The Amalfi Coast is a fifty-kilometre stretch of switchback road linking cliffside villages, terraced lemon groves and small pebble beaches, best explored slowly from a base in Sorrento or Positano. Boats are often faster and calmer than the famously narrow coastal road.
Good to know
- Buses along the coastal road are cheap but slow and packed in summer; a private driver or ferry between towns saves time.
- Book Positano, Ravello accommodation and Capri ferries well ahead in July and August, the coast's busiest weeks.
- Many hotels and restaurants close from November to March — confirm opening dates before visiting off-season.
Eat this
Places the planner can use
Mark places as a must or something to skip. The itinerary is built only from this list; ★ marks the destination’s highlights.
Pastel houses cascading down a cliff to a small beach — the coast's most photographed and most expensive town.
A quieter pebble beach a short walk from Positano's main strand, with fewer crowds and simple beach clubs.
A half-day boat charter past sea caves, hidden coves and the Li Galli islets, with stops to swim off the boat.
The coast's namesake town, a former maritime republic centred on a striped Byzantine-Romanesque cathedral.
Spaghetti alle vongole and grilled fish at a table looking straight down at the fishing boats that caught it.
A small paper museum inside a former medieval paper mill, explaining Amalfi's centuries-old handmade paper tradition.
A walk through terraced lemon groves growing the region's famous oversized lemons, ending with a homemade limoncello tasting.
Sorrento's main square comes alive after dinner with gelato, live music and a slow evening passeggiata.
A quiet hilltop town high above the coast, with clifftop gardens that have hosted composers and inspired Wagner.
The hairpin coastal road threading between the sea and the cliffs — ride the local SITA bus for the view without the nerves of driving.
A ferry from Sorrento to a glamorous island of sheer cliffs, a chairlift to Monte Solaro, and a rowboat trip into a glowing sea cave.
A cliffside trail high above the coast between Bomerano and Nocelle, with views over Positano the whole way.