Last Summer I spent a weekend in this stunning part of Southern Italy, and I fell in love with it! Although not far from Puglia, the region where I live (a mere 3 and a half hours drive), I barely knew the area. I had visited it once with my parents when I was a kid, but I didn’t have much memory of it: it was such a surprise to discover how beautiful it is! I slept in Maiori, the perfect starting point for many different day trips around along Amalfi Coast.
First of all, where is that? Amalfi Coast is so called after the name of one of its best known towns, Amalfi. It is a stretch of coastline about 50-kilometers long in Campania region (the most famous city of it being Napoli, or Naples). It runs from Vietri sul Mare, a picturesque town worldwide famous for its ceramics, up to Meta, hilltop village just outside Sorrento. Amalfi Coast runs at the base of the Lattari mountains, which makes the view of the coastline very dramatic.
Driving through the so – called “road of 1,000 bends” is an experience itself. Very tortuous, the road passes through lemon terraces (being the lemon the most characteristic fruit of the area, well known for the limoncello productions) and traditional villages. The road is so narrow that during summer months traffic jams are inevitable! For this reason, if driving is not your favorite thing, you should probably avoid to drive on this road, preferring to take one of the buses that link the coast. It will also be a pleasant way to enjoy the stunning cliffs on one side and the astonishing azure sea on the other.
By Sergio Scardia – Full Story at The Scruffy Italian Traveler
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My husband and I went to Sorrento, Italy in 2008, and stayed at the “IL Nido” a beautiful, charming inexpensive hotel on the hillside above the town of Sorrento. It came with an incredible breakfast daily, and the restaurant was so good, we had dinner there 4 nights out of 5. It was a perfect place to stay for doing day trips to the Amalfi Coast (we hired a car for the day at a rate of $400 9am-5pm in a beautiful new Mercedes with a gorgeous, knowledgeable Italian driving us.) We did Amalfi and Ravello, the gorgeous town located above Amalfi, lunching at a restaurant owned by a friend of his..AMAZING food, wine and view! One day we took the little train to Pompei, a very humbling experience. One day spent site seeing Sorrento, and lunching at a restaurant located above the harbor. All in All, a truly amazing place to be, and also, extremely gay friendly!