It’s as if the road into Positano on Italy’s famed Amalfi Coast has been designed for maximum effect as you first glimpse the dramatic coastline of distinctive Italian architecture, shimmering green-blue water, luxe super yachts, and bronzed beautiful people. It’s one of the most beautiful places we have ever arrived at, and to be staring down the barrel of a week long stay was super exciting.
Having family and friends to meet up with across the globe is a wonderful gift, and having a friend who is based in Positano for the Euro-summer who invites you to her apartment for a week is simply awesome! Enter Jacqueline – originally a work colleague and now a friend, the three of us settled into a domestic routine that included morning coffees, gym workouts, beach lazing and eating and spritzing our way around town.
With Jac virtually a local by the time we arrived, we took full advantage of her insider knowledge of the area and were so lucky to make some new friends too. Elisabeth & Peppe live and work in Positano and operate the boat company Blue Star Positano. We were so fortunate to be invited to share a few meals with them in their home and even attend Peppe’s 50th birthday party on the beach, dancing on the sand until late. If you are in town these guys have all your boating desires covered, and are some of the nicest people we have met on our travels to date.
Positano is a small village, reportedly less than 4000 locals reside there and this number explodes over the peak summer months. It’s quaint shops, celebrity favoured restaurants and hotels, and infectious holiday resort vibe are the stuff of Instagram dreams come true. Watching the afternoon light fall on the Italian colour palette of pink, red, yellow and orange buildings never gets old.
Our days in town were generally spent eating, drinking coffee then moving to cocktails, and lazing on the small and beautiful Fornillo Beach, to the west of the main beach following a short stroll along the coast. Thankfully Positano is practically vertical, so the thousands of stairs required to reach our apartment looked after the pasta and Aperol consumption!
It isn’t just Positano that glitters in this part of the world though. A day trip to Isle of Capri via jetboat (approx €40 return) offers a peek into the lives of the rich and famous, with luxury yachts littering the bays and almost every international luxury fashion brand having a presence on the beautiful cobbled streets of the town. A long lunch and an afternoon of daybed lazing on the beach at Marina Piccola (at €27.50 per bed!) was decadent and worth every euro!
Also worth the euros, Andrew lived out an Italian fantasy as we hit the road on a scooter for the day and headed for the town of Amalfi, just under an hour east of Positano along the coast. Embracing the crazy roads and doing as the Italians do, it was actually a pretty easy ride and the views are hard to beat. Amalfi is a lively hub for the area, a bit larger than Positano and much flatter (i.e. hardly any stairs!). The beach is right on the promenade with boats and buses departing frequently for destinations up and down the peninsula, and all the colours, sights and foods of an Italian summer are in abundant supply.
Nestled in the hills above Amalfi is the picture perfect town of Ravello. With sweeping views of the coast and a grand piazza in the centre of town, it’s worth the short trip up the hill for a long lunch and a gelato to explore the laneways and gardens. If the scooter idea is a bit daunting, Amalfi is accessible by boat and bus, with Ravello a short bus trip away and both are a worthwhile day trip in the area. We did have grand plans of also doing a day trip to Sorrento, to the west of Positano on the tip of the peninsula, but time got away from us and the magnetic pull of Positano left us powerless to get on the bus in the heat. Another reason to return to the area in future!
A week in one location, getting on Italian time and into the summer routine of lazy days and long nights, was the perfect intro to our European adventure. Not only were we lucky to have Jac in town to hang out with and create some memories, we caught up with two other sets of friends also. Aussies love the Amalfi Coast and we were so thrilled to catch up with family friends Christine and Carolyn, part way through their own European adventure, for a special meal and a long overdue catchup. And thanks to the power of Instagram we discovered we were in the same area as my previous boss David and his lovely family, and we caught up over a few spritzers and pizzas on Positano beach as the sun went down on yet another perfect Amalfi Coast day.
Eight days into the Euro-leg of the tour with our travel budget already in the red, we left fabulous Positano as the sun was rising with a very strong conviction that it would not be long before we returned. Big thanks to Jac for being the ultimate hostess – it was a special week.
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