Amalfi Coast: Positano, Capri, & Ravello, Italy
Last month we shared photos and recipes inspired by our trip to Greece. After Greece, we set out for Italy just the two of us: to Rome & Naples, and then the Amalfi Coast. Here are the highlights of the Amalfi Coast — and we have a few more Italian recipe inspirations coming your way.
The Amalfi Coast has been etched in our memory since we visited seven years ago on our honeymoon. The vibrant blue water, dizzying cliffs, and quaint lemon and olive groves make it hard to forget. Much as we love travelling to new places, we were dying to go back. So we returned seven years later, ready to see whether it was as good as we remembered.
Spoiler alert: it was. This gem is Positano. On this trip, we stayed in a small village right above it (Montepertuso), and got to see this view every morning when we walked into town. We felt a little spoiled.
The view from one of the best meals we had in Italy, at restaurant Da Vincenzo. The Linguine alla Napoli was delicious: the pasta cooked to perfect al dente. (Our best meal? Outside of Rome at our Italian friend’s mom’s place, here.)
Our favorite secluded beach in Positano.
A certain peach gelato from our honeymoon stuck out in my mind, which I had bought on our last visit near the main beach in Positano. We went back to the same place and sure enough, they had the gelato. It was just as I remembered, cool and refreshing with little chunks of frozen peaches throughout. It was such fun to relive one of the memories that inspired my love of food in the first place!
Our favorite part of the Amalfi Coast is the hiking. There are hundreds of trails, most of them the old “roads” before new highways were cut into the hillside. The vistas are amazing, and you can end up in someone’s olive or lemon groves if you aren’t careful. Each time we’ve come, we’ve brought a book that helps navigate the trails (though it’s still easy to get lost!).
This time, one of our favorite hikes was up to a huge, round hole in the mountain that towers above Positano. There were no other people in sight, and we sat looking down on Positano below, listening to the traffic and boat horn barely echo up frrom the beach below.
We took a few day trips; the first was a 30-minute boat ride to the island of Capri. This was one of our favorite spots on our honeymoon, so we couldn’t wait to go back. The day was a bit cloudy at first and looked like it was going to pour, but luckily the sun surfaced for the majority of the day.
Arco Naturale, a natural arch.
Insalata caprese (or, Capri Salad) on Capri. I had been looking forward to this the entire trip, and it tasted quite refreshing after a day of hiking.
Capri also has some amazing lemon and orange granitas.
The best known sight in Capri is Il Faraglione, a formation of three iconic rocks. We were looking forward to photographing them, but were worried the weather wouldn’t cooperate. Luckily, we were able to get a bit of blue sky to snap these shots (and hope to have a print to hang our our walls soon!)
Leaving Capri to head back to Positano…
On our final day, we took a day trip to Ravello, a town high up in the cliffs.
Villa Cimbrone is a villa in Ravello built in the 1900′s, with gorgeous gardens open to the public. We came back to see one special place…
This! The Terrace of Infinity. It’s an extraordinary place, the blue sea stretching for miles. It makes you feel both insignificant and special, all at once.
Here’s a shot you see on the cover of all Amalfi Coast guidebooks (if you’ve never seen one, you’ll recognize it now). It’s in a different villa called Villa Rufolo, which sits just around the corner.
After the villas, we hiked down from Ravello to catch a ferry back. Steps like these are everywhere on the Amalfi Coast – and they’re much better going down than up.
The evening of our last day, we decided to hike all the way from the beach at Positano to our favorite “hole”, towering above the town. After squeezing through tiny paths and steep inclines, we made it to the top and gazed over Positano one last time.
The Amalfi Coast is absolutely stunning, and we are so grateful to have been able to take another trip there. It was so special for us to revisit a culture and place that meant so much to us early in our marriage. We left feeling rested and relaxed, though we’d been on our feet constantly!
It was a whirlwind trip – from Greece to Rome to Naples to the Amalfi Coast, each place beautiful and unique in its own way. Thank you so much for letting us share these memories with you!
Have you ever been to the Amalfi Coast, or thinking of taking a trip there? Let us know your thoughts or questions!
Where we stayed: We’d recommend where we stayed on our honeymoon, Punta Civita. It’s between Ravello and a smaller village called Atrani so it’s slightly inconvenient to get to, but the views are to die for.
Eats we loved:
Da Vincenzo (Positano)
La Terra (Montepertuso) – Great views here!
Donna Rosa (Montepertuso) – a little pricey, but family owned
Other tips:
Hiking guide book
Go to Pompeii! (We went the first trip and it is amazing.)
