’t live up to my expectations.
I will elaborate more in the notes section and throughout the post, but the TL;DR is that it took too much effort to get around and there were still a lot of tourists this time of year.
When I Went:
September 2018 (2nd week)
Itinerary:
Day 1 & 2: Positano
Day 3: day trip to Capri
Day 4: day trip to Ravello
How long:
4 nights
Notes (things you should know before going):
We stayed at an Airbnb at the VERY top neighborhood, Nocelle, of Positano. Driving in Positano is not something you should really do. The roads are small and windy, and the drivers are a bit crazy and aggressive. Therefore, we took the public bus everywhere, and it was old, crowded, and just overall not a fun experience.
From Nocelle, it took at least 30 minutes to get up and down every time. It was almost always standing room only. We saw the bus driver take off a parked car’s bumper. To be fair, the owner was standing there and told him to go instead of moving it… Anyway, let’s just say getting on the bus was an adventure every time, BUT not really the adventure I wanted.
What you should know:
1) If you’re willing to pay more money for a hotel near the bottom of the city, you’ll probably have a more enjoyable time. It’ll be more convenient for you to get around.
However, if you’re on a budget, staying further away from the city is cheaper. We paid less than $100 a night/per person.
2) We had a car so we were looking for a place that had a parking spot. If we didn’t need a parking spot, then we probably could’ve stayed closer to the bottom. There are some parking garages, but I heard they are very pricey. Not sure how much a bus/shuttle costs to get there from Naples or outside of the coast area.
3) Early September still had a lot of tourists. The place was bustling with lots of Americans! I don’t even want to think about what that place looks like in the dead of summer. The weather was hot while we were there. I imagine you could go throughout September and still get similar weather and maybe less tourists as the month goes on. Don’t quote me on that though.
4) The town is built vertically. I remember looking at a restaurant that was 0.3km away and it took 30 minutes to walk to!
How I got there:
We drove our rental car to Positano from Tuscany (around 6 hours). Within the Amalfi Coast, we took ferries and buses.
It’s worth noting that there is no train that goes directly to Positano. You can take the train probably to Salerno and/Sorrento, but you would still have to take a bus or private shuttle over.
Accommodations:
We stayed at an Airbnb in Nocelle in Positano. As mentioned above, this is the highest neighborhood in Positano. The Airbnb itself was really nice and had a great view. Like I keep on mentioning, it was just a pain to get to the main part of town from here.
It was at the end/beginning of the Path Of The Gods hike and there was also a staircase down if we wanted to go that route. It’s 1,700 steps down, which is about 45-60 minutes.
Activities/Sights To See:
While I haven’t given as much praise to this place, I will say that it is unique to any other place I have been. I thought it would be like Cinque Terre, but it was not like that. It’s really cool to see all the colorful building during the day and night.
The beach -
I did not see a name for this beach, but it’s on Via Marina Grande and you can’t miss it if you’re at the bottom. We paidfor a spot on the beach at L'Incanto, so we could have our own beach chairs and umbrella. It was too hot to be out there without any shade. You can pay for first (€25) or second row (€20). They didn’t have any in the first row, but I don’t think it would’ve made much of a difference. There is also a small section of beach that is free.
Capri -
this is an island that is about a 30 minute ferry ride from Positano. If you’re not on a high speed boat, it’ll be around an hour. It’s a popular day trip if you’re staying in the area. This is also a very popular stop for cruise ships.
When we got there, it was so busy. You can take a funicular to the top main plaza, Piazza Umberto I, but the line was long so we decided to walk. It was a gradual uphill climb that wasn’t too bad, but it was also hot out.
We got breakfast at Buonocore Gelateria. We just got sandwiches, but this was bookmarked on my list for having good gelato, though we did not get to try it. We could see and smell them making fresh waffle cones while we were there.
We visited Giardini di Augusto, which was a small garden not too far from the main plaza. It was only €1 and has a good view of the sea. You can also see via Krupp which is a small road with a lot of switchbacks.
We went back to the main plaza and waited for a bus to go to Anacapri which was west of Capri. From there, we took the Monte Solaro Chairlift. You can climb up or walk down, but we decided to do a round trip. The ride up is 13 minutes I believe. It was peaceful and nice to get away from the bustle of Capri. You don’t need a ton of time at the top. You can grab food or drinks if you’d like.
We had lunch near the chairlift at L'Angolo del Gusto. We looked up walking directions from Anacapri to Capri. It was only 30 minutes and it was all downhill (yay!). We had some time before we had to get onto the ferry, so we found a beach to hang out on. You’ll want to get to the ferry line about 15 minutes before it takes off. I believe we took the second to last ferry, so it was full.
Ravello -
this is a small town further east on the Amalfi Coast. We took a ferry to Amalfi, then took the SITA bus up to Ravello. The bus stop is very close to the ferry dock and you can buy tickets at the tabbachi nearest to the stop.
Before I get into Ravello, Amalfi had very different vibes from Positano. It was smaller and didn’t seem as nice. It also seemed like it might be a little easier to get around compared to Positano.
In Ravello, the town was quieter than Amalfi and Positano and that was very nice. We walked to Villa Cimbrone. It’s a hotel that has beautiful gardens and a restaurant. It was also a filming location for Wonder Woman! We had lunch at the Bar Veranda and walked around.
We got gelato at Baffone Gelateria Artigianale. This was my favorite gelato from this Italy visit, and one of my favorites overall.
The bus was great on the way up, but we waited 1.5 HOURS for the bus to come and there was a huge line by the time it did come. We made the 4:30pm ferry, but barely. Had we not made it, we would’ve had to wait until 6pm for the last one.
FOOD
Food was my favorite part of this trip especially since Italian is my favorite cuisine!
You should make reservations at places if you really want to go to them. This way it ensures you can get the best views if that’s what you’re going for. Or you can do what we did and get there right when they open, since people tend to eat a bit later in the night.
Ristorante Santa Croce - this was so close to our Airbnb. We had a long travel day driving from Tuscany so we didn’t want to go very far. It was good and there’s a view of the ocean. I had gnocchi and we shared fried zucchini flowers and a chocolate mousse.
La Tagliata - this had a lot of reviews and I saw it on some blogs. We walked down here for lunch and it was about 30 minutes. At night they have a shuttle that can pick you up at your accommodations.
The view was great and we had one right at the rail. They do family style for €40/per person. It was a lot of food! They say they’ll check in on you to see how you are doing. We were able to do apps, pasta, steak, and dessert.
This was not my favorite meal while I was here, but it was fun to experience family style.
Rada - we got here right when they opened. It’s at the end of the beach and has a great ocean and city view. Because we didn’t have reservations, we got the front ocean view vs the city view. However, that side was completely empty so we had that whole side to ourselves! There was an amazing sunset that night too.
I got lemon yogurt risotto which was good. We also had an apricot shuffle and strawberry lemon tart.
Capricci - the pizza was good, however, the service was bad and slow. We got there kind of at an early hour (6:30pm). We placed our orders and wondered why they were taking so long. We turned around and the kitchen was empty and their whole cooking staff was sitting out on a table.
Obviously it’s fine to take a break, but why weren’t we told the kitchen wouldn’t resume until 7? A heads up would’ve been very nice.
Covo Dei Siraceni - This is a hotel, but there’s also a restaurant and they have gelato very close to where you get onto the ferry. I got tiramisu and vanilla. They also have sorbets that are served in lemons.
La Zagara - we got some sandwiches and pastries here for breakfast. The sandwiches were good and the pastries all looked tasty.
Da Vincenzo - my favorite meal we had in Positano and it was our last one. We had to get the fried zucchini flowers one last time. We split some pasta dishes along with some burrata and fried apps. I also got the buffalo strawberry cheesecake made with buffalo cheese and that was so good. We had a seat outside and there was also a good view of the city.
Enough time?
I was ready to leave Positano after four days, but this was also the last major stop on our two week trip so we were also tired. You can probably spend a couple more days seeing more cities on the coast.
