Sixty kilometres carved between sea and cliff: the Amalfi Coast is one of the most celebrated coastal drives in the world, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. The SS163 Amalfitana hugs the Tyrrhenian from Vietri sul Mare to Punta Campanella, threading through villages that have shaped the legend of Italian travel.
The legendary stops are all here. Positano, with its pastel houses cascading down to the sea and the majolica dome of Santa Maria Assunta. Praiano, quieter, and the Furore Fjord — the only fjord in the Mediterranean. Conca dei Marini and the Emerald Grotto. Amalfi, the ancient Maritime Republic, with the Arab-Norman Duomo of Saint Andrew and the Cloister of Paradise. And above it all, perched on a rocky spur, Ravello — the "city of music" — whose Villa Cimbrone and Villa Rufolo gardens inspired Wagner.
Our advice: the road is breathtaking but in peak season it is narrow, slow and exhausting. Take a boat from Marina Piccola instead — see the coast from the water, the way sailors have for centuries — or a van with a driver. From Sorrento, Positano is 30 minutes away, Amalfi about an hour, Ravello an hour and twenty.
Positano seen from the sea