Positano and Amalfi : Pretty From the Sea

Even though we spent most of the week happily ensconced in Minori, we ventured to Amalfi Town and Positano one day. We figured if we were in the area, we wanted to see the towns.

They are indeed quite pretty, but mainly pretty from the sea. In the town, there are hordes of tourists and shops catering to holiday makers. Not so much the slow travel fun-land we enjoy. Check out my rant about this aspect of them on Grounded Traveler. Otherwise, enjoy the beautiful pictures from the boat trip.

You are going where?

As we were planning our summer trip, we knew we wanted to go to the Amalfi Coast and we found an apartment in Minori. And yet almost no one has ever heard of the place, so we kept having to explain it as being on the Amalfi Coast. And if the person still hadn’t heard of that, we mention Positano and then the light goes on.

So this area is famous and for good reason. It is indeed gorgeous. But really, the most pretty part of the places seem to be the “establishing shots” from the movies. The crashing cliffs and houses clinging up the side of the mountain. The cute Italian fishing village style shots. And these are wonderful, but getting closer up is not any better when it is overcrowded. So really the shots and feelings we were looking for from the towns were already there and gone as we came in on the boat.

Amalfi

Heading out along the coast. We got a good spot on the coast side of the boat for pictures.

Views from the Boat

Positano

Cue the music and memories. This was the shot we waited the 45minute boat ride for.

We walked around Positano for an hour or so. In an effort to escape a bit of the touristiness we wandered a path out of town around the end of the rocks and found another beach. It actually looks quite nice. To be fair to the post though, this shot was not from a boat.

What to take away from this?

Definitely take the boat. Whatever you do, take the boat from Amalfi to Positano or back at least once. If you can’t deal with over commercialization or tourist crowds try coming in the off season or skipping the big towns altogether. Find one of the many other little towns along the way and enjoy the area.

But seriously, take the boat.