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Positano, Italy
Italy

Things to do in Positano

Why you should go

Ninety seconds on Positano

Vertical, expensive and almost entirely stairs, Positano stacks pastel houses down a ravine to a grey shingle beach. There is one road in and it is one-way through the town, so most arrivals are better made by ferry.

6 places on record
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Things to do

6
  1. Il San Pietro

    Il San Pietro

    Hotel

    Carved into the cliff a kilometre east of the town and invisible from the road, with terraces of bougainvillea dropping to a private cove and a lift cut through the rock to the sea. A boat runs guests into the town in a few minutes.

  2. Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta

    Church · 30 min

    The majolica dome above the beach is the shape every photograph of Positano is built around. Inside is a thirteenth-century Byzantine icon of the Black Madonna, which gave the town its name. The Roman villa excavated beneath it is shown on a separate ticket.

  3. Le Sirenuse

    Hotel

    A former summer house of the Sersale family, opened as a hotel in 1951 and still run by them, with a terrace looking straight down onto the dome of Santa Maria Assunta. It is the address that made Positano fashionable. Its bar is open to non-residents in the evening.

  4. Sentiero degli Dei

    Viewpoint · 4.5 hr

    The Path of the Gods runs the ridge from Bomerano to Nocelle, high above the coast road, and is the walk the Amalfi Coast is known for. Most walkers take it downhill from Bomerano and drop into Positano on the steps at the end; going the other way is a long climb with no shade.

  5. Spiaggia Grande

    Beach · 2.5 hr

    The town's main beach, a grey shingle crescent directly under the tiered houses, split between free stretches and hired loungers. It is the departure point for the ferries along the coast, so it works as a place to swim and as the town's transport hub at once.

  6. Via Positanesi d'America

    Waterfront · 30 min

    A cut walkway around the cliff linking the two beaches, passing the Torre Trasita watchtower on the way. It is the best short walk in the town and the view back at the houses is the one worth stopping for.

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