Amalfi Coast: 1 Week Guide
The Amalfi coast : The true essence of ‘La Dolce Vita’. The food, people, weather, and epic scenery makes for a once-in-a lifetime trip that will have you contemplating scheming an Italian citizenship. Because of my small amount of PTO, I was tasked with seeing as much as humanly possible in Southern Italy in 6 days (plus a travel day). If you have more time to spend, I would extend each destination and give yourself more time to explore and relax. But if you’re a little psycho like me and want to get a little bit of everything in 1 week, this article is for you.
Initial tips before your trip:
Flights: in and out of Naples (IATA: NAP)
Rent a car from the airport. There are also busses that go from the airport to the major towns (Sorrento, etc) but we wanted the luxury to explore on our own clock
Have some Euros on hand. If you don’t have time or forget to get them out beforehand, there are places to get Euros out there. Some small restaurants and shops only take cash so it is good to have
We went in mid June to Amalfi coast which is right before the high season. It would be hot May-September, with July and August being the most popular (and expensive) months
Book hotels far in advance. If you want to stay in the town somewhere like Positano, hotels are fully booked months out, especially June-August.
There are ferries that run from the major cities everyday. For example, you could stay in Sorrento for your entire trip and take day trips to Amalfi, Positano, Capri, etc if you like to stay in one hotel the whole time and avoid traveling around.
High-level Itinerary:
Day 1: Naples and Sorrento
Day 2: Pompeii and Sorrento
Day 3: Sorrento
Day 4: Positano + Amalfi
Day 5: Capri
Day 6: Amalfi
Day 7: Travel Day
Map of entire route:
Details of the Road Trip:
Day 1: Naples and Sorrento
Getting into Naples airport can be hectic. Getting suitcases from baggage claim can take longer than anticipated so factor in at least an hour after landing time to get off and find your suitcases. At the airport you can find centers to pick up the rental car and begin the 1 hour journey to Sorrento.
Tip: if possible, rent a smaller car. It is hard to park around Amalfi coast and some hotel parking suggests having a smaller vehicle for their parking lots.
The roads are narrow and winding so be prepared to feel a little squeezed in with other cars on the road.
Where we stayed: Marina Piccola 73 hotel. It is a lovely boutique hotel on the water that has a castle-like tower and patio right on the beach, surrounded by boats. It is not in the center of town (can walk 10-15 minutes mostly uphill) so if being in the middle of everything is more appealing, Marina Piccola may not be ideal.
I went to a late dinner at L’Antica Trattoria in Sorrento. It is a popular spot so I emailed from their website around 2 weeks beforehand in order to get a reservation. https://www.lanticatrattoria.com/newsite/en/
It was a lovely meal with traditional dishes and regional dishes to Campania. It was crowded upon walking in even at a 9:30pm reservation time.
Day 2: Pompeii and Sorrento
We enjoyed a beautiful morning on the hotel patio for breakfast and enjoyed boats sailing by
I have always wanted to go to Pompeii and visit the archaeological site, so we drove around 40 minutes north to the site. I booked a group tour done by a local archeologist to show us around the UNESCO World Heritage site
We walked through tombs and streets of an ancient city, and grabbed a quick lunch in the town. For dessert, Baba’s are popular and field with a rum and cream filling
Where we Stayed: After returning we checked into our new hotel, Hotel Relais Regina Giovanna in Sorrento. This was one of the most unique and serene places I ever stayed. It has over 50 acres of land, a farm, olive and lemon trees, fresh olive oil on site, an amazing restaurant, and a private beach.
We stayed at the hotel for dinner and had olive oil tasting, fresh pasta with local fish, and vegetables from the farm
Day 3: Sorrento
Morning swim: bagni della regina giovanna.
People at our hotel told us about a local swimming hole that Italians go to on the weekends and you can hike down to it, and then hike up around it for some epic views.
It was an amazing experience to see families bring lunches and spend the day in this swimming hole. After taking a dip, we walked to the top and saw striking cliffs and water.
After coming back to our hotel we went to the private beach and relaxed there for a while.
Tip: some of the beaches are rocky so if you have more sensitive feet, buy some water shoes for comfort
Later that day we wanted to try some of the pizza of the region and our cab driver directed us towards Pizzaria da Franco. It was pizza “vito” style rather than the classic Neapolitan style. I enjoyed it very much and would recommend grabbing a slice from
Shopping - most of the downtown is filled with narrow alleys of many stores- bags, shoes, clothes, leather goods, etc.
We spent the night shopping and stumbled upon O’Murzill for dinner. The employees were kind and the house wine was tasty and reasonably priced. We got the lemon pasta with fish of the day and it was refreshing and satisfying
Day 4: Positano + Amalfi
Today was a day trip to Positano. We left early in the morning and made the 45 minute drive. Once you get to the other coastline and cross the peninsula, the winding roads down the cliff are stunning. You literally feel like you’re in a movie going through tunnels in the middle of cliffs. Once you see the town start thinking about parking. The closer you get to the beach, the more narrow roads become and parking is scarce. We found some street parking and walked the winding little streets down
The biggest beach there is the Marina Grande beach that overlooks the famous jagged cliff with houses prompted on it. You can pay (around $20) for a chair and umbrella to post up there for the day. There are spots for pizza and other food around that you are free to bring back to your chair
Before we settled on the beach, we saw a spot that had private boat tours of the coast and we were lucky enough to book a 2 hour boat ride in a small boat.
Tip: If it is prime season (July and August) I would recommend booking a boat tour before arriving as it can get very busy and you might not be able to reserve one
We did a later afternoon boat ride so we could enjoy our time at the beach and eat lunch. The ride took you down the coast all the way to the city of Amalfi , and we even went into caves in Praiano and the famous arch of Furore. This is definitely worth the money because you’re seeing the cities from a different perspective that you would not get if you were driving along.
Tip: Positano tends to be very touristy, so stay away from the establishments right on the beach. Go to restaurants and shopping more inland in the town to get a better deal. Keep in mind the prices in this town in general are more expensive than most of the other cities on the coast
After our ride we wanted to head home to check into our new hotel in Amalfi, Hotel Bellevue suites. It is on a road leading up to the downtown of Amalfi set on the water and run by father and son. It is more of a boutique hotel and has charm and character. We were upgraded to a balcony room that had expansive views of the Tyrrhenian sea.
For dinner, we walked to La Preferita, a small and cozy local family-run restaurant. They had traditional dishes and I felt like I was eating in my grandma’s house. The food was fresh, the wine was cheap, and it was a relaxing evening.
Day 5: Capri
We took the 9am ferry from the main port in Amalfi to Capri. There are a few different ferry companies and you can book your tickets online before. We used https://www.directferries.com/amalfi_capri_ferry.htm and the ride was a little under an hour.
After arriving at the port we reserved a boat tour to see the famous Faraglioni arches (thousands of years old) along with the Blue Grotto. It was going to be around 3 hours long
We walked around, went shopping, got amazing Gelato that is at every street corner, and got lunch at Ristorante Virginiello (recommended by our boat tour owner). The food was absolutely amazing with expansive views of the sea and was wonderful for a sit-down lunch. If you want something smaller and to walk, there are many options available
Our boat ride in Capri was probably the highlight of the trip. The agency allowed us to bring wine on, there was music, and our private driver Luigi took us to every cave and iconic spot. There was a little backup for the blue grotto but he was able to navigate us in a good spot
Tip: bring some cash for the blue grotto. You have to get out of your boat into a small rowboat in order to get into the cave (the entrance is quite small) and the rowboat steerers expect tips
We took the 6pm boat back to Amalfi and got dinner at Taverna Delgi Apostoli, which is in the middle of the city
Day 6: Amalfi
This was more of a relaxation day. After breakfast at the hotel we wanted to get another beach day in. From word of mouth, we learned the best beach to go to there is Lido Delgi artisti (Il Duoglio Spiaggia in Google Maps)
There are 2 ways to get to this beach depending where you are staying - by boat from the main port of Amalfi, or down a long staircase along a cliff. Since our hotel was on a road along the cliff, the staircase was nearby and we did that. It was not too strenuous and you get to enjoy the views on the way down.
There if you have beach supplies you can set up on the public area; but since we didn’t pack any they had sunbeds and umbrella setups for around $15 each. It was extremely relaxing and they had food and drink service there as well. They have a boat that docks at the beach every half hour or so to take you to the main port, which is right at the base of the downtown. We took it when we were done with the beach to get gelato and do some shopping
Our last dinner was at the restaurant in hotel Santa Caterina, Glicine. It is one of the most famous hotels in Amalfi and has a beautiful restaurant on their terrace overlooking the whole city at night. It is pricey, but certainly an experience to do once. This Michelin-starred restaurant had a prefixed menu that came with many courses and was very inventive
A tip on pasta - the most famous type of pasta to the region of Amalfi coast, Campania, is paccheri. They look like rigatoni without the ridges and are typically made fresh at restaurants. I had paccheri in many different pasta dishes throughout the trip so if you come across it on a menu, try it!
Day 7: Travel Day
Depending when your flight home is, the drive from Amalfi to Naples airport is about 1 hr 15 minutes. That’s it!
All of these destinations can be customizable, we just did it in this order because it worked out for our road trip. Feel free to do additional research on hikes you might like and where to spend some extra time.
