Amalfi Coast
Italy
Villages stacked up a cliff above the Tyrrhenian, on a road that should not exist
Photo by Sander Crombach on Unsplash
Photos by Tom Podmore, D Jonez, Ryan Ancill and Sebastian Leonhardt on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Italy
April to June, and September to October (August is full and hot)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 160mm in Nov
Where it is
40.63°N, 14.60°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Weeks of it- Walk the Path of the Gods from Bomerano to Nocelle
- Take the ferry rather than the bus, at least once
- Climb the 1,500 steps between Amalfi and Ravello
- Eat in Atrani, which is the next village and nothing like Amalfi
- Go to Capri for the day, and leave before the last boat
Amalfi Coast travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Italy
Very expensiveEuros, and cards are taken almost everywhere — but the smaller family restaurants in Amalfi and Atrani still prefer cash, and a few beach clubs only take it. Keep fifty euros on you.
ATMs & cards
Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit machines in Amalfi, Positano and Sorrento are free with European cards. The standalone Euronet machines by the ferry docks charge heavily and push conversion — walk past them.
Avoid these
- the Euronet machines by the ferry docks in Amalfi and Positano
Use these instead
- Intesa Sanpaolo
- UniCredit
- Banca Monte dei Paschi
The bank machines are free with European cards. The blue Euronet ones cluster where the boats arrive, charge several euros and offer a conversion several per cent worse than your bank.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Italy
Very safeVery safe. The coast road is the actual danger: blind bends, buses that take both lanes, and no pavement in most of it. Walking between towns on the road is unwise; the mule paths above it are the alternative and are superb. Rip currents are rare but the sea is deep straight off the shingle.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (9 areas)
Worth more attention
- Amalfi Drive — on foot — blind bends, buses that take both lanes, and no pavement
- Scooter hire on that road, which is the commonest visitor accident here
- The stairs everywhere, which are worn, steep and unlit at night
- Naples Centrale — and the streets around it, for pickpockets on the way through
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Italy visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Italy
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment. Pharmacies handle a lot of minor problems directly and are the fastest route to advice.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
OutstandingLemons the size of a fist, and everything made from them — delizia al limone above all. The pasta here is scialatielli with seafood, and the mozzarella comes from the plain behind Naples that morning. Eat away from the seafront in Atrani, which is a five-minute walk from Amalfi and a third of the price.
Nightlife
Dinner that runs to midnight, a limoncello afterwards, and no clubs to speak of — which is the correct amount for a coast of cliff villages.
- Positano — the beach bars and the terraces above them
- Amalfi — the piazza, and the passeggiata around it
- Music on the Rocks — the one actual club, cut into the cliff at Positano
Closing: 01:00, and most of the coast by midnight.
A beer in a bar: €5–8
Getting around
Limited- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- FREE NOWWorks here
- IT TaxiWorks here
FREE NOW taxis, which is what Italy allows · IT Taxi the national taxi app · Uber Black and Taxi only — no UberX anywhere in Italy · Bolt taxis, in Rome and Milan
- Against a taxi
- The app is the taxi. Uber Black is a different, dearer category.
No ride-hailing on the coast. The SITA buses, the ferries between the towns in summer, and a private NCC driver if the budget allows — around €120–180 from Naples airport to Positano.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Rome — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Italy
Why these are Italy's numbers and not Amalfi Coast's
Home broadband — Good. Comfortable for two people working, streaming in the evening, large downloads. Broadband here runs at 84% of the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 78% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Amalfi Coast, so these are medians for all of Italy. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Italy, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Italian
- HelloBuongiornobwon-JOR-no
- PleasePer favoreper fa-VO-reh
- Thank youGrazieGRAT-tsyeh
- Yes / NoSì / Nosee / no
4 more phrases
- Excuse meScusiSKOO-zee
- How much is it?Quanto costa?KWAN-to KOS-ta
- The bill, pleaseIl conto, per favoreeel KON-to
- Cheers!Salute! / Cin cin!sa-LOO-teh / chin chin
Ciao is for people you know. With shopkeepers and waiters, buongiorno until evening, then buonasera.
Religion
Catholic
The Vatican is a sovereign state inside Rome. Dress codes are enforced at St Peter’s and most major churches: shoulders and knees covered, and they will turn you away.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Say buongiorno rather than ciao to anyone you do not know
- Drink cappuccino only before about 11:00; after a meal it is an espresso
- Cover shoulders and knees to enter churches, including the major basilicas
- Validate regional train tickets before boarding or risk a fine
Don't
- Do not ask for parmesan on seafood pasta — it is a genuine culinary offence here
- Do not sit on monument steps in Rome or Florence; both cities fine it
- Do not order a coffee "to go" and expect it to be normal
- Do not tip beyond rounding up; coperto already covers the cover charge
Where to stay in Amalfi Coast
No Holistay rentals in Amalfi Coast yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Amalfi Coast on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Naples Capodichino NAP
1h 30mfrom the airport· 39 km as the crow flies
90 min by road to Amalfi, or a ferry from Sorrento.
Also worth pricing: Salerno Costa d’Amalfi SLM — newly reopened, and 45 minutes from Amalfi.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
