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Italy · 7–9 days

The Amalfi Coast: when to go, what to see, and how to pace it

An honest guide to Italy's most photographed coastline — when to go, where to base yourself and which towns everyone overlooks, the way in that skips the coast road entirely, how to do Capri without the crush, and how to pace it all so the trip isn't lost to traffic.

The Amalfi Coast is a 50-kilometre ribbon of cliffside towns south of Naples — Positano tumbling down to the sea, Amalfi with its striped cathedral, Ravello high above the water with the best gardens in Italy. It rewards a slow, food-led pace far more than a tick-list. Most people try to see too much; the trick is to base yourself well, move rarely, and let long lunches and boat days do the work.

When to go

May, June, late September and early October are the sweet spots — warm sea, long evenings, and the towns busy but not overwhelmed. July and August are hot, expensive and bumper-to-bumper on the coast road; if you can only travel then, get on the water early and rest through the afternoon. Many hotels and beach clubs close from November to Easter, so spring and early autumn give you the best balance of weather, value and open doors.

How long, and where to base yourself

Give it five to seven nights, ideally split between two bases so you're not packing and re-packing. A good combination:

• Positano — the iconic, vertical one. Beautiful but steep and busy; best for a couple of nights of the full picture-postcard experience.
• Ravello — high, calm and green, with Villa Rufolo and Villa Cimbrone. The antidote to the coast-road crush, and a lovely place to slow down.
• Amalfi town — the flattest and best-connected base, at the middle of the coast where the ferries and buses meet. Underrated, and the easiest option if you'd rather not climb stairs with luggage.
• Naples or Sorrento as a gateway — a night either side makes the airport transfers civilised and adds a city dimension (Naples for pizza and the archaeological museum; Sorrento for easy ferries).

The bases most people overlook

Positano, Amalfi and Ravello take almost all the attention and almost all the money. Three alternatives are worth knowing about, particularly for a longer stay, a group or a second visit:

• Praiano — halfway between Positano and Amalfi, on the sunset side of the coast, noticeably cheaper and quieter than either. It has a small marina at Marina di Praia, one of the best evening views on the coast from the church terrace of San Gennaro, and easy bus and boat connections in both directions. If you want to be on the coast rather than in a postcard, this is the base.
• Atrani — the tiny town immediately east of Amalfi, reached in ten minutes on foot through a tunnel and past a car park, and almost entirely ignored. One small piazza, a beach, a handful of restaurants and actual residents. It is what Amalfi looked like before the coaches.
• Minori and Maiori — flatter, plainer, more Italian and much better value, with the coast's best pastry shop in Minori and a proper long beach at Maiori. Not glamorous. Very pleasant.

Getting there — and the route nobody thinks of

The transfer is the part of an Amalfi trip people complain about most, and it is almost entirely avoidable.

• Private transfer from Naples airport — around an hour and three quarters to Positano and longer on a summer Saturday. Simple, and for two or more people often no dearer than the alternatives once you have added up tickets, a taxi and dragging bags up steps.
• By ferry — the nicest arrival there is. Reach Sorrento or the Naples port and sail in, stepping off at the beach instead of finishing an hour of hairpins feeling green. Boats run roughly April to late October and are cancelled in rough weather, so it is a fair-weather plan with a bus as a backup.
• The cheap route — the Curreri bus from the airport to Sorrento, then a SITA bus or ferry along the coast. It works, and it is a long morning with luggage.
• From Rome, go to Salerno instead. This is the underused one. A fast train from Rome or Naples to Salerno, at the eastern end of the coast, puts you straight onto a ferry to Amalfi — no Naples traffic, no Sorrento peninsula, no coast road. If your trip starts in Rome, this is the best way in.
• The Circumvesuviana train from Naples to Sorrento is cheap, frequent and genuinely unpleasant in summer — crowded, hot and a known spot for pickpockets. The reserved-seat tourist service on the same line is a much better use of a few extra euros.

Capri, honestly

Capri is worth going to and is very badly served by the standard day trip, which delivers you to the Marina Grande at the same hour as every other day trip. Between about eleven and four the Piazzetta is one of the most crowded few square metres in Italy. The island is a different place before nine and after five, which is the real argument for spending a night there rather than a day.

If it has to be a day: take the first ferry, go straight up to Anacapri and ride the single-seat chairlift to Monte Solaro — the best view on the island and, oddly, rarely busy — then walk the Via Krupp or out to the Arco Naturale, and eat somewhere that is not on the Piazzetta. Treat the Blue Grotto as optional rather than essential: it is a long queue for a very brief visit in a small rowing boat, it closes whenever there is any swell, and a boat circuit of the island past the Faraglioni is more reliably wonderful for similar money.

The Roman sites, and one that nobody goes to

You are twenty minutes from the best-preserved Roman towns in the world, and it would be a shame to skip them because they are not on the coast.

• Herculaneum is the one to do if you only do one: smaller, far better preserved — upper floors, wooden furniture, carbonised roof beams — and it takes a morning rather than a day.
• Pompeii is vast, largely unshaded and needs a plan. Go at opening, take a guide or a good audio tour, and pick a route rather than wandering. Excavation continues and new houses open regularly, so a guide who works there is worth the money.
• The Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples holds the mosaics, frescoes and bronzes lifted from both sites. See it before the ruins and the empty rooms suddenly make sense.
• Paestum, an hour south of Salerno, has three Greek temples from the fifth and sixth centuries BC standing in a field — older than almost anything in Rome, extraordinarily complete, and quiet enough that you can walk around them alone. Pair it with a buffalo mozzarella farm on the plain.

A sensible 7-day shape

• Day 1 · Naples. Land, drop your bags, and eat pizza where it was invented. If you've the energy, the Museo Archeologico holds the mosaics and frescoes lifted from Pompeii — see them before the site itself and the ruins make far more sense.
• Day 2 · Herculaneum, then down to the coast. Smaller, better preserved and far less crowded than Pompeii, and it takes a morning rather than a day. Transfer to Positano in the afternoon.
• Days 3–4 · Positano. One slow day for the town itself — the beach, the church dome, dinner up in the lanes — and one boat day. A small hired boat with a skipper for the coast, or the ferry to Capri if you'd rather someone else drove.
• Day 5 · The Path of the Gods, then move to Ravello. Walk the Sentiero degli Dei from Bomerano in the cool of the morning; it drops you toward Positano via a great many steps. Move bases in the afternoon.
• Days 6–7 · Ravello and Amalfi. The gardens at Villa Rufolo and Villa Cimbrone, a concert if the season's on, and a half-day down in Amalfi for the striped cathedral and the paper museum. Keep the last evening free and long.

What's genuinely worth your time

• A boat day — hire a small boat or take the ferry to Capri or along the coast. Seeing the towns from the water is the trip's best hour, and on a hired boat you can swim off the back somewhere the crowds can't reach.
• Ravello's villa gardens at Villa Rufolo and Villa Cimbrone — the Terrace of Infinity at Cimbrone is the single best view on the coast — and a concert at the Ravello Festival if you're there between June and September.
• The Path of the Gods (Sentiero degli Dei) — a high, scenic walk from Bomerano down toward Positano; do it in the cool of the morning, walk it downhill rather than up, and wear real shoes. It ends in roughly 1,500 steps down into Positano.
• Pompeii or Herculaneum on the way in or out — Herculaneum is smaller, better preserved and far less crowded. If you do want Pompeii, go at opening and take a guide; it's vast and unshaded.
• The food: lemons and limoncello, delizia al limone, scialatielli ai frutti di mare, mozzarella di bufala from the plain below, fresh seafood, and the best pizza of your life back in Naples.

Good to know

• The coast road is single-lane and slow — ferries between Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi and Salerno are often quicker and far more pleasant than driving. They run roughly April to October and are weather-dependent, so keep a bus or taxi as plan B.
• It's steep and step-heavy everywhere. Positano is essentially a staircase with a view. Pack light, in a bag you can carry, and bring proper shoes rather than new sandals.
• Book ahead in high season — the big restaurants, any boat day, and the Blue Grotto if Capri's on your list. The best tables go weeks out, not days.
• A car is more hassle than help on the coast itself. Parking is scarce and expensive, and summer weekends bring one-way plate restrictions on the SS163. Handy only if you're touring further — Cilento, Paestum, inland Campania.
• Arrive by ferry if you can. Landing in Positano or Amalfi from the water is a far better introduction than an hour of hairpins, and it skips the transfer everyone complains about.
• Sun and shade. Beaches here are pebble, and the sun off the water is fierce by 11am. Rent a lounger with an umbrella, or do what locals do and disappear for a three-hour lunch.
• The number-plate rule. Through the peak summer months the SS163 coast road runs an alternating number-plate scheme for non-resident vehicles — odd and even plates on alternate days. It is enforced, and it means that on any given day roughly half of all visiting cars simply cannot use the road. One more reason to arrive without one.
• This is not a beach holiday. Worth saying plainly: the beaches are small, pebbled and mostly run as paid clubs with hired loungers, and the free sections are crowded. The coast is spectacular to look at and to swim off a boat; if what you actually want is sand and space, Puglia or Sardinia will make you happier.
• Buses fill up. The SITA buses are cheap and useful and, in August, will sail past a full stop without stopping. Board at a terminus rather than mid-route where you can, and never plan a ferry connection with only one bus between you and it.
• Tourist tax is charged per person per night by almost every hotel, is usually paid in cash at checkout, and is rarely included in the rate you booked.
• The lemons are a real thing. The sfusato amalfitano is a protected variety grown on the terraces you can see from every road, and it turns up in everything — delizia al limone, granita, pasta al limone, and limoncello made properly rather than the neon supermarket version. Buy it from a producer, not a gift shop.
• Dinner is booked, not chanced. From May to September the good tables go weeks ahead, not days, and many of the best places have a handful of covers. Book before you fly and ask your hotel to reconfirm.

Common questions

When is the best time to visit the Amalfi Coast?

May, June, late September and early October are the sweet spots — warm sea, long evenings and towns that are busy rather than overwhelming. July and August are hot, expensive and bumper-to-bumper on the coast road. Many hotels, beach clubs and ferry routes shut down from November to Easter, so spring and early autumn give the best balance of weather, value and open doors.

How many days do you need on the Amalfi Coast?

Five to seven nights is right, ideally split across two bases so you are not repacking every morning. Under four nights and the transfers eat the trip; beyond nine and you'll want to add Capri, the Cilento coast or a few days in Naples to keep it interesting. A good default is three nights in Positano and three in Ravello, with a night in Naples or Sorrento to civilise the airport days.

Where should you base yourself — Positano, Amalfi or Ravello?

Positano is the iconic, vertical one: beautiful, busy and very steep, best for a couple of nights of the postcard experience. Amalfi town sits at the centre of the coast and is the flattest and best connected by ferry and bus, which makes it the easiest base. Ravello is high above the water, calm and green, with the Villa Rufolo and Villa Cimbrone gardens — the antidote to the coast-road crush. Most people are happiest combining two of the three.

Do you need a car on the Amalfi Coast?

No, and it's usually a liability. The coast road is single-lane, slow and short of parking, and hotel parking is expensive where it exists. Ferries between Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi and Salerno are faster and far more pleasant, with SITA buses and taxis filling the gaps. Hire a car only if you're touring further afield — the Cilento, Paestum or inland Campania — and pick it up on the way out rather than keeping it parked all week. There is one more reason: through the peak summer months the SS163 runs an alternating number-plate scheme for non-residents, so on any given day roughly half of all visiting cars are not allowed on it at all.

How do you get from Naples airport to the Amalfi Coast?

There are four routes and they are not equally good. A private transfer is the simplest — around an hour and three quarters to Positano, longer on a summer Saturday — and for two or more people it is often no worse than the alternatives once you have added up bus tickets, a taxi and the porterage. The ferry is the nicest: get to Sorrento or the Naples port and sail in, arriving at the beach rather than after an hour of hairpins, though these boats only run from roughly April to late October and are cancelled in rough weather. The cheap route is the Curreri bus from the airport to Sorrento and then a SITA bus or ferry along the coast, which works but is a long morning with luggage. And the route almost nobody considers is the best one if you are coming from Rome: take a fast train to Salerno, at the eastern end of the coast, and step onto a ferry to Amalfi. It avoids Naples entirely.

Is Capri worth a day trip from the Amalfi Coast?

Yes, but not the way most people do it. A day trip lands you in the Marina Grande at the same hour as everyone else's day trip, and the Piazzetta between eleven and four is one of the most crowded places in Italy. Capri is genuinely beautiful early in the morning and after about five, when the boats have gone — which is the argument for spending one night there rather than one day. If it has to be a day, go on the first ferry, take the chairlift up Monte Solaro from Anacapri for the best view on the island, walk the Via Krupp or the path to the Arco Naturale, and eat away from the Piazzetta. Treat the Blue Grotto as optional: it is a long queue for a very short visit in a small rowing boat, it closes whenever the swell is up, and a boat trip around the island past the Faraglioni is more reliably wonderful.

Is the Amalfi Coast good for a group trip, a wedding or a honeymoon?

It is a superb honeymoon coast and a demanding group one, and the difference is stairs and roads. For two people, a sea-view room, a boat day and long dinners is close to unbeatable, and Ravello in particular is calm and green in a way the waterfront towns are not. For a wedding, Ravello is one of Italy's established destination-wedding towns — Villa Cimbrone and Villa Rufolo among others — and the settings live up to the photographs; the hard part is moving forty guests along a single-lane road, so budget for coaches or a boat and put people within walking distance of the venue. For a larger group holiday, base at Praiano, Ravello or Sant'Agata rather than Positano, take a villa rather than scattered rooms, and charter one boat for a day so everybody is in the same place at the same time. What sinks group trips here is not cost but logistics: a ferry that stops for weather, a bus that arrives full, and a restaurant forty minutes away up a hill.

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