Amalfi Coast

The Amalfi Coast has a narrow window of grace: May–June and September into early October, when the sea is warm, the towns are fully open and the crush has not arrived or has just eased. July and August are the coast at full tilt — breathtaking, but with peak heat, peak prices and a single cliff road jammed solid.

The less-known fact is the winter shutdown. From roughly November to Easter, many Positano and Amalfi hotels, restaurants and beach clubs close for the season and the ferries largely stop running, so an off-season visit means a beautiful but half-shuttered coast. If you want winter, base in Sorrento or Salerno, which stay livelier year-round and keep their transport links.

• you’re visiting in peak summerSkiprenting a carGoferries plus the odd bus or private driver — the plate ban and gridlock make driving a trap
• you want the coast fully aliveSkipNovember–EasterGoMay–June or September–early October (winter half-shuts Positano & Amalfi)
• you’re day-tripping to CapriSkiparriving at middayGogoing early — before the day-tripper wave and the Blue Grotto queue

The SS163 coast road is narrow, cliff-hugging, and gridlocked through the summer — and the authorities ration it. From roughly June to October an alternate-number-plate restriction ("targhe alterne") bans odd- or even-plated vehicles on alternating days during the daytime (about 10:00–18:00) on the Vietri-to-Positano stretch: weekends and holidays in June, July and October, then every day through August and September. The exact dates are reissued each year by ANAS, so check before you drive — but the key point is that standard rental cars are not exempt (hotels with a confirmed booking, taxis and licensed NCC drivers are).

Add scarce, expensive parking to the traffic and the plate ban, and the conclusion is simple: in season, don’t drive yourself. Base where ferries and buses reach, and move by boat. Outside the summer the road is more manageable, but you still won’t want a car for the main towns.

The plate ban catches self-drivers out because rental cars get no exemption: whether your plate is “allowed” that day is pure luck, and being caught on the wrong day risks a fine. Private NCC drivers and taxis are exempt, and a confirmed hotel booking covers your arrival and departure transfer — so if you must have a car on the coast, it’s a driver you want, not a rental.

Ferries are the smart way to travel in season — fast, scenic and free of the road snarl, linking Positano, Amalfi, Sorrento, Salerno and Capri from about 1 April to early November (operators include Travelmar, Alilauro and NLG). They largely stop in winter and can be cancelled in rough seas, so treat them as seasonal and weather-dependent. The SITA SUD buses are the cheap coastal option but are slow and so crowded in summer that they sometimes leave Amalfi full, making it impossible to board at Positano at peak times.

The Circumvesuviana train from Naples reaches only Sorrento — the gateway, not the coast itself — cheap and basic; the Campania Express is its comfier, reserved-seat tourist version on the same line. For door-to-door comfort, private drivers (NCC) are the premium answer, and they’re exempt from the plate restriction. Most visitors end up combining ferries with the odd bus or driver, and a base chosen for its boat links.

Ferries are the coast’s real artery, not the road: the seasonal network runs roughly 1 April to early November, so an off-season visit throws you onto the SITA buses and the clogged SS163. Capri adds a €5 landing tax (April–October) bundled into the fare, and from 2026 caps tour groups at 40 per disembarkation with headsets required above 20 — so arriving independently and early beats the midday group crush.

The coast is really six places. Positano is the vertical, pastel-stacked icon — the most glamorous and priciest base, and a workout of staircases. Amalfi, the medieval maritime republic that gave the coast its name, is the historic hub, its striped Cathedral of Sant’Andrea rising over a grand staircase; and high on the ridge above sits Ravello, a quieter world of garden villas and summer concerts (see the next section). Praiano, between Positano and Amalfi, is the calmer, better-value base with a celebrated sunset terrace.

The two gateways anchor the ends. Sorrento, on the Bay of Naples side of the peninsula (administratively part of Naples, not the Amalfi side), is the year-round hub where the train meets the ferries. Salerno, the workaday city at the eastern end, is the cheapest base, stays open all winter, and has fast ferries west along the coast. Choose a base for its boat links, not its postcard looks, and you travel the whole coast easily.

Capri is the classic day trip from the coast or Sorrento — and a crowded, costly one. A landing tax (€5 in peak months, now built into the ferry ticket) applies to day visitors, and 2026 added caps on large organised groups: no more than 40 people disembarking together, and headsets required for groups over 20, part of the island’s push against over-tourism. The headline sight, the Blue Grotto, is covered in the figure — go early, as it closes in swell and queues build fast.

Beyond the grotto, Capri rewards wandering: the Faraglioni sea stacks, the Gardens of Augustus and the hairpin Via Krupp, the smart piazzetta, and, from quieter Anacapri, a single-seat chairlift up Monte Solaro for the island’s best view. Do it as an early start to beat both the day-tripper wave off the ferries and the midday heat.

The standout walk is the Path of the Gods (Sentiero degli Dei) — a free, unticketed clifftop trail from Bomerano (Agerola) to Nocelle, high above the sea, finished with a knee-testing descent of some 1,500 steps down to Positano. Up in Ravello, the gardens of Villa Rufolo (€8; the inspiration for Wagner’s Parsifal, and the open-air stage of the summer Ravello Festival) and Villa Cimbrone (~€10; its marble Terrace of Infinity the coast’s most famous view) are both unmissable and need no advance booking.

The region is also the base for Italy’s great Roman excursions: Pompeii and Herculaneum and the climb up Vesuvius, all reached via Sorrento and the Circumvesuviana, and the superbly preserved Greek temples of Paestum, about an hour south of Salerno by regional train. None of the coast’s own sights need pre-booking — but all reward an early start.

Amalfi cooking is coastal and citrus-bright. The lemons (see the figure) are everywhere — in limoncello, in desserts, over fish — and the sea supplies the rest: scialatielli ai frutti di mare, grilled catch, and the prized colatura di alici from the little fishing village of Cetara. From the plains behind the coast comes DOP mozzarella di bufala, and from Naples, the gateway, the city’s pizza and flaky sfogliatella pastries.

Drink local: a cold white from the hillside Furore and Tramonti vineyards, or a Campania Falanghina, and finish — always — with a shot of limoncello straight from the freezer. Eat a little inland or in the gateway towns for better value; the Positano waterfront charges for its view.

The beaches are mostly pebble or rock, not sand, and the prime spots are paid beach clubs (sunbed-and-umbrella hire) with only small free strips (spiaggia libera) that fill early — bring water shoes. The terrain is steep and stair-heavy: Positano and Ravello climb their cliffs on long staircases (it’s around 300 steps down to Positano’s Arienzo beach), so expect a lot of steps and pack light. This is the Amalfi Coast’s real character — vertical, scenic, not step-free.

Entry is standard Italy: Schengen and the eurozone, no visa for short stays for US, UK and most Western visitors. The EU’s biometric Entry/Exit System (EES) is now fully deployed, so expect fingerprint-and-photo registration on arrival into Italy; the separate ETIAS authorisation is not yet required and is expected in 2027 (a €20 online step). For the fuller Italy picture, see the Italy guide.

A base-choosing tip that saves money and stairs: the postcard towns (Positano above all) charge a heavy premium and demand a lot of climbing. Praiano is the quieter, better-value spot mid-coast; Salerno and Sorrento are the cheapest, flattest, best-connected bases and stay open all winter. Pick your base for its ferry links and your knees, then day-trip to the icons by boat.