Why do we go to the Amalfi Coast? The answer is simple, to do nothing. Not visit museums or churches or anywhere of significance though I am sure that there are many places like that there, but this is the place we go to switch off and it is perfect.
My most formative memory of the Amalfi Coast is that I almost got run over by a car in Naples, as you do, before hightailing it to Positano with my mates.
On arrival, the enclave is as you would imagine, precisely like it has been presented on the pictures and the many blogs etc. picture perfect with its colourful houses surrounding the beach the just of the hotel, the soft sands in your toes, the boats on the harbour and at high tide the splash of the water against its banks. It is a place of extraordinary beauty, the perfect place to walk and lose oneself in, we often did a daily loop around the village.
Visiting Positano or the other villages on the Amalfi coast is a way to getaway into a world most surreal, the sunsets are a thing of poetry. The road to Italy’s most enchanting coastline some might say is atypical to the Italy we see in movies, the long winding road that is the Strada Statale or as it is fondly known; the road of a thousand bends; the hair pin turns where big buses try to navigate next to piccolo cars are not for the faint of heart and in the height of the summer, the traffic is the stuff of legends at times.
In Positano we ambled along aimlessly around on a loop, shopped for ceramic and even caught an exhibition on the way to the Airbnb where we stayed. We woke up to the sound of the sea and had wonderful views from our windows in the flat atop the cliff. The steep steps to the sandy beach came with its many rewards whether it was for breakfast of coffee and croissants or dinner in the Tres Sorelle, a firm favourite or to watch the sun rise and set with each passing day.
In the summer is it utterly horrific and somewhat unbearable with the crowds? Of course it is, but that takes nothing away from the utter beauty and charm of it. you come for the views, not the sites, there aren’t that many here but even if there were it’s the views that trumps it and that ever-Italian nature of doing nothing and finishing joy in it.
Stayed: we stayed at an Airbnb; I have never been a fan of Airbnbs’ because unless I know someone I would rather not stay in a home of a stranger and I like room service but I was with friends and it was a very lovely four bedroom flat. next time however I am staying a hotel. See aforementioned room service preference.
Eat: best meal I are from Buca di Bacco Ristorante the food here is so, so SO good. you’re by the sea where you will have the freshest of seafood so opt for seafood ANYTHING.
Le Tres Sorrelle, right by the beach, the food is good here, it’s not just for the location but good food is good food and you will get good food here, the bonus is the location.
On arrival we had pizza and for the life of me I cannot remember the place but it was down the road from the Airbnb I remember you had to alight some steps to get to it… sorry!
A thing I won’t soon forget; the walks, on a loop. If I wanted to go back for anything besides the views in Positano, it will be the walks, long leisurely languid walks looping around Positano. These were some of the best times I had, simply doing nothing and finding joy in it.
If you visit one place: Santa Maria Assunta; typical, I love a good church because churches ground a place in history and hold all the cards that takes us back so if you visit one place, start here.
Come home with a leather sandal or two.
The sunsets… wild and carefree the sun rises with charms here and when she sets, she puts on a show and with high tide as the sun goes down, what a show it is.