by Giuseppe Morvillo
Discover my ideal Amalfi Coast itinerary to discover all of the beautiful and iconic sites in my one day complete guide full of top local tips and recommendations. From Positano and Praiano to Marina di Praia and Amalfi, I guarantee you this will be one of the best days of your life!
by Giuseppe Morvillo
Discover my ideal Amalfi Coast itinerary to discover all of the beautiful and iconic sites in my one day complete guide full of top local tips and recommendations. From Positano and Praiano to Marina di Praia and Amalfi, I guarantee you this will be one of the best days of your life!
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My Amalfi Coast Itineary

For those of you, who like me, are lucky enough to be born and living in one of the most beautiful places in the world, a lunch break can turn into a feast in paradise and improvising on a holiday afternoon is not that complicated.

With a backpack and in delightful company, I share with you here an itinerary of approximately six hours of how to discover the first stretch of the Amalfi Coast from Sorrento by Vespa, I don’t know how many times and without limits on how many more there are going to be, one of the most beautiful roads in the world. Where you can see Mother Nature at her excellence, you will not be disappointed.

Poetry is not always created by an object,
however fluid and natural,
of rhyme and verses in equilibrium.

When words are not enough,
images create poetry
and when words and images are not enough,
there persist mute and deafening sensations
that become eternal and re-emerge in our memory,
without warning on a warm mid-September afternoon.

Amalfi Coast Drive

Everything starts from a crossroad, the moments of infinite beauty. We are at the beginning of the state highway 163, on one of the the last days of summer. You can recognize this from the light colours and from the fluidity of the road that leaves behind the majesty of the Sorrento Peninsula and falls into the harmony of the Amalfi Coast, with light touches, like the baskets of grandmothers hanging down from the balconies, a classic Italian scene.

In the tranquility of lunchtime, the road is half-empty and with the gear going from second to third and vice versa, we pass the first stretch of the Coast. The temptation to stop every second to capture the landscape is strong, every corner of beauty in itself a reason to stop. From the first to the last bend, the Amalfi Coast is a terrace suspended between the sky and the sea, which leans on a ridgeline sometimes sharp and angular, but at the same time so sweet it can daze the senses.

After the straight stretch that follows the path downhill to the beach of Tordigliano, we stop at one of the most fascinating viewpoints to admire the stretch of the coast we have just travelled, a spell of celestial nuances, starting from the sea to reach the eyes.

My Amalfi Coast Tour and Local Tips

After a few more turns, we feast our eyes on the brightest colours of our land whilst we are stunned in admiration of Positano nestled on the hill looking out the rocky slopes of the Amalfi Coast.

My Amalfi Coast Travel Guide
My Amalfi Coast Travel Guide

Positano

After passing the Town Hall, we turn right into Via Pasitea, which with its famous tight bends, wraps itself between colourful houses and luxury hotels. The streets are lined with typical restaurants and craft shops until the end, where the pedestrian road leading to the beach begins. We park the Vespa at Parking Mandara and we continue on foot towardws the famous Positano fashion clothing stores, winding between intrigued visitors and young tourists dressed in handmade linen and cotton recalling the distinctive tones and textures of the Coast.

Walking under the famous pergola that leads to the Church of Santa Maria Assunta and its majolica dome, one of the symbols of Positano, we go down the last few steps and arrive at the Spiaggia Grande. The beach in itself is like a postcard on limestone rock, with coloured houses that descend to the sea and rows of lively striped sun umbrellas, the coming and going of visitors and gozzi boats parading on the shimmering crystal clear sea.

However, we do not let ourselves be overwhelmed by the tourist wave and after a few minutes, we retrace our journey backwards and riding our Vespa, we leave for Praiano, but not before surrendering to the temptation to take some more pictures from another angle.

Positano is always beautiful from any viewpoint and as we move away, we become more and more convinced of this truth. Lost and immersed in the beauty of the landscape we forget about time but not our stomachs as we start to feel hungry! So we head to one of our favorite corners, the Marina di Praia and on our way there, stop to take some more pictures at one of the many fruit stands found on the Amalfi Coast.

Amalfi Coast road

Praiano

Praiano always welcomes us with its genuineness and simplistic characteristics that make it authentic and sublime at the same time. The statue near the Hotel Villa Angelina, “Conversation between women” is from the Cuban artist Etienne, it is a masterful union between art and nature. The soft clean shapes of the statues light up on the colours of the background, the blue of the sea or the purple hues of sunset. 

We make our way through the small gallery in the centre of Praiano where another church of admirable beauty can be found, whose dome lights up with coloured majolica, the Parish of San Gennaro. Roughly ten minutes later we find ourselves at the fjord of Marina di Praia, halfway between Praiano and the municipality of Furore.

Amalfi Coast tour, beach in Praiano

Marina di Praia

Marina di Praia is one of those refuges of the mind, for the lights and the peace of its sea. With its typical restaurants and gozzi pulled ashore on the beach, the Marina extends behind the cliff along Via Praia, a characteristic path carved into the rock, adorned with local ceramics and majolica, which leads to one of my favorite restaurants on the Amalfi Coast, il Pirata. The welcoming smile of the owners is the prelude to a lovely experience, in harmony with the beauty of the location and the quality of the food, and overall excellent value for money.

We order a dish of mixed pasta with yellow tomatoes, fior di latte and lemon, also Spaghetti alla Nerano to share. Despite my passionate love for the famous pasta zucchini alla Nerano remembering the sublime taste of flavours I still cannot choose between the two, both cooked to perfection both equally delicious. 

We leave a little room for the dessert in anticipation of the next stop, Amalfi, where, since 1830, the Pansa family have created a real sweet heaven filled with delicious and unforgettable tastes created with passion. With this thought, we leave the Marina di Praia in the direction of the Ancient Maritime Republic of Amalfi.

My Amalfi Coast Travel Guide
My Amalfi Coast Travel Guide

Amalfi

On our way to Amalfi, we pass the famous Fiord di Furore and Conca dei Marini and after fifteen minutes, we pass the last tunnel where we find ourselves in Piazza Flavio Gioia, where we park the Vespa. This cosmopolitan centre has been open to the Mediterranean since the early 19th century, Amalfi has a fascinating history and a dominant maritime culture that has written pages of history.

To make us feel better about eternal life after death it refreshes our memory of our luck to be born in this wonderful place, Amalfi welcomes us with the inscription and quotation from the poet Renato Fucini “Judgment day, for the Amalfi people who will go to heaven, will be a day like any other day.  For they already live in Paradise.

Andrea Pansa Pastry Shop

From Piazza Flavio Gioia we then make our way into the historic centre, and walk through its lively and colourful alleys where we find ourselves in Piazza Duomo, where the Cathedral of Sant’Andrea arises. To admire the beauty of the external façade and the Cloister of Paradise, we climb the 62 steps that lead us up to the Cathedral.

We decide it’s time for a well-deserved break at our favourite sweet spot, Pasticceria Pansa, from ricotta and chocolate to the celebrated Santarosa puff pastry, from orange peel to lemon delight, there really is something for everyone.

My Amalfi Coast Travel Guide
My Amalfi Coast Travel Guide

Feeling happy and content after a wonderful and memorable today, we set off to retrieve the Vespa and make our way back home to Sorrento. The sun begins to make its way behind the coast and a light breeze reminds us that it is the last days of summer. Once we pass the first stretch of the Coast, immediately after Conca dei Marini, the last part of the sun reappears above the Lattari Mountains and the cliff ridges are painted red and orange.

I hope you have enjoyed my guide on the best way to enjoy the Amalfi Coast in a 1 day itinerary. It is possible to take in some of the most beautiful and breathtaking landscapes and views and taste mouth-watering food and sweets that the Amalfi Coast offers.

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