Dear traveler,
Welcome to my first blog post which will be all about my experience in the Amalfi Coast, where i have spent a long weekend with my best friend.
If, like me, you’re headed to this gorgeous Italian region but don’t have much time to spend, i really hope you find this itinerary useful, to make the most of your time there!
Day 1- arrival at Naples airport and settling in
If your destination is the Amalfi Coast, the easiest way to get there is by plane (flying to Naples airport) plus taking a second mean of transportation like public transport, rental car or private transfer.
In our case, we decided to rent a car and went with europecar because we thought this was the best option to get around, but boy… we couldn’t have been more wrong about this choice 😅- this is something i will explain more in detail in another post.
I arrived in Naples on a Friday morning coming from Rome because of my flights (from Bordeaux, the first flight in the morning was Rome while Naples was only available at night) and i obviously didn’t want to waste a full day, so i took a train directly from Rome Fiumencino airport to Naples Central Station ( +/- 2h trip) and waited for my friend, who was flying from Lisbon directly to Naples and was supposed to pick up our car there.
Unfortunately, the car company didn’t accept Revolut cards to withdraw the deposit (although they accept online reservations made with these cards😒) and we weren’t aware of this so, when my friend walked to the counter to get the car, she wasn’t able to because of that reason and she also didn’t have any other credit card to make the deposit…
Meaning: we had to make a second reservation, using my “normal” credit card and picked it up at the train station- problem was, by the time we found a solution, it was already 1pm and the counter was closed from 1pm to 3pm for lunch hours so no choice but waiting there until it opened again.
3pm arrives and finally we are able to get our car and start our 1h20min drive to our awaited destination !!
As you can imagine by now, we were exhausted from waking up early (i had my flight to Rome at 6am😅) plus everything that had happened so far, so we decided to just stay in the Hotel, relax by the pool and end the day at this really nice Italian restaurant which is family owned and has great dishes with cheap prices👌🏼
For future reference – the Hotel we booked was Hotel Le Rocce Agerola, located in Furore, and it’s the best Hotel I’ve stayed in so far!! The restaurant we went that first night was La Selva de Di Fusco Antonio, just a 5 min walk from the hotel.
Day 2- Amalfi and Ravello
Furore is, i would say, located in the middle of the Amalfi Coast, with Positano to the left and Amalfi to the right (if you’re facing the coastline) and when booking our hotel, i really thought this was a strategic place to stay because of that same reason.
Well, dear travelers, it wasn’t 😅
In this Italian region, the roads are very narrow and have many, many curves, which makes it very hard to drive around, specially if you have a car bigger than a Fiat 500 (our situation 😂). Most of the times, you have to drive really slow and be aware of other cars, scooters and public buses coming in every single direction while, at the same time, maintaining your calm and mental sanity 😂 ( good luck with that).
Why am i saying all of this? The reason: it took us between 1h to 2h to go anywhere!! And we went in mid September.. can you imagine visiting this place during summer ?!
That being said, we decided to divide this region in two: first day exploring Amalfi and Ravello and on our 2nd day we would go to the other side, visiting Furore and Positano.
Having had a very slow morning at the hotel (that we so desperately needed after our hectic arrival day), we hit the road around 11:30 am and found a lucky parking spot at one of the few car parkings available in Amalfi- this one was the closest to the port and it’s called Parking Berma- and off we went exploring this cute little village.
What i advice you to do here is to just walk around the streets and get lost in between the shops and restaurants and cafés, while savoring a delicious gelato 🍨, specially the lemon flavor since it’s kind of the specialty around here 😂.
After, we arrived at the main square where you can admire the famous Duomo de Amalfi (also known as the cathedral): you have two options here- either you just visit a bit of the exterior part which is free or you can pay 6€ and visit the interior of the Duomo. We went with option number one, as honestly, i didn’t find this to be the most impressive Italian Cathedral i had seen.
We kept on walking along the seaside all the way to the next village called Atrani to take some pictures and videos, enjoying the gorgeous views and to just take in some time to chit chat as time seemed to stay still.
After, we had to get all the way back to the parking lot and ended up paying 24€ for 4h!!! yep.. parking here is super expensive so here’s another reason NOT to bring a car 😳 😅.
Now… for the most disappointing part of our trip: driving from Amalfi to Ravello while trying to find the place pretty much everyone goes there for: Villa Cimbrone Gardens and the stunning Terrace of Infinity!
And you might be asking- but Inês, why was this the most disappointing part of your trip?? Well, because (and here’s another very important tip for anyone who visits the Amalfi coast) there’s no point on following the gps coordinates, being it waze or Google maps..
You read that right! They will take you to a completely different viewpoint close to this “Mamma Agata culinary school” that has nothing to do with the actual place you want to visit 🤡 🤡.
Let me paint this picture for you so we can all laugh about it: imagine two girls driving this huge Volkswagen T-Cross all the way up to the supposed villa, paying ANOTHER parking lot that we barely used just to realize that, after what felt like hours walking in circles, we were being led to a wrong location!! And apparently it happens all the time because there were many other tourists doing the same we did 😅 😂.
When we finally found a local, we immediately asked her how we were supposed to go the villa and the lady, who barely spoke any English, just replied: “just park the car at the Cathedral square parking and walk from there”. Could it be really that simple? Like.. that easy?!! Oh well, we might’ve just try it by now, since the sun would be setting in an hour or two and the villa’s closing time was near.
By the time we arrived at the parking lot ( and aleluia this was the right place!!) it was already 6pm and the villa closed at 8pm. We spent some time strolling around the streets of Ravello while trying to find the way to the Villa because this place looked like a labyrinth, and yes my friends, we found the entrance to the villa at last..
And guess what????? THERE WAS A FREAKING WEDDING HAPPENING that day so they had closed it to the public for that event! SERIOUSLY?!!! are you kidding me??! ohhhh boy, we just couldn’t believe it 😅 🤡- meaning, after all this time, trying to find the right place, walking in circles, tired of the day… we finally arrive and we can’t visit the place??!! we looked at each-other and just started laughing so hard to prevent crying…
After this sad episode we started to walk back towards the city center, when this place called Villa Amore looked very inviting to us and yes, it was open 😂, and so we kept going down the stairs that led to the entrance of this hotel/ restaurant/ bar and were taken by surprise when we stumbled across this impressive view from the cafe’s balcony 😍
There it was.. the “perfect” ending to this “not so perfect” chaotic day, as we sipped our gins and tonics and just stayed in silence, with a victorious smile on our faces facing the majestic Italian cliffs and the calm riviera down below.
Dinner was spent at one of the many restaurants Ravello has to offer- ours was at the restaurant of the Villa Maria Hotel: very romantic setting with this enormous terrace overlooking some vineyards across the cliffs, nice service and good food!
Day 3- Furore and Positano
3rd and last day started with a delicious breakfast at the hotel (like the previous ones 😍) and, as the title suggests, we were planning on visiting the famous Fiordo di Furore- a deep gorge created by the erosion of the rocks over time with a narrow opening to the sea, creating a stunning natural inlet- and Positano.
But… fortunately we asked the hotel manager if this was a good idea and he immediately said ” girls, there’s a reason why only tourists go there.. and might I add, very ignorant ones 😅😅- because that’s where the waters from our toilets go to…” well.. needless to say, we were shocked by this information and obviously changed our plans immediately and decided to spend the whole day in Positano instead.
1h30 drive later, we arrived at the most lavish, charming and picturesque village of the Amalfi Coast riviera- Positano 😍
Just like in Amalfi, Positano offers some parking lots where you can leave your car for a price; there’s no such thing as “free parking” here (or at least I haven’t seen any 😅) and they will charge on average 10€/hour.
After leaving the car parked, we then proceeded to go down the very narrow streets that will lead you to the beach- in our case, we left the car on the “west part” of Positano (let’s put it like that) so the beach we found first was Fornillo beach.
Ended up having lunch at one of the restaurants they have there, and like pretty much everything on this place, completely overpriced. We ordered two Caesar salads, two cocktails e two espressos and the bill was around 40 to 50 something euros! Yeah, keep in mind that this Italian region is definitely NOT budget friendly, so be prepared to spend ridiculous amounts of money for what one would think is a “simple” meal.
Now let’s talk about the beach, shall we?
The beaches here are quite small, sand on the darker side, with clear blue waters and a warm temperature. What I loved the most about them was their many colorful umbrellas scattered all over the place with the sun beds, and yes, of course you have to pay if you want to sunbathe- like I said, i believe there’s no such thing as “free of charge or cheap” on this place 😂
The amount will vary on your sun bed location so, the further away from the sea your sun bed is, the less you pay- got that? We paid 20€ each(!!!) for our sun beds because they were the one’s closest to the restaurants; then there was the next row where they cost 30€ each and the following one, closest to the sea, 40€ each 😳 😳
Despite the overpriced beach stay, it was a nice moment to just relax and to really let that “dolce far niente” (or the “sweetness of doing nothing”) feeling settle in during that delightful Sunday afternoon..
By the time the clock reached 4pm, we took a 3 min boat drive (included in the price of the sun beds!) that would take us to the “main square” of Positano. It’s a shame we didn’t have more time to spend there because experiencing a boat drive in the Amalfi Coast is something many people recommend doing due to the beautiful views you can get from this perspective and i totally agree!! 3 minutes was definitely not enough and if I come back to this place one day, I will for sure book one myself.
The next hour was spent just walking around Positano’s streets, eating gelato (again!! 😂 😂) and buying souvenirs, as we were leaving home tomorrow morning.
But guess what? we came back to Positano at night for dinner at one of the most beautiful and exclusive restaurants – Terrazza Celè- to celebrate my best friend’s birthday. This restaurant was amazing .. a five dinner course, 5 star service, beautiful decorated terrace and excellent food 😍
It was a perfect evening to end our stay in this stunning Italian region and I’d love to come back one day with more time available to explore places like Capri, Sorrento, the ruins in Pompeii and the Vesuvius…
I hope this post was helpful and useful to you, dear traveler, and that my wish of coming back to this place has somehow convinced you to embark on your own Amalfi Coast adventure. So, pack your bags, embrace the coastal breeze, and let the magic of the Amalfi Coast unfold before you.
Until then, happy travels!
XOXO Inês 😘