The Amalfi Coast has one itinerary rule that outranks all others: pick one base and stay there. The winding coast road and ferry timetables tax every hotel change at half a day, and the coast's pleasures — terraces, boats, long lunches — compound in place. Five days from a single well-chosen town covers everything the coastline does best, with the slack that makes it feel like the postcard instead of a commute through one.
Arrive and surrender to the view
Fly into Naples, pre-book the transfer (the coast road is a spectator sport best enjoyed from the passenger seat), and install yourselves: Positano for glamour, Amalfi town for logistics, Praiano for sunset-facing value, Ravello for altitude and calm. First evening: terrace, spritz, dinner within a stroll. The coast's welcome is the view doing all the work.
The boat day
The coastline's definitive experience: a private or small-group boat along the cliffs — swim stops in coves reachable no other way, grottoes if seas allow, Capri's Faraglioni rising offshore, lunch dropped at a beach restaurant or eaten at anchor. Book the morning departure for calm water, tell the skipper what you want, and let the slow golden return leg become the trip's signature memory.
Ravello, up where it's quiet
Ascend to Ravello for the coast's most serene half-day: the hanging gardens of Villa Rufolo and Villa Cimbrone, the Terrace of Infinity's sheer drop of view, and — in summer — the possibility of an open-air concert on the cliff edge. Long lunch up top, then descend for a dusk wander through Amalfi town's Duomo and lanes after the day-trippers have ferried away.
Earn a view, then spend an afternoon
For walkers: the Path of the Gods, the high trail from Bomerano to Nocelle with the whole coast unrolled below — start early, finish with the stair-descent into Positano and the most-deserved lunch in Italy. For non-walkers: a lemon-grove tour and a beach-club afternoon deliver the same golden satisfaction horizontally. Either way, tonight is the splurge dinner, booked weeks ago, on the best terrace your base offers.
The slow goodbye
No heroics on departure day. A final swim or terrace breakfast, one last granita, an unhurried transfer timed generously against Naples traffic. If the flight is late, a Pompeii stop en route is one of travel's great layovers — but the equally correct answer is nothing at all. The coast's last lesson is the one it taught all week: don't rush this.
- The sea-view room is the itineraryOn this coast the view premium isn't an upgrade, it's the product. Book it early — famous-town inventory for June–September goes months out.
- Ferries beat the roadBetween towns, boats are faster, prettier and immune to the corniche's traffic. Build days around the ferry schedule, not against it.
- September is the connoisseur monthWarm sea, golden light, thinning crowds, open everything. May–June is its equal in spring form; November–March, much of the coast sleeps.
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