The village between Positano and Amalfi that most people drive straight through, which is exactly why it’s kept its calm, and the best sunsets on the coast.
Why a day here
Praiano faces due west, so it catches the sunset the rest of the coast only hears about. It’s the calm, un-touristy middle of the coast, a real village where Positano’s crowds thin out, and the easiest place to start or finish the Path of the Gods.
Getting there
The SITA bus along the SS163 stops here, midway between Positano and Amalfi. About 20 minutes either way. In season, Travelmar ferries call at Marina di Praia. Walking the trail, take the bus up to Bomerano and finish the Path of the Gods down into town.
Give it
A long afternoon, into sunset
A working village strung along the cliff, not a resort: churches with majolica domes, ceramic-tiled steps, and terraces of lemon and vine. Life runs slower than Positano’s and prices are gentler; the evening passeggiata is locals, not day-trippers. The heart of it is the tiled square by San Gennaro and the walk down to the cove at Marina di Praia.
The sunset from the steps of San Gennaro or the terrace at San Luca; the ceramic Via degli Artisti stairs; and a swim at Marina di Praia, a slot of beach between two cliffs with a couple of restaurants on the rocks.
Praiano is said to have been the summer retreat of Amalfi’s doges when the republic was rich, and it kept a slower fishing-and-farming life long after the fashionable crowd chose Positano. Today it leans into art and light: ceramics and installations threaded through the lanes, and, for the July feast of San Gennaro, the whole town strung with luminarie.
Praiano on the map