Must visits at the Amalfi coast
Hi sweethearts
As promised, this blogpost is all about the Amalfi coast. A stunning coastline near Napoli with a lot of gorgeous places to visit (and a lot of ugly ones too...). So I'm sharing with you my favorite places and things to to there because there's a lot to see but some places are really ugly as well :(.
First and foremost: you can go to this area by Napoli airport or Roma. We choose Rome because often flights are a lot cheaper there. And Rome is perfect as a small traveling pitstop as well. Naples is simply not. In my opinion, Naples is very uninteresting. Not pretty at all with the massive harbour and dirty air there. Also: make sure to keep your bags closed, there's a LOT of pickpockets out there. Yes, way more than in Rome actually. Why? Because this area is still in hands of the mafia.
Also, when taking the road, in between towns, there's a lot of garbage on the streets. The garbage pickups are still in hands of the mafia.... To make a long story short: people who don't want to give their garbage and money to the mafia, simply throw everything on the streets. Oh and the air pollution: it's not only from the cars and boats, but from the mafia, burning the trash of people in caves and in forests... Horror!
But if you skip Naples; or simply just take a daytrip there, you'll be fine ofcourse... But there's a lot more gorgeous places to visit there as well, that are a lot prettier in my opinion.
So what I'd recommend doing there:
- Go visit Pompei (duh!) and go to the Vesuvius the same day!
- Go visit the infamous Ercolano ruins
- Take a boat to gorgeous Capri (or even: go islandhopping on all the islands if you like boating)
- Visit the Amalfi coast and the lovely towns there
- Go swimming in the sea
- And for a calm getaway- take the cablecar in Castellamare for a hike on the Mount Faito.
I'll talk you guys through my trip with photos and what I did every day while being there for a week.
Day 1: Visiting Pompeii & the Vesuvius. We went there in 33 degrees celcius so we did this visit in the morning. When you want to see everything; you'll really need at least 4 hours. I went twice to Pompeii and still discovered new places, it's so huge there. I love it!
And in the afternoon we went to the Vesuvius volcano. It's not extremely interesting but seeing a crater of a volcano is just a cool idea, right?
Day 2: Positano and AMalfi at the Amalfi coast!
Positano is a lovely town in the heart of the Amalfi coast. You can visit it in the morning, wander through the streets and shop in the local stores, and go swimming in the afternoon.
We visited later that afternoon the town of Amalfi. It was also a lovely cosy town but like all of these towns, not that big to visit. So if you're done swimming, you can go to Amalfi as well. Make sure to visit the church there. It's gorgeous!
Day 3: Taking a break from the business and relax in the mountains: Monte Faito.
You can take the cable car uphills to the mountain in Castellamare di Stabia, but you can also drive up there. There's a lovely hike in the mountains where you have the most gorgeous views. On one side you have the view from Naples to Sorrento (with the Vesuvius) and on the other side you can see the Amalfi coast and Capri! On the mountain are restaurants, bars and even a swimming pool.
Day 4: Ravello and Maiori.
Ravello is one of my fave towns at the coast because it was more in the mountains. You got better views over the coastline because you can see more there.
In Ravello there's an old castle to visit. The castle was not that interesting but the gardens were. I mean: look at this view with these gorgeous flowers!
Pinterest famous place in Ravello below!
After wandering through lovely Ravello, we were so hot that we just needed the sea. The water is pretty warm there and the water really clear. The beaches at the coast are with small stones or just sand..but mostly black sand because of the lava there!
My tip: rent a chair if you don't want to have black beach towels...
Another tip: don't go to the beach at Positano, it's super expensive there. At Maiori, the beaches are a lot more popular and crowded because the beach in Positano is just too expensive.
If you want to go to Positano beach, without paying for a chair, there actually is a small space left for people without reservated chairs, but it's super small.
Day 5: Capri heaven!!
There's two sides at the Island and a looot to visit there. You have touristic Capri with the most stunning rock-views, cosy but expensive restaurants and hotels, fancy shopping boutiques and wide ocean views... ANd on Anacapri, you have more relaxing views, a cosy town centre and more history.
Oh and on this shot below, you can spot a massive boat with private heli landing spot. Typical Capri!
This shot was the view on Capri, taken on top of the cute chairlift in Anacapri.
Anacapri: One of the most gorgeous churches I've ever been to! This floor was from the 17th century, I mean...
If you have more time in Capri, then stay the night on the island and go take boat tours to the caves as well. I'd love to do that one time, but my family gets sick on boats...
Day 6: The infamous but amazing Herculaneum.
It's less famous than Pompeii but totally worth the visit. I think it's even more stunning. Pompeii is way bigger but the streets in Herculaneum are still more in tact. As you can see in the pic, it's like you're still walking through these 2000 year old streets. Crazy and my nerd level was obviously very high.
Day 7: The highlights of Rome and flying back home.
I could easily make an album of Rome itself but let me just share with you my two faves, to not bore you!
What we did: we went to the Forum Romanum in the morning, because we're obsessed with this place. We didn't visit the inside of the colloseum because it's not our number one priority fyi...
Then we just wandered through the streets to the Trevi fountain because it's not that far. And we endend with the partenon. After that, we had to go back home... sadly enough!
So ciaooo Italy and hello workey :(
X Steph