I can’t believe I went to the Amalfi Coast! I’ve always had trouble answering the question: mountains or beach, but the Amalfi Coast is one of those rare gems that doesn’t make you have to decide. I spent my time in Amalfi watching the sun rise over the Tyrrhenian Sea, hiking mountains to reach the post office, lounging on the rocky beach, swimming in the crystal blue waters and boating around Capri. Everything I ate was delicious, even if I didn’t know what I was eating, and the limoncello was always a great night cap. My favorite part of my time on the Amalfi Coast was probably the boat tour around Capri, but the view from my hotel terrace each morning was a close second. I definitely plan on going back to the Amalfi Coast sometime in the future because my next goal is to hike the Path of Gods!
capri
Capri was my first stop along the Amalfi Coast and I am so glad that I started off on this beautiful island. Not going to lie, I got kind of emotional as soon as the boat pushed off from the Naples Pier and headed to Capri because I can’t believe that I’m actually doing this. I’m blindly jumping around Europe to all of these small iconic towns, alone and figuring it out as I go. The weather was perfect the entire time I was in Capri and I got to see the entire island really efficiently because I took a private boat tour with 4 new friends. Wow, if 10 year old Jade knew she would be writing those words 16 shorts years later. When I was 10 my biggest goal was moving to NYC. I did that! And now I’m writing about a private boat tour around the island of Capri on the Amalfi coast…
Hike to piazzetta
Piazzetta is the main square at the top of the mountain in Capri. There is a really quick tram that runs from the harbor up to the Piazzetta, but this smart cookie decided to walk. I quickly realized that the walk was less of a walk and more of a vertical hike for 25 minutes, but nevertheless I persisted. I haven’t been running since the marathon, so hiking up this hill with a backpack on was my workout for the day.
Giardini Augusto
The Augustus Garden is a botanical garden on the top of the mountain that overlooks the Faraglioni rock formations. To get to the garden it is a simple 10 minute walk from the main Piazzetta di Capri and on my short walk I ran into a few other Americans. One of the guys had on a UNC backpack, so I obviously had to stop him and ask if he went to UNC. He didn’t, but he was from Tennessee and that’s close enough to home to count!
Via Krupp
Via Krupp is a famous zig zagging roadway that is carved into the side of the mountain. It was originally designed to connect the Augustus Gardens to Marina Piccola, but now it is unused because the sandstone is delicate. I thought the water around Via Krupp was especially blue and beautiful. I also couldn’t help but make the comparison between Via Krupp and a very famous zig zagging street in SF…Lombard Street.
Buonocore Gelateria Pasticceria Gastronomia e Tavola Calda
Getting Gelato from Buonocore Gelateria in Capri is a must do on the island because it is known to have the best gelato on the coast. I decided to go with the classic lemon flavor because everyone on the Amalfi Coast is obsessed with lemons and it (the real reason) it was dairy free. In addition to a nice cone I also got a stuffed eggplant as a quick lunch snack. Gelato and eggplant, the lunch of champions.
Boat Tour Around the Island
This may be one of the best random exclusions I have ever done. After getting to Capri I decided to walk to HP Travel, which is a travel agency on the island that had great reviews online. I had planned on booking the simple boat tour to the famous Blue Grotto, but when I asked them about sea conditions they let me know the Blue Grotto was closed for the season. I still wanted to go on a boat, so I ended up asking them what their best tour was and one thing turned into another and 2 hours later I was cruising around the island of Capri with 4 new friends and our amazing guide Luca. We stopped at all of the major spots, explored caves, layed out in the sun and drank limoncello by the lighthouse. It was truly an amazing experience that I will never forget, especially because I have 1,000 photos.
Here are some of the grottos and formations that we saw on the tour:
- The Marvelous Grotto – The upper portion of the White Grotto is covered in plants and it is called the Marvelous Grotto. A German scientist discovered that bodies of water inside the gave had a large percentage of rainwater because of the continuous dripping of rainwater from the Marvelous Grotto.
- The White Grotto – This grotto is called the White Grotto because the walls are naturally dyed white. The White Grotto is also used as a quick place for ships to hide when a surprise storm pops up.
- The Green Grotto – As you would expect, the Green Grotto got it’s name because the water was bright emerald green. The brighter green color is caused by the light reflecting off of the shallow seabed and the rocky cave walls.
- Blue Grotto – The Blue Grotto is the most famous Grotto on this tour and it has been famous since the time of ancient Rome. Researchers believe that the grotto was one of Emperor Tiberius’ favorite temples dedicated to sea nymphs.
- Purple Grotto – We discovered quickly on our tour that the island of Capri loves naming their grottos after colors. After the first few grottos we decided to play a game on who could guess the name of each grotto. I guessed purple correctly because… it was all purple.
- Octopus Grotto – The Octopus Grotto is known as the best spot on the island to catch Octopi. We stared into the water for awhile and couldn’t see any, but that’s also because Octopi are just smart. Fun fact from the internet…if we could turn all the animals into humans to take the IQ test, octopuses would outscore most humans on the math portion at a genuis level of above 140.
- The Grotta del Corallo – This grotto is covered in red coral and it is also referred to as, you guessed it, the Red Grotto!
- Villa Malaparte – This is one of the most visible houses from the water and it was built in 1937. Today it remains on the Capri coast as a perfect example of Italian modern and contemporary architecture.
- Natural Arch – The Natural Arch used to be one of the many caverns on Capri, but after the cavern collapsed it left this natural bridge that arches over the ocean.
The Statue of the Scugnizzo
This is a bronze statue of a young boy that sits on top of a rock at the base of Capri harbor and welcomes people to the island. It is said that is you wave back at the boy you will have good luck!
Limoncello at the lighthouse of Punta Carena
After 4 days on the Amalfi coast I now understand that lemons are king and limoncello is clutch. I had my first sip on Limoncello sitting underneath the Faro di Punta Carena lighthouse in Anacapri. T’was delicious and very strong.
Faraglioni and the Arch of Love
The Faraglioni are a collection of giant rocks off the edge of Capri and the most famous of these rock formations is the Arch of Love. The tradition in Capri is that you are supposed to kiss your better half as you pass under the rock. When we drove the boat through the hole in the rock I kissed me, myself and I. Love you girl!
LUNCH on the harbor with new friends!
I’m so happy that I decided to book the boat tour in Capri because not only did I get to see all of the grottos of the island, but I also made 2 new friends in the process. They were both travelling together and we all hit it off on the boat and decided to do lunch together at one of the restaurants in the harbor. It was really refreshing to eat a meal with other people for the first time in a few days and I loved getting to learn more about them while eating plates of fish with the bones still inside. To be completely honest, I don’t even know what I ordered. When the waitress put it down in front of me all she said was “the fish head is the best part” and then walked away…so… could be a fish head? Not sure, but it was great!
AMALFI
I loved Amalfi! Out of all of the towns I visited, Amalfi was by far my favorite and I’m so happy that I ended up staying here instead of Atrani. I got to stay in a beautiful hotel that was right in the middle of everything, but also far enough from the main street that it wasn’t loud or busy at night. I had amazing food and I got to swim at the Marina Grande beach, but also a small swimming hole on the west side of town. I read a lot of reviews on which town to stay in and I was surprised to see that a lot of people choose Positano over Amalfi. I liked Positano, but in my opinion Amalfi felt more like an actual town. Positano has a lot of shops and a great beach, but it’s definitely the more touristy option of the two and I’m happy with my decision on Amalfi (despite it being slightly forced by Netflix).
From Sun Up to Sun Down
I watched every sunrise and sunset in Amalfi because they were all so beautiful and unique. I watched the sunrise each morning from the terrace at my hotel and stared out at the open ocean for hours each morning. Then, in the evening I caught the sunset from on top of a hill that looked out over Amalfi and from the Marina Grande beach. Everything was gorgeous and I couldn’t have been happier with the weather and my sunny days in Amalfi.
SHOPPING
Amalfi didn’t have as many shops as Positano did, but they did have more unique shops and a cool main square. There were a ton of little paper and ceramic stores scattered around Amalfi and I am a big fan of stationary, so this style of shopping was right up my alley. The main square had a giant church that range every hour and also when the sunset.
MICHILEN DINNERS
POSITANO
WALKING
Positano was cute and I can see why it’s a famous Instagram photo destination. Everything is built into the mountain and it’s gorgeous, but you genuinely can’t walk anywhere without hiking up hundreds of stairs. At one point I decided to walk up the west side of town to get to the post office and buy stamps. Google Maps said it would be a 17 minute walk, but what it forgot to flag was that all 17 of those minutes would be stairs and steep hills. I’m not exaggerating, I got to the top of the last staircase and I was sweating and out of breath when I ordered those stamps.
SHOPPING
In addition to the beautiful weather I also lucked out with some stellar shopping finds. I really wanted a linen shirt from the Amalfi coast as my new wardrobe piece from this trip, but everywhere I looked the shirts were 150 euros. I wanted the shirt badly, but not bad enough to pay 150 euros for a simple linen shirt. Then, just when I was giving up, I walked into a small shop where the lady handmade everything in the basement. She gave me a little tour of her shop and then showed me a linen shirt that she would sell for 20 euros because it was the last one of it’s pattern and she needed to get rid of it. Score! I obviously bought that shirt right away and wore it out of the shop. Thanks for the beach, leg workout and cheap shirt Positano.
TANNING
The beach in Positano is one of the most popular beaches on the coastline because
Outside of the walking up stairs, I also spent a good portion of my time laying at the beach and I really liked the beach in Positano and that probably had to do with the weather. It was a really hot day when I was in Positano, so everyone was at the beach and the vibes were immaculate.
