Amalfi Coast Travel Guide
I’m back from a whirlwind of wedding fun and our honeymoon. I spent 8 days in Italy – 7 days in the Amalfi Coast and 1 day in Rome. After two years of planning our wedding, a honeymoon was the vacation we needed. I went to Italy a couple of years ago solo for work and I fell in love with the country, so I wanted to go with my husband (that’s going to take some getting use to) and enjoy it together. I couldn’t really think of anything better than pizza, pasta, bread and beautiful beaches, so Italy it is. I would recommend the Amalfi Coast 1,0000000x over, it was seriously the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.
What’s nice about the Amalfi Coast is that every town is close together, you are not limited to just one town. You can commute by bus or ferry ( I recommend the ferry) and get from point A to point B within 30 mins to an hour + a 1/2 depending on where you are going. So, you don’t really have to be picky about where you stay because if you’re going to explore like we did – you’re not going to really be in your hotel anyways. However, after visiting Positano, I loved it so much that I could just stay there next time we go.
Transportation
If you are going to take the bus around the coast, here are a few things you should know:
- the roads are crazy narrow so the commute is actually kind of scary
- if you are going to take the bus at night, be prepared to fight for a seat or to be standing up because they do get crowded
- if you get car sick, take the ferry
- Be prepared for traffic because cars park on the side of the road and the streets are too narrow for two buses to go through at a time
Taxis are pretty expensive, but worth it at night because the buses stop running after a certain time. There are private drivers you can look into to get you through the different towns, but we opted for the ferry and public transport.
We stayed in Amalfi which was 30 mins away from Ravello and 30 mins away from Positano by ferry. We made it our goal to explore a new town every day and started off with exploring Amalfi and Sorrento first. But, honestly every town is prettier than the last. Every town was beautiful and quaint, filled with shops, ceramics, Italian culture and a beautiful beach. Amalfi is a popular destination so it was crowded, as expected with Italy being made up of narrow streets. Tourists would come in from other towns via bus or ferry and flood the streets, but it was a good central spot for us to maneuver to other towns. There is a beautiful beach with the colorful umbrellas just like on Pinterest and you can rent kayaks or go for a swim.
Sorrento isn’t actually part of the coast, it’s further north, but it is definitely worth checking out. It was a large town filled with beautiful shops, ceramics, and of course cappuccino and crepes. If you are looking for a beautiful beach though, Sorrento isn’t the place to go. There isn’t a proper beach there.
We visited the island of Capri and spent the day on a boat and visited the most ancient steps from 7th century B.C. Everything in Capri was great from the shops to the food to the beautiful caves. Following Capri, we visited Positano and Ravello, but I’m going to do a separate travel guide blog post on Capri, Ravello, and Positano because they were my three favorite towns we visited on our trip. I’ll also do a separate blog post on our night in Rome.
Would I go again? 100% yes. If you are planning a trip to the Amalfi Coast, I would recommend it and say be prepared to spend a full day when exploring other towns and just immerse yourself in the culture and beauty. Be prepared to stop every second for a photo and wear comfortable shoes because there are a million tiny steps to get everywhere, but that is all part of the charm of Italy 🙂
If you are planning your next trip or thinking about going to the Amalfi Coast, I hope this post was helpful!
xx Raquel