Amalfi Coast Vacation

We finally made it to the Amalfi Coast, Italy.  It has been on The List for years.  We visited in the month of April which had some pros and cons.  It was much less crowded, as cruise ships were not dropping off thousands of people daily in Naples.  The weather was fantastic, about 60 degrees the entire time and no rain!  But even though the weather was great we missed being able to do some water activities (snorkeling) because it just wasn’t warm enough yet.  Also, because it wasn’t yet peak season some services were not yet running i.e. fishing boat tours.

Getting There

I’ve been playing the ‘points game’ (aka travel hacking) for several years now, and as in the past, I redeemed points and miles for the American Airlines business class flights to Rome.  When redeeming miles for a flight on AA metal, my tip is to select routing through old US Airways hubs.  Those routes fly A330 planes and the hard product is a little nicer than AA’s mishmash of planes. In this case, for the outbound we flew Charlotte (CLT) to Rome (FCO).  Upon arrival in Rome, we took the train to Roma Termini station where we bought high-speed train tickets (Italo.) to Naples (about an hour in duration).

We chose to overnight in Naples to do a little sightseeing, but all in all you should plan about 4 hours from arrival in Rome to arrival in the Amalfi Coast.   We chose a private transfer from Naples to Positano, but you can also take a combination of trains and ferries to get to the towns along the coast.

Accommodations

For just one night in Naples, we stayed at a B&B near the train station named VistaViva.   The room was clean with comfortable amenities.  We actually overslept and missed the continental breakfast but the owner was kind enough to save us some coffee and croissants.

After one night in Naples, we spent the remainder of the week in Positano staying at the Hotel Buca Di Bacco which is in a great location.   It’s right in the center of Positano, on the beach and close to shops and restaurants.  Overall I loved the property.   The breakfast buffet is extensive and includes both hot and cold items.  There’s a great machine that juices oranges on demand (3 oranges per glass) so you can have fresh blood orange juice each morning.  Buca Di Bacco does not have a pool, spa, or exercise room while others nearby of the same caliber do.

The king room we stayed in was simple but just right in size and amenities, bed and linens were quite comfortable.  There’s a mini bar and the bathroom has a bidet. I did notice there was no full length mirror in our King room,  which wasn’t terrible but just seemed odd for it to be missing when there was so much attention to detail in other areas.  The turn down service was lovely and would even replace your towels again if you had showered after the day service made up the room. The best thing about our room though (39) was the view!

The small balcony opened up to the ocean and town.  Just gorgeous!

After 4 days in Positano, we took the train back to Rome for a short overnight stay.  I used an IHG free night certificate at the Crowne Plaza – St Peter’s and honestly it was a bit of disappointment.  The first room we were assigned to was on the 5th floor overlooking the clay tennis courts and had noticeable, large stains in both the carpeting and the couch.  I mentioned this to the hotel via email and a manager came up to offer another room on the same floor.   The second room had laminate flooring, so no dirty carpet, but rather dust bunnies everywhere and more importantly, the A/C didn’t work in the room.  When we called down to report this, they told us it wasn’t the ‘season’ to use A/C and sent up a (broken) fan. This was a strange response because our first (stained carpet) room had working A/C.    In the end, it was only one night.  I would not plan to stay there again in its current state.  The rooms and furniture are sad and tired and definitely need updating.

 

Activities & Food

 

I’d scheduled a photo shoot via Localgrapher so we met the photographer, Andrea Galluci, on our first full day in Positano.   He met us right at our hotel and we took pictures along the beach. He was really great to work with: so personable and professional.  He is based out of Ravello.  I highly recommend him if you are in the Amalfi coast area.

After photos, we attended a cooking class at Buca Di Bacco. You can take this class even if you don’t stay at the hotel. It was pretty fun.   They keep the prosecco flowing as you learn to make several things:  pizza, gnocchi, eggplant parmesan, marinara, etc.   By far, my favorite thing was making gnocchi and they give you a gnocchi board to take home and continue your new found skills.  At the end of the class you eat what you made at a private dinner in the hotel restaurant.  This class is expensive though.  As we toured the town I saw several other venues offering cooking classes, some in home kitchens (vs a restaurant kitchen) but I am not sure about pricing.

On our second full day in Positano, we took the high speed ferry (20 euro one way)  to the island of Capri. The boat ride is 30 min.  Once on the island, we decided to visit the Blue Grotto.  We took a boat to get there but you can also take a bus and then walk.   No matter how you get there, once you arrive at the grotto entrance location, you must then get in to a small 4 person canoe and a guide will navigate your canoe into the grotto.  The grotto opening is 4 ft high so all in the canoe basically have to lie down as the guide pushes your boat through the opening.   It’s a bit unusual and exciting.   Once inside, the highlight is that underwater is lighter than above water.  It’s dark in the cave but the water is a beautiful, lit, blue.  It’s fabulous.  And hard to capture by camera in low light, rocking canoe conditions.   The entire Blue Grotto experience including inbound and outbound boat trips took an hour, so you don’t spend a lot of time in the cave but we still enjoyed it.

On our third full day in Positano, we did a private tour of Ravello, Amalfi, and Sorrento.   The towns along the Amalfi coast are built into the sides of mountains.   Expect to do uphill/downhill walking. Some towns do not allow thru-traffic in portions of the town because it is too steep and the roads are too narrow.  It sounds obvious, but bring comfortable shoes.

We arranged the tour with Davide who picked us up from our hotel and drove us to our three destinations. It was a great day with beautiful views and information on things we were seeing along the way.  The roads consist of one hairpin turn after another – very curvy.  Davide is professional and had great recommendations! He is the one who suggested a restaurant where we had quite the unique experience.   He will call ahead to make any reservations needed.  He can put together customized itineraries based on your interests. He can also do basic transfers to/from Naples or other towns nearby if you just need a pickup/drop off.  I highly recommend him when you are in the area.

Some other tour recommendations we received and talked about doing but ended up not being able to book are:

Positano Walking Tour

Path of the Gods Hike

 

In Naples we had pizza at two places:

D’Angeli

L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele which is well known from the movie Eat Pray Love.

There’s plenty of Yelp reviews for both that are pretty accurate. I found it noteworthy that pizza is only 4 or 5 euros pretty much everywhere you go.

 

In Positano:

La Tagliata – It’s noteworthy for the experience. Reservations are recommended.  There is no menu here. Once we were seated the owner, Pepe, came over and told us this is like eating with your family, food would just come out for you to enjoy. That’s what happened! Food started arriving at the table, five courses in all and unlimited wine.   It was neat to anticipate what would arrive next.   I didn’t love the wine – seemed to be their own house brand, but really enjoyed the experience and the views!  This restaurant is at the top of Positano and has great views of the coast and the town.

Lo Guarracino – This restaurant was a bit secluded.  We enjoyed the peaceful, quiet ocean views.  The beach it overlooks is more private and off the beaten path.   The walk to get to the restaurant is basically straight uphill.

In Rome:

Schiavi D’Abruzzo –  It’s casual and simple  but quaint and yummy.  They have a delicious lemon drink (lemon sorbet mixed with limoncello) that I proclaimed as my favorite thing from the entire week.

Returning Home

After four days based in Positano, we again used a private transfer with pickup from the hotel at around 12:30 pm and drop off at the Naples train station.   We bought high speed train tickets (Italo again) to Rome and we were in Rome by 4pm.   Tip:  choose off peak times of day to travel by roads.  As I mentioned,  they are winding and narrow and traffic can get congested and cause delays.

We spent one night in Rome (we’ve seen the major sights on a prior trip) and had the hotel shuttle take us to the airport in the morning.   We again flew AA direct to Philadelphia (PHL) and then a connecting flight home.

It was a wonderful trip and all I can say is: GO!
-J