Ever get a craving for a place you've always heard about but have never been? Well I had a hankering for the Amalfi coast in Italy. If you follow travel blogs you have seen the pictures of beautiful women among perfectly color coordinated beach umbrellas looking up at the famous city architectured into the hills of Positano, or the gorgeous beaches and boat trips of Capri. Every summer my feed was saturated myseriously magical Italian summers and I absolutely had to go. So this past summer I decided to do a trip to the Amalfi coast and it was equally as stunning and breathtaking as I had imagined.
First of all, something NO ONE TOLD ME, but in hindsight I should of known because Positano is built on a series of hill, and one can surmise there are lots of stairs.. so so so so so so so so many stairs. I want to preface this whole blog by saying if you have a leg injury, you might want to wait on the Amalfi Coast because so many of the cities are built into the hilly contours and its a lot of climbing to get anywhere. I traveled to Positano, Capri, and Amalfi, and all were incredibly steppy, climby cities. On my last day I was notified that I could have taken a bus from the beach all the way up to the main bus stop, steps away from my Hostel, but by then I had a real tight tush so win some lose some right?
I stayed in a Hostel Brikette, one of the few hostels in Positano and used it as a home base with day trips to the other cities. As a frequent lone female traveler I use hostels to meet other travelers and always look for reviews with good community vibes. Although the selection for Positano was limited I found Hostel Brikette to be perfectly comfortable and I made a great friend, Keely from Canada. We did a lot of our exploring together.
This is Keely!
View from the Hostel:
So what to do while on The Amalfi Coast?
There are three main things to do on the Amalfi coast no matter what city you're in. Eat. Drink. And see the sights. If you're in Positano I suggest heading up the hill a little for dinner especially if you're budget conscious. Positano can be as tough on your wallet as it can be on your legs, but if you are game to head up yet another hill and away from the more touristy beach area, you will find restaurants a little bit cheaper and sometimes even more delicious.
You can get to Positano by boat, bus, or rented car. Usually you have to get to Naples and then transfer to a boat or bus; ferry boats sometimes only leave once or twice a day so BE ON TIME! I took a bus, if you are easily car sick I'd suggest a boat, and if you're easily sea sick just hold it together and look at this wonderful world around you because it's stunning. The sites on the journey are indescribable.
Renting a boat!
So I met Keely the first night, and we were both staying the same amount of time and we both wanted to rent a boat trip! You can rent a variety of boats for a variety of time frames, in any city. Boat trips for a whole day are a little expensive but for a group of 5-7, its manageable, or you could hook on with a public trip of varying sizes. Keely and I wanted a private tour so we took the ferry from Positano to Capri and decided we'd rent a boat once we got there.
After spending a couple hours on the beach we started looking up prices and heading to pick a boat for about a two hour tour, before we got to the kiosk we were approached by an old Italian man, he showed us his boat, we agreed on a price, he told us to grab a few beers, and meet him over by the steps for a two hour tour, and that's what we did.
Must say it was nice to have an older Italian man show us around the island, and yes we felt very glamorous for a day. After the boat trip we had to catch our ferry back.
***Remember ferry boats usually only go back and forth a few times a day! So make sure to make your boat! And the ferry that takes you back might not be in the same place it dropped you off so ask because we almost missed ours!
A Day in Amalfi
The next day Keely wanted to visit Amalfi. We hopped on a bus and it took about an hour from Positano. Those bus drivers must be the best in the world! They have to be, the road is incredibly winding and seemingly treacherous (I thought us Jersey girls were tough on the roads but Italians are in a different league). I don't know how they got around some of those curves. But we made it to Amalfi. Along the way we met a few more Canadians, Jon and Keane, who had even more Canadian friends meet up with us on the beach and later for dinner.
Jon and Keane
and friends
Side note: I always meet Canadians.
The city is wonderful, a beautiful quiet place for a vacation and I wished we could have stayed a week! Just another day of food, drink, and beach but Amalfi was delightful. It's smaller, and less popular then Positano or Capri but has a bigger public beach area and is equally as beautiful with the benefit being a little more subdued.
The Amalfi Coast
Absolutely enchanting and everyone you meet is a pleasure. It's a more expensive destination but once you're there, it's entirely worth it. You can eat as much as you want because you'll work it off on the stairs and who doesn't love a couple days sunning on the beach.
Up Next
After Amalfi Keely and I parted ways as she went to Paris and I went to Florence. As it happens the Canadian guys we met were also headed to Florence and by coincidence had booked the same Hostel to stay at as me. So the adventure with them continued, but that's solo traveling for you! One friend leads to another, leads to another. Lone traveling is never lonely for long, as long as you keep curious.
-Ms, Uncharted
Ciao
