There are places you see in photos and assume the pictures are lying. The Amalfi Coast is not one of them. If anything, the photos undersell it. Pastel houses stacked on cliffs like they were poured from above, lemon groves hanging over the sea, and roads so dramatic you'll grip the seat on every turn — it's all real, and it's all worth it.

We went as a group of three for six days, and in this post I'll walk you through exactly how we planned it, where we ate, what we did, and — because nobody ever tells you this part honestly — what the whole trip actually cost, down to the last espresso.

Planning: When to Go and How Long to Stay

The Amalfi Coast has a short but intense season. July and August are beautiful but brutal — the towns are packed, hotel prices double, and you'll spend more time queuing for buses than looking at the sea. We chose mid-June, and it was close to perfect: warm enough to swim, long evenings, and crowds that were manageable rather than maddening. Late May and September are equally good choices. If you can only travel in peak summer, book everything at least four months ahead and make peace with the crowds.

Six days was the sweet spot for us. You could rush it in four, but the whole point of the Amalfi Coast is to slow down. With six days we covered Positano, Amalfi town, Ravello, a boat day, the famous Path of the Gods hike, and still had lazy mornings with nowhere to be.

One planning decision matters more than all others: where you base yourself. Positano is the postcard, but it's also the most expensive town on the coast and everything is stairs. Amalfi town is central and flatter. We chose Praiano, a quieter village between the two, and it was the best decision of the trip. Prices were noticeably lower, sunsets were arguably better, and both Positano and Amalfi were a short bus or ferry ride away.

Getting There

We flew into Naples, the main gateway to the coast. From the airport you have three realistic options:

The private transfer is the comfortable one — around €120–140 to Praiano or Positano, which split three ways is actually reasonable after a long flight. The budget route is the Curreri bus to Sorrento (€10 per person) and then the SITA coastal bus onwards (€2.90). The middle path, and the one I'd recommend if you land before mid-afternoon, is train to Salerno and then the ferry along the coast — you arrive by sea, which is exactly how this coastline was meant to be seen for the first time.

We took the private transfer on arrival (tired, three suitcases, no regrets) and the ferry-and-bus combination when leaving.

A word of warning: do not rent a car. The coastal road is a single narrow ribbon shared by buses, scooters, and drivers of wildly varying confidence. Parking in Positano costs upwards of €35 a day when you can find it at all. Buses, ferries, and your own two feet will serve you better.

Where We Stayed

We booked a two-bedroom apartment in Praiano with a sea-view terrace for €185 per night — roughly €62 per person. Split between three people, apartments beat hotels on the Amalfi Coast almost every time, and having a terrace for morning coffee and evening wine turned out to be one of the trip's genuine highlights. Similar places in Positano were quoting €320–400 a night for the same dates.

If you'd rather have a hotel, look at family-run three-star places in Praiano or Atrani rather than the famous names in Positano — same views, half the price.

Things to Do: The Six Days That Filled Themselves

Positano deserves a full day. Wander down through the boutique-lined lanes to Spiaggia Grande, swim, and then earn your dinner by climbing back up. Go early — by 11 a.m. the main path is a slow-moving river of people. The smaller Fornillo beach, a ten-minute walk west, is where you actually want to swim.

The Path of the Gods (Sentiero degli Dei) was the single best thing we did. It's a cliff-top hiking trail from Bomerano to Nocelle, about three hours of the most ridiculous views in Europe, and it's completely free. Take the bus up to Bomerano in the morning, walk west with the sea on your left the whole way, and finish with a fresh lemon granita in Nocelle before descending the 1,700 steps into Positano (or take the local bus down if your knees object). Bring water, proper shoes, and start before 9 a.m. in summer.

Ravello sits high above the coast and feels like a different world — quieter, greener, more elegant. The gardens of Villa Rufolo (€7) and Villa Cimbrone (€10) are the draw, and the Terrace of Infinity at Cimbrone might be the best view on a coastline made entirely of best views. If your dates line up with the Ravello Festival, an open-air concert on the Villa Rufolo terrace is unforgettable.

Amalfi town works well as a half day: the striped cathedral with its sweeping staircase (€3 entry), the Paper Museum if you're curious, and the tiny neighbouring village of Atrani — a five-minute walk through a tunnel and somehow a hundred years back in time.

A boat day is non-negotiable. The coast was built to be seen from the water. We shared a small private boat tour for four hours — swimming stops in coves you can't reach on foot, a pass by the fjord at Furore, and prosecco included — for €280 total. Split three ways, it was the best €93 each of the whole trip. If that's beyond budget, the public ferry between towns (€9–10 a hop) gives you a taste of the same views.

We skipped Capri, deliberately. It's doable as a day trip (€45–55 per person for ferries plus whatever the island extracts from you once you're there), but locals told us June Capri is a queue with a view, and we didn't regret spending that day swimming in Praiano instead.

Where We Ate: The Restaurants Worth Your Money

Food on the Amalfi Coast ranges from tourist-trap mediocre to some of the best meals of your life, often on the same street. These were our winners:

Da Adolfo, Positano — a beach shack you reach by a free shuttle boat from Positano's pier (look for the red fish flag). Grilled mozzarella on lemon leaves, spaghetti with clams, cold white wine with peaches in it. Chaotic, loud, perfect. Around €40–45 per person. Book ahead; it fills weeks out in season.

Trattoria da Armandino, Praiano — right on the tiny Marina di Praia beach, no menu some nights, just whatever the boats brought in. Our best seafood of the trip at around €35 a head.

Chez Black, Positano — yes, it's famous and touristy, but the position on the beach is unbeatable and the seafood risotto held its own. Around €50 per person with wine.

Sal De Riso, Minori — technically a pastry shop, actually a pilgrimage site. The ricotta-and-pear cake is the single best dessert I've eaten in Italy. €6 well spent.

Everyday eating: lunch was usually panini or a slice of pizza (€5–8), gelato happened daily (€3–4), and our apartment terrace hosted two dinners of supermarket mozzarella, tomatoes, prosciutto and local wine for about €12 per person — honestly as memorable as the restaurant nights.

Two rules saved us money everywhere: never eat at a restaurant with a host waving a laminated menu at you, and remember that house wine (vino della casa) on this coast is nearly always good and nearly always a third of the price of the bottle list.

The Full Expense Breakdown

Here's everything, for three people, six days, converted at roughly €1 = 25 Kč.

CategoryTotal (3 people)Per personReturn flights to Naples€390€130Airport transfer + local buses/ferries€260€87Apartment, 5 nights€925€308Restaurant meals (7 proper dinners/lunches)€870€290Casual food, coffee, gelato, groceries€280€93Private boat tour€280€93Entry fees (villas, cathedral)€60€20Beach loungers, extras, souvenirs€150€50Total€3,215€1,072 (~26,800 Kč)

So the honest number: just over a thousand euros each for six days done comfortably — not backpacker-style, not luxury, but eating well, staying somewhere lovely, and skipping nothing we wanted to do.

Could you do it cheaper? Absolutely. Fly with hand luggage only, base yourself in Salerno or Maiori, cook more, skip the private boat for the public ferry, and €700–750 per person is realistic. Could you spend triple? Effortlessly — Positano exists precisely for that purpose.

Five Lessons We Learned the Hard Way

Buy SITA bus tickets before boarding. They're sold at tabacchi shops and newsstands, not on the bus, and inspectors do check.

Everything is stairs. Pack light, wear real shoes, and read apartment listings carefully — "sea view" often translates to "200 steps from the road."

Book the famous restaurants before you fly. Da Adolfo and the like are fully booked days or weeks ahead in season.

Carry some cash. Beach clubs, small trattorias, and bus ticket kiosks are not always card-friendly.

Ferries beat buses whenever they're running. Same price bracket, triple the views, none of the traffic.

Final Thoughts

The Amalfi Coast has a reputation as a place that ruins you for other coastlines, and after six days I understand why. But the real surprise was that it doesn't have to ruin your finances too. Travelling as three turned out to be the ideal number — apartments, transfers, and boat tours all split beautifully, and around a thousand euros each bought us a trip that felt far more expensive than it was.

Go in the shoulder season, sleep in the quiet villages, take the hike, get on the water at least once, and order the house wine. The coast will do the rest.

Have questions about any part of the trip, or want the day-by-day itinerary? Drop them in the comments below.