Amalfi Coast · the vertical town
Positano
Pastel houses poured down a cliff to the sea. The coast’s great romantic set piece, and it knows it.
Positano doesn’t do restraint. A thousand pastel houses spill down a ravine to a little grey-sand beach, the boutiques glow, the boats come and go, and every terrace angles at the same photograph. It’s the most beautiful town on the coast, and the most photographed, and for three or four days it’s pure romance.
The hard part: it’s steep, it’s dear, and in July it’s shoulder-to-shoulder on the stairs. No cars in the middle, no train at all. You arrive by boat or by the one clogged road, and you climb for everything. Come in the shoulder, sleep up top or on Fornillo, and you get the dream without the crush.
Best months
May–Jun · late Sep
Stay
3–5 nights
Arrive
Ferry, or the road. No train
The one thing
Sunset over the dome
Daily feel
A splurge, happily
A perfect day
morning to midnight, the romantic cut
Morning
Coffee and a warm cornetto at Casa e Bottega, then down to Fornillo beach before the day-trippers land. The calmer cove, a ten-minute cliff walk from the main beach.
Midday
Hire a little gozzo and put out to sea: the Li Galli islets where the sirens sang, the Emerald Grotto glowing green, a swim off the back of the boat, and lunch on the water.
Afternoon
Back up into town for the boutiques, since Positano more or less invented the summer resort dress, and the majolica dome of Santa Maria Assunta, with its Byzantine Black Madonna.
Evening
A spritz at golden hour with the whole town falling to the sea below you, then dinner up in the hills at La Tagliata. Family-run, barely a menu, their shuttle both ways.
What to eat
the dishes, and the tables worth the trouble
Delizia al limone
A dome of lemon sponge and cream. The coast’s own dessert. Order it anywhere with a view.
Spaghetti alla Nerano
Fried zucchini and provolone del Monaco, born just around the headland. Simple, and impossible to stop eating.
The day’s seafood
Whatever came in that morning: anchovies, totani, a whole grilled fish, with a sfusato lemon squeezed over.
Lemon granita
Shaved ice and the giant local lemon, from a cart on the beach. The cheapest great thing in town.
The tables worth booking
The candlelit room at Le Sirenuse, a thousand lit candles at dinner. The special-occasion table, and the view to match.
Right on Spiaggia Grande since the sixties. The beachfront classic, feet almost in the sand.
Family-run since 1958, three generations in. Where the town itself sits down to eat.
“Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there.”
John Steinbeck · 1953
The bucket list
the things you came for, each one opens
If you do one thing
Take a small boat out at sunset. The town lighting up tier by tier from the water is the thing you’ll still see when you close your eyes back home.
Know before you go
the practical, tucked into drop-downs
Ferries run in season from Sorrento, Amalfi, Capri, and Salerno. Check times and book from the coast map. Otherwise it’s the SITA bus along the SS163 or a private transfer; there’s no train. In town, it’s the little orange bus up to the top road and, for everything else, your legs. The stairs are the town.
May, June, and late September into October are the sweet spot: warm water, open kitchens, room to breathe. July and August are hot, priciest, and shoulder-to-shoulder on the stairs. From November to Easter most of it closes; lovely and empty, but half-shut.
Down by Spiaggia Grande you’re in the thick of it: walk to everything, pay the most, and haul your bags up the steps. Mid-town trades some steps for a little calm. Up top in Montepertuso and Nocelle it’s cheaper and quieter, with the biggest views and the bus down to the water. The rent band sits on the coast overview.
The name, by legend, is a scolding: pirates carrying off a Byzantine icon heard it say “Posa, posa”, meaning put it down, and left it here. Steinbeck put the town on the page in 1953. Rudolf Nureyev bought the Li Galli islets offshore and died owning them. Somewhere in there a poor fishing-and-farming village became the coast’s catwalk.
Positano on the map
More info: the whole trip in one place