The Italian Coast, Taken Slowly: Cinque Terre to Amalfi

Two coasts, one idea

Italy keeps its two most famous coastlines a full day's journey apart: the Cinque Terre in Liguria, up near Genoa, and the Amalfi Coast south of Naples. They get sold in the same two-week itineraries and photographed from the same three angles, and they are not remotely alike. The Cinque Terre is five small fishing villages on a single railway line, close enough together that you can walk between most of them. The Amalfi Coast is fifty-odd kilometres of cliff road with towns hung off it, a cathedral town at its centre, and hotel prices to match its reputation.

What they share is a failure mode. Both are swamped between roughly mid-morning and late afternoon, and both become themselves again once the last excursion boat leaves. Most travellers sprint through both in a week and meet neither. The better plan is to pick your pace, stay overnight, and let the day-trippers drain away with the evening trains.

The Cinque Terre: five villages, no cars

Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore — five villages pinned to the cliffs between Levanto and La Spezia, connected by a local railway, seasonal ferries and a network of footpaths. Cars are close to useless here: the access roads are narrow and the parking is both scarce and expensive. The train between villages takes two to four minutes and runs constantly.

Give it two nights minimum, three if you want to walk properly. One night is a long way to come for a single evening.

The card, the train and the boat

The Cinque Terre Card comes in two versions and the difference matters. The trekking version, which covers the paid trail sections, costs around EUR 7.50 for a day, with two- and three-day versions at roughly EUR 14.50 and EUR 21. The train version adds unlimited regional trains between Levanto and La Spezia and is priced by demand band — expect somewhere around EUR 19.50 for a day on a quiet date and closer to EUR 32.50 at peak. Outside the season, roughly from early November to the middle of March, the card requirement is generally suspended altogether and the trails are free.

Buy the train version if you plan to hop between villages; buy the trekking version if you are walking one leg and happy to pay single fares otherwise. Note that the paid sections are only part of the network — many of the higher paths carry no charge at all.

The ferry is the underrated option. It runs roughly from late March to early November and gives you the view the railway hides: the villages stacked above the water, which is how they were built to be seen. A day pass covering Levanto, the villages, Portovenere and La Spezia typically costs around EUR 42, with an afternoon-only pass at about EUR 28 and single hops from around EUR 15. Corniglia is the exception — it sits on a headland with no harbour, so no boat stops there.

The walking, honestly

The Sentiero Azzurro, the low coastal path, is what most people come to walk, and it has not been whole for years. The Monterosso–Vernazza and Vernazza–Corniglia legs are open; each takes somewhere around ninety minutes to two hours, and both involve a great many stone steps. On the busiest spring weekends the Monterosso–Vernazza section is run one-way, Monterosso to Vernazza, through the middle of the day.

The Corniglia–Manarola section remains closed, as it has been repeatedly since the landslides. The alternative is the high path via Volastra, which climbs through the terraced vineyards and is markedly harder than the coastal route — budget closer to three hours, and carry water.

The Via dell'Amore, between Riomaggiore and Manarola, reopened in 2024 after twelve years shut, and it now works on timed entry: a half-hour slot, a capped number of walkers, entry from the Riomaggiore end, one-way, out at Manarola. Access is included in the Cinque Terre Card and cannot be bought separately. It typically opens mid-morning and runs late into the evening in summer, closing earlier in winter. It is a flat twenty-minute stroll rather than a hike, and worth timing for the last of the light.

Trail status changes with the weather and the repair schedule. Check with the park information points in the stations on the morning you walk, not the week before.

Where to base, and what to skip

Vernazza is the classic — a real harbour, the ruined Doria Castle above it, and the profile that sells this coastline. Manarola is the photographer's choice, best at dusk from the Punta Bonfiglio path. Monterosso has the only proper sand beach and the most hotel beds, and is the sensible base if anyone in your party would rather not climb steps to reach dinner. Riomaggiore is the least polished and generally the cheapest. Corniglia sits high above its own station at the top of a long staircase; it is the quietest of the five and the one to choose if quiet is the point, though it is a poor base if you are carrying luggage.

What to skip is the day trip. If your only option is arriving on the ten o'clock train and leaving on the five o'clock one, you will spend the day inside the crowd and see the villages at their worst.

What to eat

Anchovies from Monterosso are the local specialty, served fried, salted, or marinated in lemon; Slow Food maintains them as a protected presidium. Pesto is Ligurian and taken seriously. The local dessert wine, Sciacchetrà, is made in small quantities from grapes grown on those terraces and is priced accordingly.

For a sit-down meal with the view people come for, Ristorante Belforte in Vernazza is built into the bastion above the harbour; book well ahead. Nessun Dorma, on the terrace above Manarola's harbour, does not take reservations and runs a queue — arrive early or accept the wait. Trattoria dal Billy, up in Manarola's upper village, is the one to book a few days out in high season. For something quick, the focacceria Il Frantoio in Monterosso's old town does focaccia and pizza by the slice with only a handful of tables. In Corniglia, the gelateria Alberto is known for a basil gelato that sounds like a gimmick and is not.

The Amalfi Coast: drama by the mile

South of Naples, the SS163 threads along the cliffs from Vietri sul Mare to Positano — around fifty kilometres of switchbacks through Cetara, Maiori, Minori, Amalfi and Praiano. It is a famous drive and a nerve-wracking one.

Do not drive it in summer

The road runs an alternating number-plate system, the targhe alterne, for much of the high season, and it works the opposite way round to most people's assumption: on even-numbered dates plates ending in an even digit are the ones banned, so only odd-ending plates may use the SS163, and on odd-numbered dates only even-ending plates may drive — generally between about ten in the morning and six in the evening. Through June and July this applies on Saturdays, Sundays and Italian public holidays; in August and September it applies every day, with additional windows around Easter and the start of May. Motorcycles, taxis, buses and residents are exempt. Travellers with rental cars tend to discover this after booking.

Use the SITA buses instead. A 24-hour coast ticket costs around EUR 10, and single hops such as Salerno to Amalfi run to roughly EUR 2.40 for a journey of about seventy-five minutes. They are crowded and slow, but they go where the road goes.

Better still, use the ferries, which operate roughly April to October between Salerno, Amalfi, Positano and beyond. Positano to Amalfi costs around EUR 9 to 10 and takes twenty minutes or so; Salerno to Amalfi is about EUR 8 to 12; Salerno to Positano is around EUR 12 and takes about an hour. This coast was built to be seen from the water, and the boat skips the traffic entirely. It is also the first thing cancelled in rough weather, so keep the bus in reserve.

The walk that justifies the trip

The Path of the Gods (Sentiero degli Dei) is the reason to bring boots. The standard route runs from Bomerano, a hamlet of Agerola up on the plateau, to Nocelle above Positano — around five and a half kilometres of high traverse with the whole coast unrolling beneath you, and mostly downhill in that direction. Get there by bus from Amalfi towards Agerola, and start early: there is very little shade, and the middle of a summer day is punishing.

At Nocelle you have a choice. The purist finish is the staircase down to the coast road, somewhere between 1,500 and 1,800 steps, and then a walk into Positano — hard on the knees and about an hour. The sensible finish is the small local bus down to Positano, which runs roughly hourly. Either way, Ristorante Santa Croce in Nocelle sits at the end of the trail with picture windows over the coast, and is a reasonable place to stop while you decide.

Go up to Ravello

Ravello sits high above Amalfi and Atrani, and it is where this coast becomes contemplative. Villa Rufolo has terraced gardens, a Moorish cloister and a view that Wagner is said to have taken as the model for Klingsor's magic garden in Parsifal; entry is around EUR 8, and it generally opens mid-morning and closes in the late afternoon, with extended evening hours during the Ravello Festival in summer. Villa Cimbrone, a walk further through the town, ends at the Terrace of Infinity, a balustrade lined with marble busts above a sheer drop to the sea; the gardens cost around EUR 7 and typically open in the morning and close at sunset, year-round.

Ravello is also a good argument for two nights rather than one: it empties in the evening, and the walk back down to Atrani through the lemon terraces is one of the better hours of the trip.

Where to base

Positano is the picture, and the price. Amalfi is the practical choice — the ferry and bus hub, a working town with a cathedral and the Museo della Carta in the mill valley behind it, and generally the cheapest beds of the three famous names. Ravello is quiet and high, and requires a bus or a climb every time you want the sea. Praiano, between Positano and Amalfi, is the value pick: fewer visitors, west-facing sunsets, and a short bus ride to either. Atrani, a five-minute walk around the headland from Amalfi, is tiny and largely residential, and cheaper than its neighbour for the same walk to the same places.

Maiori is worth knowing about rather than staying in if you are after the postcard — it was rebuilt after wartime damage and flooding and looks it — though it has more usable beach than most of the coast.

What to eat

Lemons, anchovies and buffalo mozzarella. In Amalfi's cathedral square, Pasticceria Pansa has been making pastries since the 1830s and is where to try a delizia al limone; in Minori, Sal De Riso is the pastry shop most associated with that dessert nationally. In Cetara, at the eastern end of the coast, the anchovy fleet still lands its catch and the town produces colatura di alici, an amber fermented anchovy sauce aged in chestnut barrels; Acquapazza, in the centre of the village, cooks with it. In Atrani, A' Paranza is the seafood trattoria locals tend to name first. Above Positano in Montepertuso, La Tagliata grills meat and vegetables from its own land and serves a fixed procession of courses, typically opening for lunch around midday and again for dinner from about seven. In Ravello, Cumpà Cosimo, just off the main square, is family-run and generous, open daily in high season with a day off in the quieter months.

If you insist on doing both

The two coasts sit about five to seven hours apart by rail. From La Spezia, the fastest trains reach Naples in a little over four hours, with slower connections taking considerably longer; Naples to Salerno then takes roughly thirty to forty-five minutes, and Salerno is where the Amalfi ferries and buses begin. It is a whole travelling day, and it is the day people underestimate.

With ten days it works: four nights in the Cinque Terre, a travel day, four nights on the Amalfi Coast. With a week, do one.

When to go

Late April to June, and September into early October, on both coasts: the sea is warm enough, the trails and ferries are running, and rooms cost something close to reason. July and August are hot, full and expensive, and on the Amalfi Coast that is also when the plate restrictions bite hardest.

Winter is a real option in the Cinque Terre if you want the villages to yourself, with the caveat that the ferries stop, some trails close for repair, and many restaurants shut from roughly November to March. The Amalfi Coast largely winds down too, though Amalfi town itself stays open because people live there.

The slow rule: one coast per trip, two nights minimum in each base. The coast rewards the traveller who is still there after the last tour bus leaves.