Amalfi Coast Travel Guide

The Amalfi Coast is the stretch of Italian shoreline everyone pictures when they picture the Mediterranean: pastel villages stacked up sheer cliffs, lemon groves terraced above a sea of deep blue, and a single famous corniche road threading it all together. Positano tumbles photogenically to its beach; the town of Amalfi keeps a striped Arab-Norman cathedral at its heart; and high above, Ravello looks down from gardens that have inspired composers and writers for a century.

The smart way to travel it is by ferry — the coast is far more beautiful from the water, and far less nerve-wracking than the hairpin road. Walk the Path of the Gods for the view of a lifetime, swim from rocky coves, and eat seafood and lemon everything as the light softens. Spectacular and deservedly popular, it's at its best in late spring or early autumn, when the cliffs are warm but the crowds have thinned.