Santorini and Positano.
 

Can anyone tell me how steep the stairs are in Positano and Santorini please, are they steep or is it different depending on what area you are in? We are wanting to stay in Imerovigli in Santorini, not sure yet where abouts in Positano, we want the typical view of the Ocean and the buildings perched on the cliff.
Also, I'm trying to get my head around what to expect in Positano, say if you are mid way down the cliff for instance, you take stairs down to the beach and am assuming stairs up from the hotel to restaurants, shops etc? can someone give me a brief description on what to expect please. Just trying to work out if we should stay closer to the beach or best to stick mid away or right up the top!
Thank you.

Positano is a small village that is built down the cliffside from the main coast road. You enter at one end of the village and follow the road into the centre. From there to get down to the beach area are shallow, wide steps at the top, increasing in steepness as you go down. Exactly where you'd be in relation to the steepness of the steps or the distance from the road obviously depends on which hotel you're in and that depends on your budget.

Without budgetary constraints then the Palazzo Murat, Covo dei Saraceni or Buca di Bacco, which are down from the main road, leaving a walk down to the beach or a walk up to the road.

As far as Santorini is concerned, we've visited as an excursion from a cruise ship and landed at the dock where the cable car starts. The pathway up to the top of the cliff is extremely steep, so take the cable car. Do not take take a donkey, as they are badly treated and poorly cared for. Imerovigli is not somewhere I've been.

Meant to ask when you are thinking of going. You may have left it too late for Positano to have a choice for this summer, as they get booked up well in advance.

Thank you for the for the recommendations, ill check them out.
We are going to be there May 12th til the 16th.

Sorry,next year in May 2017. ��

Ive just checked out all your recommendations through the hotel websites, booking.com etc and they're all fully booked, is it because it's more than a year in advance?

Try reaching out to the hotels directly by email and ask them. Most seem to at least match the prices offered on travel booking websites.

That may well be the case, although it's also possible that they don't book for next year as yet. Try emailing the hotel(s) direct that you like the look of to clarify.

You could also try www.venere.com and booking.com for other hotels in Positano and you may find that the ones further away from the centre are more readily available.

I should of mentioned, we will be travelling Europe for 6 weeks, from Australia so we are on a budget of $150 to $350 a night for each night we are in Europe, basically average of $250. Do you know of a Bnb in that same area as well?

Chances are if booking(dot)com says "no availability on this site", it means their website, not the hotel. Some hotels may not be taking bookings that far in advance, or it could mean the rooms allocated by the hotel to booking(dot)com are sold, while there are still rooms available directly through the hotel's own website. Most hotels have their own websites where you can book directly.

We will be in Positano in September, 2016 and will be staying at the B&B Alcione Residence. Katia has been very good at responding to emails. It is well reviewed. We booked directly from her website. www.alcioneresidence.com

You can try: www.casabuonocore.com. We had friends stay there and said it's lovely.

Thanks for the recommendations, and advice everyone,will look into them.

For a first time visit to Santorini, I would recommend staying in Oia with a caldera view.

I would not worry about not finding available online for 2017, the rates and availability are probably not loaded yet on online booking sites but you could try booking directly with a property. We stayed in Old Oia Houses which is a village house type of accomodation with fabulous caldera views, but there are many similar and more upscale properties you can choose from. The attraction about Oia is the sunset, caldera view and myriad of steps down to Amoudi to have a meal by the sea.

juleslove - you need to 'think in euro'. Your Australian dollar average budget of $250 per night is just 161 euro. That is very low for Positano and won't get you a room at Covo de Saraceni for example.

You'll have to try for B&Bs and pensiones. Use Booking.com and enter your budget - however check location as some come in under the Positano search function but are actually located along the highway or in other villages like Montepertuso and Nocelle. If you want to go to the beach regularly you're best to stay *in* Positano. Use the map function to determine the location of the establishment.

You won't have to negotiate stairs if you stay close to Via Pasitea. There is a pathway that links Spiaggia Grande to Fornillo.

http://www.positano.com/

Hi Blueeyedcod.
$250 was just an average, for places like Positano and Santorini, will be more like $350/226€., limit will be €400. We are happy to stay in B&B's, we will be exploring most of our time. I found one called Casa Cosenza that has great reviews, address is via Trara Genoino 18,84017, it seems to have the view and position we want, does anyone know of this place?
It will be another 14 years before I am a pensioner! I'll check that area and out you recommended too, thank you.
We aren't looking at going to the beach much, maybe we should look in another area then, but still want to sample great views, wherever we travel, love the cliff view of the buildings descending down the cliff side and Ocean. Argh, so overwhelming trying to sort such a big trip out when we have never been to any of these places! Thanks for the link, it's very informative!

Odin, we have thought about Oia, I've been reading up on areas and felt we would prefer to stay in Santorini out of all the areas, seems to suit what we want more so, Oia is lovely though.

Limit $400/€258.

Odin -That should of said, imerovigli will suit what we want in Santorini.