The perfect holiday on the Amalfi Coast

Our Italy expert offers a guide to making the most of this beguiling destination, including where to stay and how to beat the crowds
Does the Amalfi Coast need more choices? In July, a revamped airport opens near Salerno, providing easier access to part of the region and an alternative to Naples Airport, the area’s traditional and often overstretched point of entry.
Yet one of Europe’s most beguiling destinations already has too many options; asks too many questions – where do you stay, for example, one centre or several? Where do you visit, coast, village or mountain? Do you drive? What about Capri? Do you give a day to Naples and Pompeii? Do you indulge or budget?
Which is simply to say the perfect itinerary is elusive – there are variables, and you’re going to have to make decisions.
First, a definition. Strictly speaking the region revolves around the towns and islands – Amalfi, Positano, Ravello and Capri – and smaller villages along the southern flank of the Sorrentine Peninsula, a few miles south of Naples. Salerno’s airport will serve this hinterland.
In practice, the region’s borders are blurred by the proximity of Pompeii, Vesuvius and Naples, along with other islands (Ischia and Procida) and the town of Sorrento on the peninsula’s northern side, which as a base is cheaper, closer to Naples and Pompeii but less pretty and less convenient for the highlights to the south.
The region also offers a plethora of luxury hotels, so you could come here simply to indulge, with minimal sightseeing, and spend three nights in, or close to each of Amalfi, Ravello and Capri, with a night at Naples before or after.
But on a first visit, and to explore the region properly, the itinerary will look different. See Naples over two days, partly for a taste of this most Latin of Italian cities, but also to visit the superb archeological museum, an essential complement to another unmissable sight, Pompeii.
To avoid tricky transfers, stay one or two nights in Sorrento, but also because it works as a base for a trip to Positano, one of the region’s most celebrated but most overrun villages. 
Use buses and ferries. Don’t rent a car. Yes, the coast’s corniche is one of Europe’s most beautiful, but it’s often bumper-to-bumper, and the chance of parking in towns and villages is close to zero. Public transport takes you everywhere you want to go.
Capri is also busy, but primarily with day-trippers: stay two or three nights and you’ll see why this balmy, idyllic island of glorious views, pretty villages, a thrilling coastline, glamorous hotels and beautiful gardens has been celebrated for centuries.
Amalfi is less pretty – most places are after Capri – but it’s the best base for exploring the rest of the coast and the peninsula’s often overlooked and mountainous interior.
Naples, or not? This is something you’re going to have to decide (visitnaples.eu). And if yes, do you stay or visit for the day from Sorrento or Salerno? On balance, with 10 days to spare, opt to stay, and for two nights (see below for hotel options).
Fly to Naples Airport, 3.7 miles (5.9km) north of the city centre. The Alibus shuttle runs from the airport (5.30am–midnight; €5) to Piazza Garibaldi (for Napoli Centrale railway station) and the Molo Angioino/Beverello for ferries to Amalfi Coast destinations.
If you arrive in good time, check in to your hotel (see below) and head for the Museo Archeologico (see Day 2).
If you visit for the day, trains (trenitalia.com) run from Salerno (if you’re staying in Amalfi) with journey times of 25mins to 1hr 20mins. Services to and from Sorrento (eavsrl.it) take 1hr 10 mins. 
Alilauro (alilauro.it) and NLG (nlg.it/en/routes/line-napoli-sorrento) run ferries between Naples and Sorrento (35–45 minutes; €18.50).
It’s another 10 minutes from the ferry terminal to town using the Linea D/008 roughly hourly shuttle.
A day in one of Italy’s great cities is clearly not enough, but it’s enough to see several highlights, notably the superb Museo Archeologico (mann-napoli.it), home to exhibits that will help illuminate a visit to Pompeii (see below).
After the museum, walk east to the Duomo (cattedraledinapoli.it) by way of the Cappella San Severo (museosansevero.it/en) and San Domenico Maggiore, San Gregorio Maggiore and San Lorenzo Maggiore churches. Close to the last, Pio Monte della Misericordia (piomontedellamisericordia.it) houses Caravaggio’s majestic Seven Acts of Mercy (1607).
Then head south via the sculpture-filled church of Monteoliveto (santannadeilombardi.com/en/) to explore the Quartiere Spagnoli, full of archetypal Neapolitan street scenes. If time allows, take a taxi to Naples’ second great museum, the Palazzo Reale di Capodimonte (capodimonte.cultura.gov.it).
To stay, the Grande Hotel Vesuvio (vesuvio.it; doubles from £395) is the luxury option, with the central Domus Deorum (domusdeorum.com; from £120) a more reasonable central choice. See our reviews of other Naples hotels.
As for eating, Naples is the birthplace of the pizza, with a choice of classic, traditional pizzerias, notably Da Michele (damichele.net), Di Matteo (anticapizzeriadimatteo.it), Brandi (brandi.it), Pellone (pellonepizzeria.it) and Trianon da Ciro (pizzeriatrianon.it).
Train or ferry will take you from Naples to Sorrento (see Day 1).
Deposit your bags, having chosen a central hotel such as Palazzo Jannuzzi (palazzojannuzzi.com; from £154), and arrive ready for a trip to Positano. Save Sorrento for this evening.
Take a bus out (sitasudtrasporti.it/campania/orari/; 25–45mins) and a boat back (nlg.it); 30–50mins; €21.50), a combination of views from land and sea you want for much of your trip.
Positano is impossibly picturesque, a maze of steep cobbled alleys and pretty houses tumbling to the sea and a lava-grey beach. But it’s also often overrun, so be prepared. Get off the bus at Chiesa Nuova (not the Sponda beach stop) so you can walk downhill as you explore. 
For lunch, nowhere is “undiscovered”, so blow the budget at Le Sirenuse (sirenuse.it), the village’s most famous hotel, or walk (30 mins uphill) or take the Sorrento bus back a couple of stops to Montepertuso and eat at Donna Rosa (donnarosapositano.it) or the more rustic and panoramic Il Ritrovo (ilritrovo.com).
For swimming, locals prefer the smaller Fornillo beach along the cliff path. Or take a boat home via Marina di Cantone (massalubrenseturismo.it). 
In early evening, see the Duomo, the Cloister of San Francesco and the church of Sant’Agostino then wander the charming cobbled lanes of Sorrento’s old town, with an aperitivo on Piazza Tasso, its social hub, dinner al fresco under the lemon trees at O’Parrucchiano (parrucchiano.com/en) – busy, certainly, but delightful – and a gelato to finish at Gelateria David (gelateriadavidsorrento.it/en), in business since 1957.
Devote the best part of a day on the Amalfi Coast to Pompeii (visit pompeiisites.org, or for online tickets, ticketone.it/artist), a Roman town famously preserved for posterity by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79. 
The train from Sorrento is the easiest approach, with a station, Pompeii Scavi-Villa dei Misteri, connected by the Pompeii Link shuttle bus (trenitalia.com) to the site.
Archeological devotees might also visit Herculaneum (ercolano.beniculturali.it), 20 minutes by train from Pompeii Scavi, also buried by the Vesuvius eruption. It’s smaller and more manageable, and still only partially excavated, but as compelling as Pompeii itself.
If you have time and energy, a trip up Vesuvius is compelling, but takes more organising. Public and private (visitpompeiivesuvius.com/en/e/vesuvius) shuttles run from the Ercolano and Villa Misteri railway stations to a ticket office at 3,445ft (1,050m) – don’t get off at the car park lower down – close to a trailhead (Il Gran Cono, Trail 5) for a hike to the crater rim of around 2.5 miles (4km) roundtrip. Visit the Vesuvius National Park website (parconazionaledelvesuvio.it/en/) for further information and to purchase a trail ticket (€10). 
You could get a head start on the day-trippers and extend your time in Capri by travelling on the evening of Day 4, adding a night on the island in favour of a night elsewhere. Most will be headed in the other direction, so ferries (directferries.co.uk) will also be quieter. Boats dock at busy Marina Grande, also the departure point for boat trips (capri.com/en/l/capri-boat-tours) around the island, an essential part of any visit for views of the coast’s jumble of cliffs, bays and caves. Beware separate trips to the busy Blue Grotto, which can be extortionate.
Buses or a funicular (€2.90), often with long queues, run up the hill to Capri Town, the island’s pretty main village. Some may tell you Anacapri, the island’s other village and potential base, is quieter and more “authentic” – it’s not, though it has a more rugged position and is better placed if you want to hike (see below).
To stay, first choice if money is no object is J.K. Place (jkcapri.com), where a double B&B is rarely less than £1,000. Otherwise, try Punta Tragara (manfredihotels.com/en/punta-tragara; from £450); or the very reasonable Hotel Luna (lunahotel.com; from £198).
Settle back with a (pricey) drink in Capri Town’s Piazzetta (Piazza Umberto I) to enjoy some of Europe’s most fashionable street life before a boat trip, perhaps, or a walk on Via Madre Serfina to Belvedere Cannone or Via Camerelle to Belvedere Tragara.
Having seen something of Capri Town yesterday (see above), walk to Villa Jovis (closed Mon; €6), the remains of Emperor Tiberius’s Capri hideaway (3 miles/4.8km round-trip), or follow the tougher Passetiello trail 1,149ft (350m) to Monte Solaro via the Cetrella hermitage.
Then take the bus to Anacapri (20 min) for the chairlift up Monte Solaro (capriseggiovia.it; €14 round-trip) and a visit to Villa San Michele (villasanmichele.eu; €10), built by a Swedish doctor, Axel Munthe, whose The Story of San Michele (1929) introduced the charms of Capri to a wider audience. While the villa is so-so, the gardens and views are delightful. Attend one of the many concerts here for the best overall experience.
Also see Casa Rossa (museocasarossa.it), a 19th-century folly and the church of San Michele Archangelo, known for its tiled floor. Or take Via Caposcuro from the main square for the views at Belvedere Migliera and lunch at Da Gelsomina (dagelsomina.com).
If you want beach life, Via Krupp leads from Capri Town to Marina Piccola, one of the island’s better, but busier places to swim and sunbathe. Punta Carena on the island’s southwest tip offers relatively quieter swimming.
Travel by ferry from Capri (1hr) with NLG (nlg.it; from €29 one-way) to Amalfi (amalfitouristoffice.it), which while not as beguiling – but not as overrun – as Positano, and without Ravello’s views, provides the best overall base for exploring the coast. 
If you don’t mind the bustle of being in town, La Bambagina (labambagina.com; double B&B from £120) by the Duomo has some of the town’s keenest prices, though rooms are small. The three-star Amalfi (hamalfi.it/en; from £211) is quieter and offers a simple, comfortable base.
At the other extreme, the Santa Caterina (hotelsantacaterina.it/en/home/; from £720) is the town’s most famous hotel, but you’re a little far from town.
Though the waterfront is underwhelming, the town has a morning’s worth of attractions, not least the ninth-century Duomo and its 11th-century bronze doors and Romanesque cloister. Explore Amalfi’s maritime history at the Museo della Bussola (arsenalediamalfi.it) and the area’s paper-making traditions at the Museo della Carta (museodellacarta.it).
Buy paper at Scuderia del Duca (carta-amalfi.com), or walk the Valle dei Mulini, a ravine dotted with the ruins of water-mills (mulini) that once powered the industry. Longer hikes (alltrails.com) await in the hills of the Ferriere valley nature reserve.
This afternoon, head east by bus for a relatively less-visited but still spectacular stretch of coast. Atrani has a decent beach and a pretty huddle of houses – break for a coffee in Piazza Umberto I – so too Maiori.
Capo d’Orso offers superlative views; Cetara hints at how the area might have looked before mass tourism; and Vietri is the region’s ceramics capital: Ceramica Pinto (ceramicapinto.it/it) offers traditional wares and Acqua Ramina at Corso Umberto I 90 (no website) provides an unpretentious spot for lunch or dinner. Last bus back to Amalfi is 9.30pm (Mon–Sat).
Yesterday, you saw the coast to the east of Amalfi. Today, explore the coast to the west and/or the Monti Lattari (parcoregionaledeimontilattari.it), the coast’s mountainous interior, which offers some great hikes (alltrails.com).
The most famous (and popular) is the Sentiero degli Dei (alltrails.com), but you’ll need taxis to and from the trailheads at Nocelle and Bomerano.
Or explore the Tramonti, a dozen old-world hamlets above Ravello, on the Trail of the 13 Churches (wikiloc.com). 
Heading west, perhaps take a boat to see the Emerald Grotto or admire the coast as far as Praiano, a handful of whitewashed houses, a bar, church and a patch of sand (Marina di Praia) between soaring cliffs. 
Or take a bus (sitasudtrasporti.it) to the inland village of Furore (25mins) high above a deep, fjord-like cleft in the coast. Visit Marisa Cuomo’s winery (marisacuomo.com) and its extraordinarily steep terraces. Then have a panoramic lunch at Marisa’s sister’s restaurant, Hosteria Baccofurore (baccofurore.it).
For dinner tonight in Amalfi, try the long-established Da Gemma (trattoriadagemma.com).
Sita Sud buses (sitasudtrasporti.it/campania/orari) run roughly every 30 minutes from Amalfi to Ravello, one of the most romantic little towns imaginable. Perched on steep, terraced hills, it’s a place blessed with glorious views, luxuriant gardens, sleepy, sun-drenched corners and a roster of discreet upmarket hotels if you want days doing nothing.
The Palazzo Avino (palazzoavino.com; doubles from £578) is hard to beat for its views, character, romance and Michelin-star restaurant.
Wander the streets for the views, notably the lanes to the Belvedere Principessa di Piemonte, and the lovely little 11th-century Romanesque church of San Giovanni del Toro. 
Two celebrated gardens also offer superb views: one, the Villa Cimbrone, is part of a hotel but is open to non-residents (hotelvillacimbrone.com). Its Belvedere Cimbrone, with statues framing the coast far below, has one of the region’s most famous views. The pine-framed panorama from the gardens of the Villa Rufolo (villarufolo.it) is only marginally less celebrated.
Hotel dining rooms – notably the Villa Cimbrone’s one-Michelin star Il Flauto di Pan (hotelvillacimbrone.com) – offer sumptuous dining, with views thrown in, but for something simpler, try Cumpà Cosimo (no website), usually busy with visitors and locals alike.
Neither Naples nor Salerno airport is far from Ravello as the crow flies, but both require several legs if you are using public transport. Travel time by taxi to both airports is around 1hr 20 min at best, but allow for traffic.
NLG ferries (nlg.it) take 1hr 45min from Amalfi to the dock at Naples (€32), where you can pick up a taxi or Alibus shuttle bus (see Day 1) to the airport. Travelmar ferries (booking.travelmar.it/it/booking) take 35 min (€10) to Salerno.
At this point, however, consider extending your trip to two weeks to explore the Cilento (cilentoediano.it), a protected region of mountains and fine coastline about 25 miles (40km) south of Salerno.
Take the train to Agropoli, ideal as a base and for trips to the remarkable sixth-century BC temples at nearby Paestum (museopaestum.cultura.gov.it) and the area around Battipaglia, home to Italy’s finest mozzarella (mozzarelladop.it); many producers offer guided tours.
Also visit Santa Maria di Castellabate and Acciaroli (acciaroli.info), the latter celebrated for its lovely bays, a peaceful beach and some of Italy’s cleanest seas.
This region is busy, especially June–September and weekends Easter through October. Some hotels and visitor facilities close October–Easter. Spring (April–May) is glorious, but microclimates mean October/early November and March can be balmy. For walkers, the Lattari mountains are quieter year-round.
Citalia (01293 831970; citalia.com) offers a nine-night package in mid-May from £2,195 per person, B&B, including return flight from Gatwick, transfers and two nights at Palazzo Albardieri in Naples, two nights at Villa Don Camillo in Sorrento, two nights at Villa San Felice in Capri and three nights at the Due Torri Club near Maiori. 
Titan (0800 988 5800; titantravel.co.uk) has an eight-day group tour based in Sorrento from £1,695 half board for departures in November, including flights, transfers, excursions to Pompeii, Capri, Positano, Amalfi and 2.5 days’ free time.
EasyJet (easyjet.com) starts flying twice-weekly (Saturdays and Tuesdays) to and from Salerno Costa d’Amalfi Airport on July 13 until October 26, from £46.99 one-way.
Salerno’s airport reinforces the case for making Salerno (salernoturismo.it) a lower-cost base. It is well connected by bus (50 minutes) and ferry/hydrofoil (35 minutes) to Amalfi and other destinations, including Capri. Pompeii (Day 4) and Paestum (Day 10) are also easily reached.
Consider car hire only if you intend to explore a lot of the interior or extend your stay to the Cilento. Parking is extremely limited in all Amalfi Coast destinations and the coast roads are busy year round. Naples, of course, is rightly notorious for its traffic, and you can’t take cars to Capri.
With moves between centres, bear in mind the likelihood of mid-afternoon hotel check-in times. Most hotels should let you store luggage if you arrive earlier.
Bus tickets are single (Corsa Singola) or multi-journey within a time limit (Orario). Both cost from €2.40. A Costiera pass (€10) allows unlimited journeys over 24 hours. Buy tickets from outlets with a SitaSud sign, not on the bus. Further information is available at ravello.com. Supplements (€5) apply on Capri’s buses and most ferries for luggage over carry-on size.
If you must see the Blue Grotto, approach by boat from Positano or Amalfi, but be prepared for queues to board the rowing boats that offer entry, and don’t expect more than a few minutes in the grotto itself.
Pompeii is a big site, with little shade. Take water, a hat and sunscreen.
Avoid quirky bottles and bright yellow when buying limoncello – if you’re looking for quality, these are red flags. Antichi Sapori di Amalfi (antichisaporidamalfi.it) has good, traditional options.
Learn about the coast’s distinctive sfusato amalfitano lemons at the Amalfi Lemon Experience above Amalfi (amalfilemonexperience.it).
For further inspiration, read our expert guide to holidays on the Amalfi Coast.