Things to do: Positano

There is so much to do in Positano, including doing nothing at all!

Positano is one of a dozen or so main towns on the Amalfi Coast, the better known ones being Sorrento, Amalfi, Ravello and of course, Positano, and a ferry or boat ride away from Capri. Positano is renowned for its ribbon-like, narrow roads, that definitely are part of the, shall we say, charm. It is as if by design, the coast demands you slow down and take a breath.

We were heading to Positano with our best friends and had magically found a week we could all escape to Italy. Naturally, we all read up a bit on what to expect about Positano, mostly about the high season (May – September) and the best time of year to go (most everything we read said tourism drops in September). We assumed we’d miss the bustle of the summer crowd, especially with arriving on a Sunday. But trust me when I say there were still plenty of people around that weekend. However, by sunset the crowds had thinned, and we realized we came at the right time.

All of us were in desperate need of laying low and not being beholden to a set agenda, so instead of figuring out every second of what we were doing, we all came up with things that we wanted to do while in Positano: a boat tour and day trip to Capri, hiking the Path of the Gods, and drinking Aperol Spritzes topped our must-do items. We happily checked all of those items off the list, and then some!

Here are a few of my favorite things to do in Positano:

• Go to the beach – Luckily the crowds had thinned out, and on our first full day the weather kept us from a boat tour to Capri, so we took our time at lunch and then grabbed chairs on the public beach. While public, there is a cover charge and a fee for the chairs (around €25 per person) but we had our pick of where to set up and enjoyed some down time. Our hotel had let us know about the private beaches, on either side of Positano, and our last day we ended up walking over to Fornillo Beach. This too had a cover and chair fee, but honestly, it wasn’t much more than the main beach and it was way more secluded, with little beach clubs/restaurants (and WiFi!). We LOVED the private beach, and while we could have gone earlier in the week, we felt like we discovered it at the right time. The restaurant we sat at, Da Ferdinando, was the quintessential beach shack, and had the most delectable calamari. Our waiter also let us know that he and his brother had gone fishing earlier in the day, and told us to come back if we wanted fresh tuna. We chose to order it immediately instead, and it was one of our favorite food memories from the trip!

• Buy ceramics – Positano and the Amalfi Coast are known for their elaborate and beautiful ceramics. There are so many shops to explore and we like to think we found the best one in all of Positano (and the coast!) with Emporio della Ceramica. It happened to be next to our favorite hangout (Le Tre Sorrelle Wine Bar) and we all ended up shipping back quite a few items. In addition to being the prettiest shop, the proprietor, Lorenzo, is quite possibly the most inviting, friendly person on the planet. We are basically best friends now, and I am so happy we ventured in to his gorgeous store.

• Sit on the front patio of Le Tre Sorrelle Wine Room – To help make your first travel day easier, I always suggest picking out a restaurant and making reservations for the first night. It helps when you have jet lag and no one can decide what to eat, plus it forces you to stay up and keep on local time. With four people on a trip, we kept a list of places friends and family had recommended. So on our first night, we made reservations at Da Vincenzo. It was a (very steep incline) 10 minute walk from our hotel, but the restaurant was a great pick. Of course we all had a good laugh when we tried to remember who recommended it! But, it was on our walk back to the hotel (we chose a different route home) that we saw a little handwritten sign in a window that said “Wine bar, this way” with an arrow leading us to what would become our favorite spot in all of Positano. Luck led us to the patio where four high top chairs were waiting for us, and were greeted by Arturo, quite possibly the best sommelier in all the land. He led us on a journey of wine, perfectly suited for each of our tastes, and then when we finally decided to move on to bottles, he managed to find wines that suited us collectively. We went almost every night we were in Positano, and our apologies to anyone who was interested in the Frescobaldi. We drank it all. (Oh, and another benefit of the patio is the restaurant next door has excellent music that filters over to the wine room!)

• Hike the Path of the Gods – the drive there is no joke. There are a couple of ways to get there (by bus – no thank you!) or by shuttle, or by car service. Ironically, with there being four of us, it was cheaper to get car service. We were dropped off in the town of Bomerano in front of a little cafe, and even with all the motion sickness still lingering, I couldn’t help but notice how darling this town is. We set out to find the start of the hike, and as if straight out of a Disney movie, a little dog appeared, and walked off, looking back at us, as if to say, “come on guys, it’s this way!” And wouldn’t you know it that this little pupper got us on the right path (okay, okay, so while it was beyond the cutest thing, we did also make sure to check the signs to ensure this dog was as magical as he appeared). For those who have hiked, it could be argued that the Path of the Gods is not a difficult hike. For people like me who get a little uneasy with hiking (ironically it’s the descent that gets me), I’d say it’s a moderate hike. All in all it takes about 3 hours, with most of the time being the stops to stare in awe at the sheer beauty that is Italy and to take 3,726 photos. Once done, you end up at this little landing with a granita stand – get the lemon slush! To get back to Positano, you can either take the bus or take the 1,500 steps down. Feeling like we could accomplish anything after that hike, we opted for the stairs. We rewarded ourselves with Spritzes and pizza afterwards – and then struggled to walk for at least two days after!

Where to eat!

• Le Tre Sorelle – this is at the bottom of the main stairs and right on the beach and next to Chez Black, which everyone goes to. Don’t get me wrong, Chez Black was great when we went. But for some reason we found ourselves sitting down for Aperol Spritz and pizza on day one at Le Tre Sorelle and kept coming back! Perhaps it was the insanely, and other worldly, fiori di zucca (stuffed zucchini blossoms) that hooked us from the start.

• Max’s Ristorante – on our last night in Positano we were determined to get to bed early, which meant breaking the rules and eating an early (ahem, 7 p.m.) dinner. We felt like we had enjoyed a good sampling of cuisine in Positano, but after asking Lorenzo at Emporio della Ceramica where we should go, he emphatically suggested Max’s – and we are so grateful he did. The restaurant is located in an art museum and it was warm and inviting and felt every bit as if we were regulars who had been coming there for years. The special was a spicy lobster pasta dish, which the gentleman called dibs on, and it was by far the best pasta dish ever to be had.

• Vini e Panini – I had read that this was the place to hit before heading to the beach, to get essentials, stock up on rosé and grab a panini. We were happy to discover this was right under our hotel, and it became our go-to market (and how we stocked up on Aperol and prosecco for our ritual afternoon wind down of sitting on the terrace for Aperol Spritzes). While we could eat the fiora di zucca and pizzas from Le Tre Sorrelle everyday (which I think we did), we were all feeling a low key night was in order, and stopped to grab paninis to enjoy on our hotel terrace. These panini were cheap (talking less than €10 here people), wildly delicious, and definitely could have fed a small army.

As you can tell, there is a lot to do in Positano. We made sure to make the most of our time there, but some of our best memories from the trip come from setting up our little terrace (and I mean little) with music, refills of Aperol Spritzes and good conversation.

Check out more photos from our trip in my Positano highlights on Instagram!