The Points Mom

Positano-By Land And Sea And Wow!!

How many ways can you get to Positano from Ravello?

Why by car, by boat or by feet.  I chose feet!

Rob and I had a driver (for a not so small fee) take our luggage from Ravello to our hotel in Positano.  We had another driver (for a not so small fee), take us an hour away to Bomerano, the town where the renowned Il Sentiero deli Dei AKA Path of the Gods begins.

The Path of the Gods is a gorgeous 4 mile (ish) hike that offers multiple and different views of the stunning Amalfi coastline and the island of Capri.  The surface is rocky and there are uphill sections and downhill sections.  Also, the ledges do not have a barrier, so it can be scary.  You should not do this hike if you are afraid of heights.

Rob and I got to the trailhead at about 9 am and it was hot! We had a lot of water and we are in pretty good shape, so we were ok.  However, the earlier you arrive, the better so you can beat the heat of the day.  We took a ton of pictures because the views were so spectacular.  As you get closer to Nocelle, where the path ends, you begin to see that famous Positano view.  I couldn’t stop snapping pictures. The hike took Rob and I about 2 hours with our water breaks and photo ops.

When we reached “the end” of the path in the tiny village of Nocelle, we had frozen lemonades from a small vendor in the main square and celebrated our accomplishment. However, the Path of The Gods had ended, but our walk to Positano had not!

From high up in Nocelle we could have taken a taxi or the bus down to Positano. Huh? No way!  We opted to take the 1,865 (not a typo) steps down to town.  This was the hardest part of the morning for me.  I started out ok, but somewhere early on I started getting dizzy from descending the endless staircase which switched back and forth down the mountain.  Also, my knees were not happy either!  But, we made it.  We tackled a lot more steps the rest of our trip, but nothing was as arduous as this descent from Nocelle to Positano.

Ahhh Positano.  Bigger Ahhhh Le Sirenuse.

I went back and forth between staying at the two big Positano properties that almost everyone recommends.  Do we stay at Il San Pietro or Le Sirenuse, both incredible luxurious resorts that appeared magical in the pictures that I spent hours drooling over before the trip?

Part of the breakfast buffet at Le Sirenuse

One big draw of Il San Pietro is the elevator carved into the cliff that carries you from the lobby to a private beach. The beach is a natural cove surrounded by the sea, with a solarium, restaurant and bar.  Um, Rob and I hate laying at the beach.  I knew we wouldn’t be spending much time using this amenity.

Both properties have access to a private yacht and both offer complimentary boat trips. Both have unbelievable breakfast buffets each morning. Both have the finest restaurants and bars and both offer stunning views of the Mediterranean.

What really swayed me in the end was the location of each property. Il San Pietro is outside of town and you need to take the hotel shuttle to get to Positano.  Le Sirenuse was at the center of the village of Positano and in the end that is what I wanted.  I wanted to walk out the doors of the hotel and be greeted by the people and the energy of the small coastal town. Not to mention, I got treated to this iconic view from the hotel terrace quite often during our stay.  I was extremely happy with my choice.  In fact I never even made a visit to Il San Pietro while in Positano.  The only way a visitor can access the hotel is via a dinner reservation and they restrict you even further to the time you can dine.  No thanks.  I relished my time at Le Sirenuse and loved every aspect of what the hotel offered us!

Speaking of which, the private boat!  We did a sunset cruise our first night and spent the day on the boat the next day.  During the sunset cruise, we were with a family from Brazil (the boat holds up to 12 people).  The views were spectacular as we cruised along the sea eating way too much of the complimentary snacks and sipping on wine and champagne, while chatting with the captain and his first mate.  Does it get any better than this?

Why yes it does!  The next day, we booked the “boat trip lunch at Nerano Bay.”  We arrived at the boat at the 11 AM departure time with everyone else. NOT! Rob and I were the only ones on the boat for this 5 hour excursion!  Huh? How lucky were we?

We set off towards Nerano Bay, me, Rob, the captain and the first mate. On the way we stopped in one of the many grottos and Rob and I jumped in for a swim.  When we got to Nerano Bay, a small boat from Conca Del Sogno, where we had our lunch reservation, came and picked us up.  BTW, if you didn’t click on the Conca Del Sogno website in the prior sentence, you should.  The website is gorgeous and really gives you a feel of the spectacular place. Not going to this restaurant for lunch was not an option as my friend Marlo K had been insisting that we go there for quite some time prior to our trip.

Conca Del Sogno is a Beach Club restaurant situated in the village of Nerano on Nerano Bay.  For lunch, we sat on the outdoor terrace that jutted out over the bay and took in the views of the surrounding cliffs and clear blue water.  It was beyond spectacular!  We also had fun people watching the beach goers (it’s a beach club too) and admiring all of the yachts floating on the water below.

We started with a pitcher of white wine that had peaches in it! Yum!  For our meal, we gobbled up a caprese salad and some grilled vegetables to start. We then eagerly awaited the main course-the one that Marlo K had kept telling me about.

Baccalà is salted fish (cod fish that has been preserved by packing in salt and drying) and is apparently quite popular in the Mediterranean (even though we hadn’t seen it on the menu till our lunch at Conca).  Check out my Facebook post from the meal where the waiter has to bang on the fish with a mallet to break the salt in order to serve us the fish. Rob was curious what they do with the salt as you can hear him inquiring in the background.  Answer-they throw it out.  The fish was light, fresh and so tasty.  The next time I saw salted fish on a menu was in Amsterdam a few months later.  I got it there too and it was also delicious, even though the restaurant did not sit on the sea.

Our lunch was leisurely and we sat eating and drinking and admiring the views for about 2 hours.  We then had the restaurant take us back to our PRIVATE boat for our journey back to Le Sirenuse.

When we weren’t enjoying the hotel and all of the amenities it had to offer, we were admiring the views, people watching and exploring the beautiful seaside town of Positano. We meandered in and out of the boutiques and beach stores lining the narrow streets leading to the main beach.  We had our daily fill of gelato at Gelateria Buca di Bacco, right off the beach.

As for restaurants, we had 2 great LATE dinners. (Nobody eats dinner before 9 Pm in Positano). We sat seaside at Chez Black and enjoyed our Mediterranean staples, a margherita pizza, a pasta dish, fish dish, and lots of wine. Marlo K Again! Chez Black didn’t have our table at first when we went for our reservation.  We waited right outside the happening outdoor scene with complimentary drinks in hand.  The second night, we ate in the garden at Max, a restaurant and art gallery that is more within the town of Positano.  We had another amazing meal here as well. Cheryl G!

During your stay, I would also recommend having lunch at one of three consistently recommended restaurants high above Positano, in the town of Montepertuso, overlooking the sea.  I like the idea of lunch better than dinner, because you have the view for the entire meal.  With the late dining times, your view will ultimately be lost in the darkness. The three places are Donna RosaLa Tagliata and Il Ritrovo.

Surprise lunch at La Tagliata

That first day, after hiking the Path Of The Gods in the am, we rewarded ourselves with a taxi up to La Tagliata.  Besides the incredible panoramic view from the terrace, the one thing that stands out to me the most was the menu, or lack thereof. There is no menu!  Throughout the meal, the staff bestows you with local Positano dishes using organically grown vegetables from the restaurant’s garden and free-range meat locally reared from the surrounding area.  I remember there being two menu options, a lighter one and heavier one.  We chose the lighter one as I wanted us to be hungry for our dinner reservation that night.  But even the lighter one had grilled meats, ravioli, veggies, more pasta, and other traditional fare, oh and dessert. It was a good thing we had a 9Pm res that night!  Because we didn’t walk enough on the hike that morning, we descended, by foot, back down to Positano using a combination of the winding road and to my dismay, more steps. Nap time!

We loved our time in Positano and I will never forget the views. My favorite time to enjoy it was early in the morning, when everyone else was asleep.  (Rob and I get up so early).  Rob did some work on the hotel terrace each morning, as I took tons of pictures and just admired and admired the scenery.  We were reluctant to leave, but don’t feel too bad for us….Capri awaited us…..

Our early morning view