Why go
The coast has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, and the scenery earns it: villages stacked up the cliffs, the sea a long way below, and lemon groves on every terrace. Positano is the glamorous one, Amalfi has the cathedral and the history, and Ravello sits high above them both with its gardens and its quiet.
It is also a place for long lunches by the water, days on a boat, and some of the best small hotels in Italy, many still run by the families who founded them.
When to go
May, June, September and early October are the months we like most: warm enough to swim, with fewer people than July and August. Most of the top hotels close from early November until late March or Easter, and the ferries run a reduced service or stop outside the season.
Where to base yourself
Positano if you want to be in the middle of things, with shops, restaurants and the beach on foot, and you do not mind steps. Ravello if you want calm, gardens and views from high up. The stretch around Amalfi and Conca dei Marini suits people who want a hotel with its own access to the sea.
We often split a week between two of them, moving by boat.
What we would build into your trip
A private boat day along the coast or over to Capri, with a swim stop and lunch at a beach restaurant you can only reach from the water. The Path of the Gods, the walk high above the sea between Bomerano and Nocelle, done early with a guide. An afternoon in the gardens of Villa Cimbrone and Villa Rufolo in Ravello, and a morning on a lemon farm.
Good to know
Naples is the main airport, about an hour and a half from Positano by car, and Salerno's smaller airport is at the other end of the coast. The one coast road is narrow and jams in summer, so we use a driver for arrival and ferries or private boats after that. We would not hire a car.
Positano and Amalfi fill with day visitors from late morning to late afternoon. Early mornings and evenings are when the towns are at their best. Pack shoes you can climb steps in.