Stay in Amalfi if you want the easiest and best-value base, in Positano if the view is the whole point and you can live with the stairs, and in Ravello if you want quiet gardens above the coast rather than a beach. The Amalfi Coast is a single road along a cliff with towns hanging off it, and choosing which one to sleep in matters more here than almost anywhere else in Italy. The three names everybody knows are three genuinely different holidays: one is a vertical postcard, one is a working town with the transport, and one is a garden terrace six hundred metres above the water. Getting that choice right is most of the difference between a wonderful week and an expensive one spent climbing stairs.
Which town should you choose?
| Positano | Amalfi | Ravello | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setting | Pastel town down a cliff face | Flatter, around a square and harbour | Ridge high above the sea |
| Sea access | Main beach below the town | Close at hand | None, down and back up |
| Transport | Harder base for day trips | Ferry and bus hub | Bus or drive down |
| Main catch | Steps and the highest prices | Less photogenic | No beach |
| Best for | Couples, photographers | Families, budgets, day trips | Gardens, quiet, views |
Choose Positano if
The view is the point, you are travelling light and your budget has some give in it. Check the walk from the nearest road to your door before you pay a deposit.
Choose Amalfi if
You want easy day trips, a lower bill, ordinary restaurants and fewer stairs, or you are travelling with children. It is the sensible default for a first visit.
Choose Ravello if
You are happy to trade the sea for calm. Consider pairing it with a few nights in Amalfi, since every swim means going down and coming back up.
Positano
What it is
A town poured down a cliff face in pastel, arranged around a single main beach, and the most photographed place on the coast.
Who it suits
Couples, photographers, and anyone for whom the view is the holiday.
What to know before you book
- The steps are the catch, and they are serious. Almost every journey within the town is a staircase of hundreds of steps, luggage has to be carried or portered, and vehicles reach very little of it.
- It is the most expensive place on the coast to sleep, eat and park.
- It is genuinely beautiful, particularly early in the morning and after the day boats leave, and nobody regrets seeing it.
Ask your hotel how many steps lie between the nearest point a vehicle can reach and your room, and whether they arrange porters.
Amalfi
What it is
The old maritime republic that gave the coast its name, flatter than its neighbours, built around a square, a striped cathedral up a flight of steps and a working harbour.
Who it suits
Anyone who wants to move around the coast easily, families, and anybody watching the budget.
Why it works as a base
- It is the transport hub, with the ferries and the bus routes meeting here, which makes day trips straightforward in a way they are not from Positano.
- It has ordinary shops and restaurants, which sounds unglamorous and matters over a week.
- It is less photogenic and considerably better value.
Because everything meets here, you can explore the whole coast without ever changing hotel.
Ravello
What it is
A small town on the ridge high above Amalfi, with two famous villa gardens, terraces looking straight down the coast, and a summer music festival.
Who it suits
People who want quiet, cooler air, gardens and views rather than a beach.
The trade-off
- There is no sea access, which is the trade-off. Everything wet involves going down and coming back up.
- The views are the best on the coast, from terraces that hang over a thousand feet of nothing.
- It is calm in the evening, when the day visitors have gone and the coast lights up below.
Check the last bus before you head down the hill for dinner, and agree a taxi or a lift if you plan to be out late.
Getting around
By sea and by road
- Ferries between the main towns through the season, weather permitting, which is the pleasant option.
- Buses along the coast road year round, cheap, frequent and full, with standing room in season.
- A car is a liability rather than an asset here: the road is slow, parking is scarce and expensive, and the towns are not built for it.
On foot
Walking is genuinely an option between some towns, on old stepped paths that predate the road and are the best thing on the coast for anyone who walks. Confirm timetables and conditions locally before you set out, and plan one move a day rather than three towns in an afternoon.
Practical notes
The basics
- Season. Ferries, many hotels and a good share of restaurants run roughly Easter to October.
- Beaches are small, mostly pebble and often paid, and they fill early.
- Luggage. Pack light and check how your accommodation is reached, which is the practical advice that saves the most misery here.
- Day visitors arrive mid-morning and leave in the late afternoon, so the towns are at their best early and in the evening.
- Book early for the summer, since the supply of rooms on this coast is physically limited by the cliff.
Common mistakes
- Booking from the photographs without checking the steps or the walk from the road.
- Basing yourself in Positano and expecting easy day trips, when Amalfi is the better hub.
- Expecting a beach in Ravello.
- Planning an evening in another town without checking the last ferry or bus.
- Hiring a car for a stay that never needed one.
Where this fits
For the coast as a whole, including the road, the walking paths above it and the best time to come, our guide to the Amalfi Coast covers the region in full.
If you are choosing between this coast and the other famous cluster of Italian cliff villages, our comparison of the Amalfi Coast and the Cinque Terre sets out how differently they actually work.
And the natural start or end of an Amalfi trip is the city an hour north, covered in our first-time guide to Naples.
The short version
Choose the town before the hotel: Positano for the view and the steps, Amalfi for transport, value and level ground, Ravello for gardens, quiet and the best outlook on the coast. Check how many steps sit between the road and your door before booking anything, since that single detail shapes the week. Use the ferries in summer and the buses otherwise, and skip the hire car entirely. Come in May, June, September or early October, and see the famous towns early in the morning or in the evening rather than at midday.
Capri looks close from this coast and the logistics are less obvious than the map suggests. Our Capri day trip guide covers the ferries, the Blue Grotto and what fits into one day.
