Amalfi Coast

Why Amalfi Coast works

The Amalfi Coast's SS163 coastal road, blasted into cliffs in the 1850s, remains one of the world's most scenic — and hair-raising — drives, threading hairpin bends between villages that seem to defy gravity, houses stacked in pastel tiers above the sea. Positano, the coast's most photographed town, cascades down a ravine in shades of pink, ochre and white, its steep steps leading to a small black-sand beach and boutiques selling handmade sandals. Amalfi itself, once a powerful maritime republic rivalling Venice and Genoa, retains a striped Arab-Norman cathedral, the Duomo di Sant'Andrea, reached by a dramatic staircase, and gave its name to the coastline and to paper-making traditions still practised in a working museum. Ravello, perched higher above the sea, offers the coast's most celebrated gardens — Villa Cimbrone's Terrace of Infinity and Villa Rufolo, which inspired Wagner — both framing uninterrupted sea views. Lemon groves terrace the hillsides throughout, their fruit — enormous, thick-skinned sfusato amalfitano — pressed into limoncello sold from every shopfront. Ferries linking Positano, Amalfi and Sorrento avoid the coast road's summer traffic and offer the best vantage of the villages from the water, while Capri, a short hydrofoil ride away, makes an easy day trip to the Blue Grotto.

Trip Snapshot

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