TRIP OVERVIEW
Day 1 – Ancient Arsenal of the Maritime Republic · Amalfi Cathedral & Cloister of Paradise · Valle delle Ferriere · Museo della Carta
Day 2 – Grotta dello Smeraldo · Atrani · Villa Rufolo · Villa Cimbrone
Day 3 – Fiordo di Furore · Church of San Gennaro · Marina di Praia · Church of Santa Maria Assunta
Day 4 – Villa Romana · Collegiata di Santa Maria a Mare · Torre Vicereale · Duomo di San Giovanni Battista
Day 5 – Train Day · Pompeii
Day 1
1. Ancient Arsenal of the Maritime Republic~45 min
The medieval shipyard where the Maritime Republic of Amalfi built and repaired its war galleys. Two surviving stone aisles of pointed Arab-influenced arches and ten pillars now hold the Museo della Bussola e del Ducato Marinaro, tracing the city's seafaring heyday when it rivalled Venice, Pisa and Genoa.
2. Amalfi Cathedral & Cloister of Paradise~1 hr
The Duomo di Sant'Andrea crowns a dramatic 62-step staircase above the piazza, its striped Arab-Norman facade ablaze with golden mosaic. Inside are bronze doors cast in Constantinople before 1066, the baroque crypt of St Andrew, and the serene 13th-century Cloister of Paradise with its interlaced Moorish arches.
3. Valle delle Ferriere~3 hr
A lush state nature reserve climbing the gorge above the paper mills, where the Canneto stream tumbles in waterfalls past ruined ironworks and ancient mills. The sheltered valley shelters the giant fern Woodwardia radicans — a pre-glacial relict found almost nowhere else in Italy.
4. Museo della Carta~45 min
A 13th-century paper mill in the Valle dei Mulini, still making Amalfi's famous cotton-rag bambagina paper on original water-powered vats and hammers fed by the Canneto stream. The Milano family's working museum shows how the town built a second fortune on handmade paper.
Daily 10:00am - 7:00pm
Day 2
1. Grotta dello Smeraldo~45 min
An emerald sea cave 7 km west of town, reachable by boat from the pier or by descending 450 steps from the coastal road. Inside, sunlight filtering through a submerged opening turns the sea floor a luminous jade green; a rowboat circuits the cave past a ceramic Nativity scene lowered here in 1956.
Daily 9:30am - 4:30pm
Cash Only
Weather-dependent — closed in rough seas; check at the pier before going
450 steps · lift
2. Atrani~1 hr
Italy's smallest municipality by area, pressed into a limestone cleft a 15-minute walk east of town. Medieval lanes climb past the domed Santa Maria Maddalena, the tiny Piazza Umberto I with its fountain, and a sandy beach where local families swim — entirely off the coach-tour circuit.
Open 24/7
3. Villa Rufolo~1 hr
A 13th-century Arab-Norman estate built by the Rufolo merchant family — tower, cloister, and terraced gardens spilling 350 metres down to the Tyrrhenian. Wagner set Parsifal's enchanted garden here in 1880; the same stage hosts the Ravello Festival's open-air concerts each July and August.
4. Villa Cimbrone~1 hr
A medieval estate assembled in the early 1900s by English aristocrat Lord Grimthorpe, its 11-acre garden of hedges, temples, and pergolas ending at the Belvedere of Infinity — a terrace of marble busts at the cliff's edge with a panorama Gore Vidal called the finest view in the world.
Daily 9:00am - 7:00pm
Heights
Day 3
1. Fiordo di Furore~30 min
A deep limestone ria carved by the Schiato stream, spanned by a single arched road bridge 30 metres above a pebble cove — despite the name, it is a drowned river valley rather than a true glacial fjord. A staircase of 200 steps drops from the bridge to the fishermen's cove and an abandoned net-house below.
Open 24/7
2. Church of San Gennaro~30 min
A parish church in the Vettica Maggiore quarter, its dome tiled in white-and-blue majolica rhombuses divided by gilded ribs. The west-facing terrace beside it is the coast's best sunset viewpoint — an unbroken sightline to Capri and the open sea, free and unmarked by any tour group.
Open 24/7
3. Marina di Praia~45 min
A pocket cove wedged between two cliff walls, still worked by the fishing boats drawn up on its pebbles rather than given over entirely to sun loungers. A path on the far side climbs to the Saracen-era Torre a Mare watchtower, and the cove is rated one of the coast's best shore-dive sites for its sheer underwater wall.
Open 24/7
4. Church of Santa Maria Assunta~1 hr
Positano's parish church, its yellow, green and blue majolica dome gilding the skyline above the pastel houses that tumble down to Spiaggia Grande. Inside, a Byzantine Black Madonna icon behind the altar is the object of the town's biggest annual festival each 15 August.
Day 4
1. Villa Romana~45 min
A 1st-century Roman seaside villa excavated in the heart of modern Minori, its triclinium, cryptoporticus and a nymphaeum with the original wall niches still standing. The site sat buried under silt from the Reginna Minor stream until a 1932 storm exposed it, and it now anchors a small antiquarium of finds from the excavation.
Daily 9:00am - 6:00pm
2. Collegiata di Santa Maria a Mare~45 min
A 13th-century church raised over an earlier chapel to house a Madonna statue found on the beach in 1204, elevated to collegiate rank by Pope Julius II in 1506. Its yellow-and-green majolica dome was completed in 1863, and the crypt below holds the relics of St Clement alongside a small museum of sacred art.
3. Torre Vicereale~1 hr
A 16th-century viceregal watchtower fused onto an older Angevin tower, built after a Turkish raid to warn the coast by smoke and fire signal. Cetara below it is still a working fishing port rather than a resort town — the source of colatura di alici, an amber anchovy extract with roots in the ancient Roman garum, now a PDO product.
Open 24/7
4. Duomo di San Giovanni Battista~30 min
The 18th-century Baroque-Neapolitan cathedral of Vietri sul Mare, the Amalfi Coast's ceramics capital since the 15th century. Its 36-metre dome is tiled in hundreds of fish-scale majolica shingles in yellow, green and azure, made in the workshops of the town it crowns.
Open 24/7
Day 5
Vietri sul Mare-Amalfi → Pompei · Trenitalia Regionale · 33 min
book at: trenitalia.com
8:46am Vietri sul Mare-Amalfi → 9:19am Pompei
9:46am Vietri sul Mare-Amalfi → 10:19am Pompei
10:16am Vietri sul Mare-Amalfi → 10:49am Pompei
1. Pompeii Archaeological Park~3 hr 30 min
A Roman city of 15,000 buried under six metres of ash when Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, its streets, forum, baths, villas and body-cast victims preserved intact for eighteen centuries. Rutted chariot tracks still cross the paving stones, and the House of the Vettii's frescoes are among antiquity's most direct encounters with a single lost day.
Daily 9:00am - 7:00pm
Pompei → Vietri sul Mare-Amalfi · Trenitalia Regionale · 30 min
book at: trenitalia.com
5:07pm Pompei → 5:37pm Vietri sul Mare-Amalfi
6:07pm Pompei → 6:37pm Vietri sul Mare-Amalfi
7:07pm Pompei → 7:37pm Vietri sul Mare-Amalfi
Tours
Viator
Small-group gozzo cruise along the cliffs between Amalfi and Positano, with swim and snorkel stops at sea caves and natural rock arches, plus fresh fruit and drinks — prosecco and Amalfi limoncello — served aboard.
4 hr · Max 10
Full-day small-group boat trip from Amalfi to Capri — cruise the coast past Li Galli, swim and snorkel in hidden coves, round the Faraglioni rocks, with about three hours of free time ashore before the return run.
8 hr · Max 12
Full-day gozzo cruise departing Amalfi pier — past Atrani, Grotta dello Smeraldo, Fiordo di Furore, lunch stop at La Gavitella in Praiano, and an hour of free time in Positano, with prosecco, limoncello and a snorkel return.
7 hr · Max 12
Small-group day trip to Pompeii led by a local expert — wander the remarkably preserved streets, forum, baths, and garden houses of the Roman city buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD. Intimate group size keeps the pace personal.
5 hr · Small group
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Walk the terraced lemon groves of the Amalfi Historical Garden with a fourth-generation farming family — learn how the prized sfusato amalfitano lemon is grown and harvested organically, finishing with limoncello, honey and perfume tasting.
1 hr 30 min · Small group
GetYourGuide
A guided walk up a vertical terraced grove where the Solaro family has farmed sfusato amalfitano lemons for six generations. Visit the Museum of Rural Culture, then taste lemon cake, lemonade and limoncello pressed from the organic fruit above you.
1 hr 30 min · Small group
Non-commercial lemon experience in the authentic Amalfi Historical Garden — a typical example of terraced Coast farming using no chemicals. The walk ends with limoncello, lemon cake, honey and fragrance tasting among the groves with bay views.
1 hr · Small group
A half-day tasting experience combining a limoncello distillery visit — watching the sfusato lemon peel macerate into the coast's signature liqueur — with a buffalo mozzarella demonstration and tasting at a traditional Campanian producer.
3 hr · Small group
Full-day minivan tour of the three crown jewels of the Coast — free time in Positano's boutique lanes, the Duomo piazza in Amalfi, and the clifftop gardens of Ravello with stops at viewpoints along the Nastro Azzurro road.
8 hr · Max 8
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TripAdvisor
Full-day small-group gozzo from Amalfi pier covering the Emerald Grotto, sea caves, Positano, and a swimming stop — bilingual skipper, prosecco, limoncello, snacks and snorkel gear included. Max 12 people on board.
7 hr · Max 12
2. Amalfi Coast: Sunset Boat Tour with Fruit & Drinks | Small Group · TripAdvisor · 4.8 · 42+ reviews
An evening small-group cruise from Darsena Pier as the light turns gold — the limestone cliffs glow at dusk from the water, with fresh fruit and drinks served aboard. Max 10 passengers keeps it intimate.
2 hr · Max 10
Three-hour farmhouse experience above Amalfi — tour the terraced property, make Neapolitan pizza from scratch in a wood-fired oven with sea views below, then eat your pizza with house wine in the shade of the lemon groves.
3 hr · Small group
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Cappuccino
Pasticceria Andrea Pansa · 4.3 · 60+ reviews
Restaurants Near Hotel
Pizzeria Donna Stella · 4.3 · 110+ reviews
Wood-fired pizza in a hidden lemon-grove garden.
Daily 12:00pm - 3:00pm · 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Downtown Restaurants
Trattoria Da Gemma · 4.4 · 80+ reviews
Family-run Campanian cooking since 1872 on a terrace above the lanes.
Daily 12:30pm - 3:00pm · 7:30pm - 11:00pm
Dining Areas
Piazza Duomo and the historic lanes
Amalfi's compact centre puts a full dinner crawl within a few minutes of the cathedral: Terrazza Duomo · Trattoria Da Gemma · La Caravella · Tarì · Trattoria San Giuseppe.
Local Tastes
Limoncello
Amalfi's signature lemon liqueur, made by steeping the peel of the fragrant sfusato amalfitano lemons — grown on the terraced groves above town — in alcohol and sugar.
Delizia al Limone
A dome of soft sponge soaked in limoncello and filled with lemon cream — the Costiera's most beloved dessert, perfected along the Amalfi Coast.
Sfogliatella Santa Rosa
The shell-shaped layered pastry filled with semolina-and-ricotta cream and candied fruit, invented at the Santa Rosa convent in nearby Conca dei Marini.
Scialatielli ai Frutti di Mare
Short, fresh egg-and-milk pasta created on the Amalfi Coast in the 1970s, classically tossed with the day's shellfish and tomato.
Food Delivery
No delivery platforms operate on the Amalfi Coast — the town's steep lanes and limited road access make door-to-door delivery impractical; order directly from local restaurants by phone or ask your hotel.
Shows, Performances & Concerts
City of Amalfi events calendar
Municipal concerts, theatre and cultural programmes; check the official calendar for current listings.
Getting Around
appTaxi
Foreign number: accepted. — the code comes by SMS or WhatsApp, and WhatsApp reaches a foreign number over data; an email code then finishes the sign-up.
Italy's certified taxi-booking app and the practical way to summon a licensed white taxi on the coast — for transfers to Sorrento or Naples as much as for hops between Amalfi, Atrani and Ravello. Fares are metered; expect a wait on summer evenings.
Michelin Restaurants
La Caravella dal 1959
Refined Campanian cuisine and a legendary wine cellar.
Glicine
Modern Campanian tasting menus on a sea-view terrace at Hotel Santa Caterina.
Hiking
Path of the Lemons · Easy
A gently terraced path between lemon groves linking Minori and Maiori.
1.2 mi one way · 250 ft ascent
1 hr
Path of the Gods · Hard
The Amalfi Coast's signature cliffside trail, with sheer drops to the sea below.
4.3 mi one way · 1,000 ft ascent
3 hr 30 min
One-way trail ending in Nocelle — return to Amalfi by SITA bus or ferry from Positano.
Worth Knowing
The Town That Ran on Water
Three of today's stops tell one quiet story: water. The same Canneto stream that still turns the hammers at the Museo della Carta once powered dozens of paper mills up the Valle dei Mulini — and it begins higher still in the Valle delle Ferriere, where it feeds the waterfalls and keeps the giant ferns alive. Amalfi traded on the sea, but it ran on the mountain water pouring down behind it.
And the Arsenal is the coast's quiet giant. A maritime republic that once rivalled Venice, Pisa and Genoa is now reduced to two stone aisles and ten pillars at the water's edge. Step inside, and the pretty cluster of lemon-stepped lanes you walked through briefly becomes the capital of a Mediterranean power.
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