cm318

My husband & I (active early 60's) will be visiting the Amalfi coast area for 11 nights Sept 2013. We will divide our time between 3 locations. I have already confirmed 2 but would like input on the 3rd.

Confirmed are 3 nights Capri (hotel La Minerva) and 4 nights Sorrento (Antiche Mura Hotel)). But also want to spend 4 nights actually on the Amalfi coast - possibly Ravello or Positano. I know Ravello isn't the ideal base for touring but since we plan to do most of our touring (Pompeii, etc) from Sorrento that isn't an issue for us. Some people love Positano and others say it is overrun with tourists and shopping. We're looking for a beautiful spot to soak up the atmosphere, enjoy interesting walks and have great food. We are hikers and can manage steps and steep terrain but not looking to overtax ourselves on vacation. Water views are important but we're not interested in spending time on the beach or swimming. We expect to enjoy boating while on Capri. The 4 undecided days will be at the beginning of our trip. Given our itinerary would you recommend starting in Ravello, Positano or someplace else on the coast?

lilloulou_au

Having been to Ravello (twice) and Positano (once), I can say that Ravello is smaller and less touristy than Positano. Both places are beautiful but I found Ravello much nicer in the evening after the day-trippers leave. However, it is less convenient as a base but you could easily visit both Positano and Amalfi in one day.
There are two beautiful gardens in Ravello...Villa Rufolo and Villa Cimbrone - both with amazing views of the coast. They have outdoor classical concerts at Villa Rufolo in the evening in summertime - they are definitely on in September. Having said that, there are not a lot of activities to do in Ravello...it's a nice place to chill and soak in the scenery. I believe that there are walking trails but unfortunately never got around to doing them myself.
I personally found Positano too busy with too many tourist shops, but it is still worth visiting when you visit the Amalfi Coast.
I would choose Ravello if you are looking for somewhere to soak up the atmosphere and have great food. There are a few good restaurants in Ravello and you can even do a cooking class! Let me know if you would like more info on Ravello!

sundriedpachino

We just returned from spending four nights at the Luna Convento Hotel in Amalfi. It's a high priority on our list of places to return.
The views are amazing, and there is a pool down steps on the other side of the road, which is a peaceful and beautiful spot even if you don't swim.
The hotel is about a 5-10 minute walk from Amalfi. At first it seems a bit terrifying, but everywhere buses, cars and pedestrians share the road.
If you have a car, there is a car park right around the corner, and the hotel provides valet service.

We avoided going into Amalfi in the middle of the day because of the hordes, but its nice at night, and there are a few good restaurants around. I would highly recommend Marina Grande at the beach in Amalfi, and at Atrani, a 5 minute walk, there is A Paranza. Those are just the 2 we tried, but I'm sure there are others.

There are also some hiking trails, which we didn't attempt, because it was too hot.
If you look at the hotel pics, it is every bit as nice as it looks.

Rubicund

Just to confuse you a bit further, here's a vote for Positano. I find Ravello and Amalfi over hyped and underwhelming, whilst Positano is spectacular the highlight of the many trips that we have made to the AC.

The restaurants are better and more varied and there is a better choice of hotels too. Yes there are touristy shops, but in the evening once to day trippers have left it's a great place to wander and eat.

With only 4 nights to spend, you'll still have time to see some of the other towns as the traffic will have eased off in September, but I'd feel cheated not to have stayed in Positano. (Yes we have stayed in other places along the AC).

jelopez33

CM: we were in the amalfi Coast in September,2009(there is a report if you want to read it); and we think amalfi is a really good base.You can go anyplace, have good restaurants and reach Positano or Ravello via public tranport.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...1-to-oct-3.cfm
Enjoy planning and your trip!

Maltesec

Here's second vote for Positano.
My suggestion is Palazzo Murat www.palazzomurat.it/ a silent space hidden in a green garden right in the centre of Positano with a view on the stunning bay of Naples.
If you feel a somehow very romantic atmosphere, it could be because the King of Naples Joaquin Murat reserved this palace for his love meetings.

TDudette

Would someone please address the steepness of Positano for the OP? How difficult is it to get to beach and back? Thanks!

ekc

The difficulty in getting back and forth to the beach in Pos depends on where you end up staying in Pos. Obviously, the closer to the beach (or the pedestrian center) the easier it is. Ravello is certainly flatter, but it also has stairs throughout the town.

TDudette

How fit would one need to be--say on a scale of 1 to 10 with ten being athletically fit?

raincitygirl

I just returned from the Amalfi coast yesterday. Positano is extremely steep, fine to do it one day while sight seeing but wouldn't want to stay there and face that every day. On a scale of one to ten, I think you'd need to be a 7 at least to do it every day. It is a very pretty town but it is full of shops and hordes of people as are Amalfi and Capri. Also to stay in Capri could be pretty taxing depending where you stay as it is also very steep, the buses have long lines, there are plentiful taxis but they are a bit expensive and I would personally feel I was at the mercy of the taxis and buses to get anywhere there.
Amalfi has more flat bits to it and also has a handy big parking lot near the breakwater that we used when we went there for the day a couple of times.

Ravello is lovely and would be much more manageable as far as walking around the town but if you want to go sight seeing elsewhere each day there is that drive up and down the hill to do.

We stayed at an agriturismo in Minori which also involved an unreal hike to get to but worked out well as we parked our car down below and left once a day to sight see and came back late afternoon to enjoy the stunning views. It was a nice little town without the teeming hordes of people as was Maiori next door to it.

We also spent 5 days in Sant'Agnello which is basically part of Sorrento, took us 20 minutes to walk into the centre of Sorrento. It was gorgeous where we stayed and quieter, our hotel had unbelievable views of the bay of Naples, I would stay there again in a heartbeat.
Sorrento itself was also jam packed with people.

gailw

We just came back from Amalfi coast last week. Stayed in Amalfi and loved it. There's the sense of an actual town with a center and businesses, and people who live there hanging laundry from upper floors and carrying bags of groceries, wonderful paths/flights of stone steps going up into the hills.
We went to Positano on a day trip and my impression was of a picturesque mall. Every place on the Amalfi peninsula coast is inundated with tourists during the day, probably thanks to the cruise ships disgorging hundreds of passengers at a time. But Positano just gave me the impression of nothing but merchandising, albeit in a scenic setting.
Ravello's views are spectacular but it would really be kind of a pain to get from Ravello to other locations (other than Amalfi itself) so if you are planning to stay put in your hotel, it would be a relatively peaceful and gorgeous place to do it. My vote is for Amalfi, however. Just my humble opinion...

yestravel

Ravello is much more charming and lovely than Positano I think. Positano is as described above filled with hordes of tourists & lots of shops. Views are gorgeous, but its way over touristed now I think. We were there about two weeks ago on a weekend and it was so bad, we left. The steepness is one issue which is manageable, but its the constant buzz of the cars and motorcycles that bothered me when walking. There is a public bus that you can take from Ravello that will get you to other parts of the coast. Our preference had been to stay in Ravello but we couldnt find a hotel so ended up in Positano.

Marianna

Raincitygirl, where did you stay in Sant' Agnello? We are starting to plan another trip to Italy and enjoy that area but would like to consider new places to stay. Thanks.

Cm318, a hard decision to make as they are both beautiful but different and much like waht people have described here. We have never stayed in either one during our numerous visits to the area (we stayed in Sorrento and Massa Lubrense) but we have visited them both.

Rubicund

The OP said that they were enthusistic hikers, so I don't think that Positano would present any problems to them. It's not as if you march up and down at a brisk pace, you wander slowly, looking at the shops etc and don't really notice the journey. If you have walking issues then it's a problem.

raincitygirl

Sorry Marianna, I forgot about this thread until now. We stayed at the Hotel Mediterraneo and loved it.
Friendly staff, beautiful location. We had a classic sea view room (without balcony) that looked straight out onto the Bay of Naples and Vesuvio, it was pretty spectacular to wake up to that each morning. We paid in advance when we booked and so got a better rate and a free dinner in their restaurant; I booked directly through their own website.

I loved the sleek modern decor of the bar and lobby area, the rooms and restaurant are a little more traditional. The pool area is very nice as well with a poolside restaurant and bar with wood fired pizzas.
Also, free parking.
Next time however, I would ask not to be on the 4th floor as it is right below the restaurant and early in the a.m. we would hear them dragging the furniture around up there as they set up for breakfast. The hallway floors are tiled and sometimes that was a bit noisy at night when people were coming home late with a lot of wine on board. LOL.
Dinner in their restaurant was fine but not fantastic and I think you can find better, more authentic Italian food elsewhere.
But to me those were just small complaints that in no way took away from what was an extremely pleasant stay.

wekewoody

I am facing a similar dilemma (a good one to have). Good information.

kja

I found Ravello among the most beautiful places I have had the privilege to see in this world and am extremely glad I spent some time there. I had only 2 nights there, though, so I'm not sure what it would be like for 4 nights. I believe that it offers numerous hiking options, so if that's a priority for the OP, it might suit very well.

Enjoy!

MRand

Choose Praiano - you've got Positano to the west, Amalfi town to the east, spectacular hiking above you, and dramatic coastline below you. While there's no such thing as non-touristy on the Amalfi Coast, I think Praiano comes as close as you can get.

Micheline

Another vote for Positano. I find many who think Positano too touristy were only there for a day trip. We found it to be wonderful. If you think it might be too steep then I would select Amalfi. Piano and Ravello are beautiful but too isolated at night.