Positano is the vertical town of the Amalfi Coast: pastel houses clinging to the rock and cascading down to the beach, and above them all the majolica dome of Santa Maria Assunta in yellow, green and blue. It is the most photographed village in Italy, and not by accident.
Getting there from the B&B
Three ways, very different from one another.
By car, about forty minutes on the SS163 Amalfitana. The road is magnificent and narrow: in high season it is slow, and parking in Positano is scarce and expensive. If you are driving, leave early.
By SITA bus from Sorrento: slower than driving, but it drops you in the village and removes the parking problem entirely. Same road, with the advantage that you can look at it instead of steering on it.
By boat from Marina Piccola, seven minutes' walk from the B&B. This is the best way, but the service is seasonal: it runs roughly mid-April to mid-October and is cancelled in rough seas. Arriving from the water, with the village opening out like a fan ahead of the bow, is nothing like stepping off a coach.
How the village works
Say it first, because it governs everything: Positano is entirely steps. The centre is pedestrian and built vertically, from the upper road down to the beach. You go down easily and climb back with effort, and there are no level shortcuts.
Anyone with mobility difficulties, or travelling with a pushchair, needs to know this in advance. An internal bus service links the upper road to the centre and removes a good deal of the climb.
What to do
- The church of Santa Maria Assunta, for the majolica dome and the Byzantine icon of the Black Madonna above the altar. Beneath the church you can visit a Roman villa buried by the AD 79 eruption, uncovered only in recent years.
- Spiaggia Grande, the beach from the postcards, with its umbrellas and seafront restaurants.
- Fornillo, the second beach, ten minutes on foot along the path from the jetty: smaller, quieter, the same water and half the people.
- The Positano fashion boutiques: linen, sandals made to measure in a couple of hours, ceramics. A genuine tradition from the 1960s, not something invented for visitors.
- The Path of the Gods, if you walk: start at Bomerano and finish at Nocelle above Positano, with the coast under your feet the whole way. About three hours, mostly downhill in that direction.
When to go
Late afternoon is the right moment. The coaches and day excursions leave around five, and from then the village deflates, the light drops and the rock turns orange.
May, June, September and early October are the best months. In August the SS163 is one long queue and Spiaggia Grande is full.
Our advice
Go in the afternoon, stay for dinner and come back in the evening. It is how Positano shows best — and if you come by boat, check the last sailing before you book the table, because it is often before dinner and you will need to return by road.
Flat, closed shoes. The steps are stone, frequently polished and sometimes wet.
Positano