Positano, Italy!

And just like that we arrived to our last stop of Italy – POSITANO!  Yes, it truly is as beautiful as it appears on Instagram.  Positano was everything I had dreamed it would be (incredible food, nice people, the beautiful buildings and houses on the cliff side) and more (expect to get a daily workout for just wanting to go to the beach – LOL).

We took a train from Florence to Naples and from Naples we took a private car to Positano.  We arranged this prior to arriving to Italy and I suggest you do the same.  Yes, you can rent a car and drive yourself from Naples to Positano, but the roads are narrow, curvy, alongside the mountain, oh and yea there’s basically no available parking once in Positano.  So basically, don’t be a cheapo and fork over the money for the private driver and sit back and enjoy the view while being driven.  I don’t remember how much we paid but I remember it not being too bad and totally worth it.

The driver took us directly to our hotel and dropped us off right in front where we were able to check in right away.  Granted it was like 2 or 3 pm by then.  We stayed at Positano B&B.  For some reason when we were planning our Italy trip we booked our flights, trains, the driver and the hotels for everything but Positano.  I don’t think we even booked our Positano hotel until a month before our trip?!  Needless to say, because we were heading to Positano during the peak of peak season, everything was basically booked or a minimum of $1,000 a night.  So I sat down and did some research and found this little gem of a hotel for, drumroll pleaseeeee, about $150 a night.  I know, I was shook too!

The pro’s of the hotel/hotel room: beautiful, INSANE view, breakfast included, personal balcony so your able to enjoy your breakfast while overlooking your epic view of Positano.

The con’s of the hotel/hotel room: the bed kind of grossed me out – now it’s nothing serious, like no bed bugs. And I obviously stayed in the hotel and slept in the bed but I remember thinking it was the worst of all the hotels we stayed at and not the most comfortable. Also, the hotel is a little higher up than where I originally wanted to stay so we were walking up and down a lot of steps at least twice a day.

So basically the entire town of Positano is on a cliff side.  All the hotels, homes, restaurants, etc., go from ground level – aka the beach – and up higher and higher on the cliff.  There are 2 ways to get from the top to the bottom and vice versa – either the famous Positano steps (I don’t know if they’re actually famous but when you walk them everyday for 5 days, up and down at least twice each of those days, they’re famous!), or their small bus that comes every so often.

My biggest tip for Positano – stay as close to the bottom – aka the beach – as possible.  Our hotel was only about half way to the top and I think we counted the steps one night from dinner which was on the beach and to our hotel and it was something like 498 steps.  Now times that by 4 and imagine doing it in hot, humid weather. Eek.  I enjoyed taking the steps up and down because I hadn’t worked out since being in Italy – minus all the walking – and just made myself think of it as a workout.  But I was always out of breath and felt sweaty and gross.  I know, probably TMI.  But there were 2 times were Jamie was not down to take the steps back up to our hotel so we took the bus.

Anyways…

Once we checked into the hotel, we changed and headed to the beach and directly for lunch.  Outside of the hotel and driver we had nothing planned or booked for Positano.  We just knew we were finally ready to switch gears from traveling to vacationing – aka get me on the beach, slather me in tanning lotion and hand me a glass of rosé! K, thanks!

We had lunch at Chez Black which was on the boardwalk directly facing the beach and water.  After lunch we headed to the beach and just hung out until we basically got tired and hungry again.  Headed back to the hotel and got ready and headed out for dinner at Caffe Positano.

The next day we woke up to the most beautiful view and had breakfast at our hotel out on our balcony. 

We walked down to the main beach after breakfast. I recommend getting there as early as possible if you want a day chair in one of the first 3 rows.  I think we had gotten down to the beach around 10 am and got 2 chairs in the 3^rdrow because everything in the first 2 rows was already accounted for.  The day chairs are 20 euros each.  If you can, bring your own towels to save money - I think to rent a towel for the day is around 10 euros a towel.

We spent the entire day at the beach.  We laid out. Went into the water.  Ordered pizza and rosé at the beach for lunch. You get the drift.

Dinner that night was probably my favorite of Positano.  We had dinner at C’era Una Volta and spent less than 50 euros but had 2 apps, 2 entrees, sparkling water, half a bottle of wine and dessert!  Definitely the most affordable meal of Positano and the food was amazing!

We always have dinner late aka it’s pitch black out but if you go there during sunset it’ll probably be breathtaking. PS – Don’t judge the food and restaurant by the inside because there’s a whole hidden outside area - where you should request to sit and eat! 

I knew I wanted to take a boat excursion while in Positano and see Capri.  So before we headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner we stopped at a hut on the beach and booked exactly that for the following day.

My only tip – make sure to look at the weather before doing this (you’ll see why I say this below) because I didn’t and never thought I would need to because it was hot and humid every day of our trip in Italy.

The next day we woke up early and met our group on the beach where we signed up for the boat trip and we were off. The plan was to go around and see the grotto’s and caves for the first 4 hours and then get dropped off at Capri for the following 4 hours so you can walk around and eat.  About 15 mins into being on the boat the sky turned black and the water got choppy so we headed directly for Capri.  As we docked at Capri it started pouring rain.  And I’m not talking like a few drops of rain so you tough it out because you’re on vacation – like pouring to the point it hurt when the water hit you.  So sadly we spent the first 2 hours in a pub right by the docks drinking beers and having snacks.  But just like that, 2 hours later, the rain stopped and the sky became literally cloud free.  So we got to explore Capri for about 2 hours – definitely go to the top of Capri! Another insanely breathtaking view! 

After Capri it was time to get back on the boat and explore the caves and grottos.  We got to dive into the water, jump off (small) cliffs, drink and just be merry.  Even with the weather hiccup, this was so fun and so worth it.

By the time we got back to Positano we were drunkkkkk – LOL.  And tired from all the sun.  We went back to the hotel and stayed in for a bit and by the time we were ready for dinner we wanted something that was nearby – aka we didn’t want to walk 500 plus steps just to wait for a table so we can have dinner.  We walked down about half way and found a busy street with a bunch of restaurants.  Found one, sat down right away, and ate.

As I’m looking through my notes from Positano I’m realizing I didn’t write down the rest of the restaurant names from here on out for some reason.  But I honestly didn’t have one bad meal in Positano (if we’re being honest I didn’t have one bad meal in all of Italy haha).  So my recommendation is to look up everywhere you find or want to go to on TripAdvisor.  Jamie is big on this so he would do this before we ate anywhere.  We didn’t book or pick restaurants ahead of time and always go based off of recommendations from friends and family or based off TripAdvisor!  I do remember the restaurants vividly though so if I’m able to find their names I’ll include them below!

The next two days we spent in Positano we went to different beaches.  Always got day beds.  Always had lunch on the beach.  And then would head to a different place for dinner each night.

And just like that our epic Italian getaway came to an end!

I hope these travel guides have given you inspiration to get up and see more of the world and, obviously, I hope all the recommendations for things to do, see and places to eat plus all the tips and tricks that you can learn from me having to experience them the hard way make your trip just that much more epic!

I’ll be heading back to Italy this summer (but to new cities, duh) so I’ll make sure to continue doing vlogs and travel guides for you!

Until next time…

xx, Neghin