Amalfi Coast & Naples: vertical villages, horizontal patience

Where to base yourself

One base is almost always right. Moving hotels along this coast means hauling luggage up or down several hundred steps, and there is no scenario in which that improves a holiday.

Positano is the most photographed and the most physically demanding: the village is a near-vertical amphitheatre, and every return from the beach is a climb. It has the most glamorous hotels, the narrowest streets and the highest prices. Amalfi town is flatter, larger and better connected — the main ferry and bus interchange, with a cathedral, actual shops and a lived-in feel; the trade-off is that it is less pretty than its neighbours and busy with day-trippers at midday. Ravello sits high above the coast, cool in summer, with the two great garden villas and a classical music tradition; it is calm and civilised, and every trip to the sea involves a bus or taxi down the hill.

Two practical alternatives are worth considering. Sorrento, on the other side of the peninsula, is not on the Amalfi Coast at all but has a railway station, level streets, more mid-priced hotels and ferries to Capri — the sensible choice for families, shorter stays and anyone arriving by train. Praiano and Minori are quieter mid-coast options with fewer crowds and fewer restaurants.

Getting along the coast: three options compared

The pattern most people settle into: a driver or train-plus-driver combination for arrival and departure, ferries for daytime sightseeing, and the bus for anything short or uphill. Check current sailings with the operators serving your stretch of coast before committing to a plan that depends on a boat — the winter timetable is a fraction of the summer one.

Driving yourself is legal and popular and I still would not. The Amalfi Drive is narrow, blind-cornered and shared with coaches; parking in the villages is scarce and priced accordingly; and in peak months some sections operate alternating access restrictions for non-resident vehicles. If you do drive, confirm that your accommodation has a reserved space before you book anything.

Day trips that earn their day

From this coast, four excursions are genuinely worth the logistics. Pompeii is reachable by the Circumvesuviana regional railway from Sorrento or by road from the coast; go at opening, bring water and a hat, and accept that you will see a fraction of the site. Herculaneum is smaller, better preserved and far less crowded — the better choice if you have already seen one Roman city. Capri deserves an early ferry and a late return so that you overlap as little as possible with the cruise crowd; the chairlift to Monte Solaro and a boat circuit of the island are more rewarding than the Blue Grotto queue. And the Path of the Gods, the ridge trail between Bomerano and Nocelle, is the one walk everyone should do: a few hours, mostly downhill if you start from the top, with views that explain the entire coast.

Naples itself, an hour away, is not a detour — it is the region's real city, with the archaeological museum that holds the finds from Pompeii, and the pizza tradition the rest of the world imitates. Give it a full day at minimum, or use it as your arrival and departure base.

The things that catch people out

• Steps. Room descriptions rarely mention the hundred-plus stairs from the road. Ask before booking, and ask about luggage porterage.
• Season. Many coastal hotels and restaurants close from late autumn to spring, and ferry services stop. A November trip should be based in Sorrento or Naples.
• Beaches. Most are pebble or coarse sand, largely organised into paid loungers. Bring water shoes if you plan to swim daily.
• Arrival timing. Reaching Positano from Rome takes most of a day. Do not plan a beach afternoon on your transfer day.