Italy Travel Guide: Positano + the Amalfi Coast

In case you missed it, be sure to check out the first part of our Italy trip to Florence & Tuscany HERE.

I’m so excited to share the second part of our two-week Italy trip with you today: Positano & the Amalfi Coast.  After our time in Florence & Tuscany, we took a train from the Florence train station to Naples.  Naples is the closest train station to the Amalfi coast.  We upgraded our tickets to business class and it was a super comfortable and easy 3-hour ride.  At the Naples train station, a driver was waiting for us to take us to our hotel.  We set this up with our hotel beforehand, and I would highly recommend doing it.  The drive is about 1.5 hours to Positano from the Naples train station.

Once we arrived to Positano, a porter took our luggage down to our hotel.  Once you’re in the town, the cars can only go so far before it becomes walking only.  Do yourself a favor and pay the 10-12 euro for the porter to take your bags!  It was some of the best money we spent because there are so many stairs.  We stayed at Covo Dei Saraceni, and I cannot recommend this hotel enough! It is right on the beach and so beautiful!  In Florence & Tuscany, we bounced around to four different hotels and it was so nice to be able to have a “home base” in the Amalfi Coast that we came back to each night.

On our walk down to our hotel, we came across this little lemon slushie stand.  Lemons are a huge thing in Positano (they are everywhere!), so we wanted to try it out!  Long story short, we ended up coming back to this exact stand over 8 times while we were in town!  It was the yummiest by far (we tried a few others).  There’s nothing too special about it, but it’s homemade and SO GOOD!  It is located right where you can no longer drive in the town and the “walking only” portion begins.

The first night, we had dinner at Chez Black which was right on the beach and right next to our hotel.  They are well known for their heart shaped pizza!  It was a super fun atmosphere and I would definitely recommend make a reservation if you are headed to Positano.

The next day was our first full day to explore Positano.  We started out with a light breakfast at Casa E Bottega.  Finding “light” meals in Italy can almost be impossible, and this place is such a treat!  They have great breakfasts and smoothies that will fuel you up (but not weigh you down 😉) for a long day of walking in Positano.  This day we walked pretty much all over the city and checked out all the cute shops.  You can have custom leather sandals made in Positano and it is such a fun souvenir to take home. Also, be sure to check out the famous Le Sirenuse hotel while you’re in town!  It is pretty pricey to stay at, but the views are amazing (the first photo in this post was taken on the balcony right off their lobby).  If you can get a reservation for lunch or dinner, it would be a super fun spot with a beautiful view!

Later that day, we went back to the hotel to rest and ended up getting to lay by the pool and read for a few hours before dinner.  Because our hotel was right on the beach, the pool overlooks the Positano coastline and it is such a stunning view!  We got ready for dinner and headed to our reservations at Da Vincenzo.  This was a super cute spot and they gave us the quaintest little table in the back of the restaurant they kept calling the “romantic table.”  We got a pasta and a steak our waiter recommended, and all of the food was great!

The next day we hired a private driver (again through our hotel) to take us around the whole Amalfi Coast.  Unfortunately, it was raining quite a bit this day, so we weren’t able to explore the towns to their fullest potential, but it was still super fun!  Our first stop was at Emerald Grotto, which is a little cave that you can take a row boat around inside for 5 euro to see the “emerald” water that is lit from the opposite side.  It is beautiful and a really cool (and quick) experience. Right across the street is a local ceramic store called Picadilly.  We stopped in here to grab a few things for ourselves and family to take back home! I got a little oil dispenser, and they have tons of different patterns and options all created by local artists.

We got back in the car and headed down the coast a bit more to the town of Amalfi.  Super cute but because of the rain we weren’t able to really explore like we would have liked to.  After that, we headed to Ravello.  I had heard that it was a “must see” on the Amalfi Coast, and I would totally have to agree.  It is so “Anthropologie-esque” everywhere you look.  The fog kept us from getting the full views, but I have heard that they are absolutely incredible!  Be sure to check out Ravello if you are exploring the Amalfi Coast.  The prettiest spot there was called Villa Cimbrone and the gardens and views are so beautiful!

The next day was our last full day staying in Positano and we took the early morning ferry over to the island of Capri for the day.  The ferry is pretty quick (about 30 minutes) and drops you off at the bottom of the island. The center of town is quite a bit up the hill, and I would not recommend walking…from experience…haha!  It is about a 25-30-minute walk upstairs the whole way!  But, for 4 euro you can take a little cable car from the bottom where the ferry drops you off right to the center of town where the shops and restaurants are.

If you are looking to splurge on something while you’re in Italy, Capri is a great place to look! They have all the high-end shops, like Louis Vuitton and Chanel, and it’s where we got my new bag from while we were there!  Be sure to get the tax-free form and take it to the airport where you will get back whatever you paid in tax (mine was like $250)!

In the afternoon, we had a private boat tour of the island set up with Capri Relax Boats.  It was so much fun, and Daniel and I got to sit on the bow of the boat for three hours while our tour guide showed us all around the island. This is such a fun thing to do if you want a relaxing event after all the walking!  And I would definitely recommend the company we used!

After our boat tour, we needed to catch the last ferry back to Positano, but we missed it!  We ended up having to take a ferry to Sorrento and pay (a pretty substantial taxi ride back to Positano.  Moral of the story: don’t miss the ferry 😉!

Once we got back, we had late dinner reservations at Bruno Positano.  I had heard a lot about this restaurant and it’s one of the most well-known spots in the town!  Unfortunately, we were not all that impressed, so I wouldn’t say it’s a “must go-to” spot in all honesty.

The next morning, our driver took us back to the Naples train station where we caught a train to Rome for the last part of our trip!  Stay tuned for that travel guide coming soon!

More from our Italy Trip:

Florence & Tuscany