Positano Beaches and Boat Excursions

Positano Beaches and Boat Excursions

Beaches

The Marina is the main boating area, with taupe-color, semi-sandy Spiaggia Grande the largest and widest beach of the 10 or so in the area. Fishermen -- once the dominant workforce -- now function as a cooperative group, supplying local kitchens; they can be seen cleaning their colorful, flipped-over boats and mending their torn nets throughout the day, seemingly oblivious to the surrounding throngs. To the west of town is the less-crowded Spiaggia di Fornillo, which you can get to by walking the impossibly beautiful Via Positanesi d'America (leading from Spiaggia Grande). Fornillo is worth the walk, as it is vast and hemmed in by impressive cliffs. To the east of Positano is a string of small, pretty beaches, separated by coves -- La Porta, Fiumicello, Arienzo, San Pietro, and Laurito -- most of which are accessible only by boat.

Boat Excursions

From Spiaggia Grande you can board a scheduled day boat or hire a private one for as long as you'd like, to visit Capri, the Emerald Grotto in Conca dei Marini, or coves and inlets with small beaches. Close by, in the large cave at La Porta (650 feet east of the town center), tools, utensils, and hunting weapons from the Paleolithic and Mesolithic ages have been discovered, the oldest known remains on the coast. The favorite boating destinations, however, are the rocky Li Galli islets (6 km [4 mi southwest), seen from any point in Positano (as they are from the beaches of the peninsula), whose name derives from their resemblance to pecking birds. Originally the site of an ancient Roman anchorage, the islands then became medieval fiefdoms of Emperor Frederick II and King Robert of Anjou. The isles remain tempting enough to lure purchasers in search of an exclusive paradise: Russian choreographer Leonide Massine in 1925, and, in 1988, dancer Rudolf Nureyev, who discovered the islands in 1984 when he came to accept the Positano Prize for the Art of Dancing, given each year in honor of Massine. The islands are still private, now belonging to a Sorrento business conglomerate. L'Uomo e il Mare (Spiaggia Grande pier. 089/811613 or 089/875211. 089/875475. www.gennaroesalvatore.it) is an outfit run by brothers Gennaro and Salvatore Capraro (Gennaro's wife is English) offering boating excursions to Li Galli and many other coastal destinations from EUR 50 per person. Boating excursions can also be arranged through Noleggio Barche Lucibello (Spiaggia Grande pier. 089/875032. 089/875326. www.lucibello.it), which also rents motorboats and rowboats by the hour.