Amalfi Coast October 2024

We arrived late into Naples around midnight after a 2 hour 20 min flight and the traffic to the hotel was extremely busy even that late at night, it took us about 30 mins from the airport into the centre by taxi. As we found out there is traffic at any time of the day or night. We stayed at the Hotel Correra 241 for 2 nights which was in a great central location. In the morning after breakfast, we walked 5 minutes to the Metro Stop to catch the Metro (Line 1) to Piazza Garibaldi then a change to Herculaneum, took about 40 minutes in total. A short walk from the station saw us at the entrance to Herculaneum where we picked up our Audio Guide. They recommend 2-3 hours but 4 hours later we eventually left. It was amazing and well worth a visit. It was very easy to travel by Metro and Overground and the prices of the trains are cheap and you can just tap in and out of the stations or pre-book your ticket on line or at the stations. Naples is not the cleanest city, lots of graffiti and rubbish everywhere but it is steeped in history and is a bustling place. The next 6 nights we were joining a group of 14 others so we met our guide in the evening and he took us to have dinner together. In the morning we had a Naples city tour to the lesser known areas of Naples to understand how the locals live and in the afternoon we drove to Pompei and another guide took us to the most interesting parts, this lasted a couple of hours and it was fascinating. I think doing both Herculaneum and Pompei is a must as they are different from each other and were formed through different disasters. We then drove to the Amalfi Coast which was around an hours drive where we stayed in an Agriturismo (farm to table) farmhouse which was our base for the next 5 nights. The Agriturismo was in Furore (30mins from Amalfi town) and high in the hills so it had stunning views of the coastline below and the mountains above. The next day we were driven to Sorrento (1.5 hours across the mountain), we spent half a day here walking around the shops having some lunch on a beautiful sunny day before returning back along the coastal route, as you can probably imagine the views were stunning and the roads with their twists and turns and sheer drops makes for an interesting drive. The following day we tackled 'The Path of the Gods'. This is a 7km hike from the Agriturismo to Positano, it took us 3 hours with stops. This was not an easy hike, whilst it was flatish, the terrain was very uneven with lots of steep steps up and down but the views across the mountains and coastline line were amazing, you need to be prepared with walking poles and proper walking shoes. We spent some time in Positano walking around the shops and grabbing some lunch. You can see why this is the most popular town along the coast as it has a beach with seafront restaurants and the town itself is very pretty with narrow alleyways and lots of restaurants. The next day we visited Ravello, which was a personal favourite, small, quaint, quiet with some beautiful gardens to visit and sweeping sea views and statues, plus a lovely compact town square, there is no beach here which maybe a reason why its quieter. We drove 30 mins from Ravello to the town of Amalfi which was much bigger and livelier, this has a beach with many shops and restaurants and was very busy, it had a great vibe about it. On our free day we chose to take the bus from our property to Amalfi Town and then hop on the 20 minute ferry to Maiori. Maiori is flat and very accessible, more so than other towns. No steps or up and down hills. It has a lovely promenade walk alongside the beach with restaurants and shops and I loved the layout of it. It was a pretty town and was very relaxing for a stroll. We then walked 10 minutes along the road to Minori, a smaller town again with a beach and seafront restaurants, etc. It was nice and quiet with stunning views, these two towns became my favourite and I'm glad we visited them and both have the largest beaches of all the towns we saw. I didn't feel food and drink was expensive at all in Naples or on the Amalfi Coast, in fact I was surprised at how cheap it was. Considering it was late October we were in shorts and TShirts everyday and the temperatures were mid to late 20's with no rain at all. Back in Naples for our last night and we travelled on the Funicular to Castel Sant Elmo, this gives you 360 degree views of Naples and Mt Vesuvius, plus the castle is massive. Back down on the Funicular and after lunch we visited the Archaeological Naples Museum, this is huge and carries many artefacts from Pompei and Herculaneum, huge statues, also Egyptian artefacts. You could spend all day in here it's so big (20 euros each), well worth a visit. The next morning the Alibus took us to the airport, you pick it up outside Naples train station and in 15 minutes you are the airport for 5 euros, very easy to use and you pay on board. For such a short flight from the UK, it's an easy destination to visit.