If you haven’t read part 1 yet, read it here!
After spending a few days in Santorini, we were sad to leave, but excited for our next adventure in Positano! Positano is the most famous, picturesque town on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. We previously went to Cinque Terre on our Italy trip in 2018, so we couldn’t wait to see how this compared. Positano is definitely more luxurious and more expensive than Cinque Terre, but just as beautiful! We flew from Santorini to Naples, and then took a Daytrip private car transfer service from Naples to Positano, which was one of the BEST ideas. We had a super spacious Mercedes Benz van for just us two. It was very comfortable for the long ride and winding roads! You can check out Daytrip here. You can also book stops, for example, we stopped in Pompeii (the preserved ancient city) on our way to Positano, and our driver waited for us for two hours to explore and eat lunch.
Pompeii
Unfortunately I BARELY have any pictures from Pompeii–but it was really cool! You could easily spend a whole day or two here, but we only booked it for a few hours on our transfer from Naples to Positano. It was so cool seeing this ancient city. The story is that when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD, Pompeii was covered in 19 feet of volcanic ash (along with its residents ):), and that’s how the city has stayed so in tact for centuries. It was pretty crazy walking around this entire city; it’s the most well preserved ancient site that we’ve ever visited. We also listened to Rick Steves’ audio guide for this, and it was very educational! Unfortunately it was scorching hot when we visited, so we couldn’t stay out in the sun for that long, and there was verrrry minimal shade.
Positano
We stayed at a cute airbnb in the Fornillo area of Positano, which is not in the “main” area that you see on all the instagram posts, but just ~15 minutes (uphill) walk away. Although we didn’t have the same view as say, Le Sirenuese (I checked the prices for this, and it was around $1,000 per night when we were there!!), we loved our little patio, and the area we were in was nice and quiet, with lots of great restaurants around!
A lot of people will say it’s not worth it to stay in Positano, since it’s expensive, but we decided to since we knew we’d be spending all of our time here.
Airbnb link: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3591928
When we went to dinner on our first night, it was a nice, downhill walk to the main Positano beach area. However, when we were walking back to our airbnb, OMG, that was the real stairmaster workout! It was about a 15 minute uphill climb back. Positano has MUCH more stairs than Santorini because Positano actually goes all the way down the cliff to the beach, whereas Santorini is just the higher side of the cliff. So that’s something to note if you’re planning to go!
The cooking class at La Tagliata was one of the highlights of our time in Positano. I was stressing on how to get there, but with the help of our airbnb host, we took an easy bus ride up the main road in Positano and we arrived at this restaurant complete with their own vegetables and animals! The class and restaurant is run by an Italian family and it’s super fun. We were served with drinks and an appetizer platter, then picked fresh vegetables at their farm, and then started cooking! We drank copious amounts of white wine and listened to Gasolina about 10x… #IYKYK haha. We made tiramisu, eggplant parmesan, sauteed eggplant, gnocchi in marinara sauce, and more! A lot of us were so drunk from the class afterwards that we ended up WALKING back to Positano because we missed the bus–such great memories.
If you do one thing in Positano, it has got to be a boat tour! We did a private sunset boat tour with Gennarro from Boat Experience Positano. He was so friendly and the boat ride was so romantic–definitely one of our bucket list items. My one regret was not booking the private boat for a full day or half day tour! We saw some beautiful views from the water and got to see some things we wouldn’t get to if we weren’t on a boat.
Food
As with Santorini, the food prices in Positano were pretty expensive. Luckily, the wine is super cheap! I’m talking $6-10 per glass cheap! I loved it, obviously. We couldn’t wait to gorge on pasta, pizza, croissants, and cappuccinos. Here were our favorites:
- Collina Bakery: Surprisingly there weren’t that many bakeries in Positano, but once we found this one, we were so happy with it that we came another time! The pistachio cream croissant here was next level–delicious and not too sweet (the best Asian dessert compliment). The cappuccinos weren’t our favorite, but we can overlook those because of the baked goods.
- Saraceno d’Oro: Delicious pizza and a more “affordable” option in the Fornillo area! This was pretty close to our airbnb and it was delicious. This spot was always full by the end of the night when we were walking back to our place.
- Buca di Bacco: Yes, this is a hotel restaurant, but surprisingly, the prices were not exorbitant! I had the BEST lobster pasta of my life here and we also loved the fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with ricotta cheese. I’m not sure if zucchini blossoms is just an Italian thing, but I LOVE them! We ordered them at a few restaurants because we’ve never had them back in the States and they are so yummy.
- Il Tridente: Yes, ANOTHER hotel restaurant… What can I say? I read about this restaurant in One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle and I couldn’t resist making a reservation. This restaurant is located in Hotel Poseidon and has an amazing view (in the second picture up there^). We dined right before sunset, so we got to see Positano in its nighttime glory too.
- Next2: This was another restaurant located near our airbnb in the Fornillo neighborhood, so it was super convenient not having to go back down and up those Positano stairs (LOL). Next2 is on the Michelin Guide for Positano and it did not disappoint! I loved the zucchini pasta and again, the fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with cheese!
Capri
We took a day trip to Capri with a small group boat tour while we were in Positano. Capri is known as a luxury shopping haven, but I actually found that the stock was pretty small! I looked forward to buying something from Chanel, but turned up empty handed. I didn’t think the store would be so small, lol! Other than that, it was a fun little island to walk around and explore. We went to the Gardens of Augustus, had a rooftop lunch, went under the Faraglioni rocks (lovers rocks), and window shopped the day away. On the way back to Positano, we got to stop for swimming and we loved it! Unfortunately I can’t remember the exact boat tour we did, but there are a plethora available if you search. You can even book when you’re there on Positano beach.
Naples
On our way back to Naples, we actually stopped at Cantina del Vesuvio, a winery that’s near the base of Mount Vesuvius. We had a nice time there, the lunch + 6 wine tastings was only $35 per person–a steal if you ask me!
We only had around a day and a half in Naples, so we didn’t get to do too many things, but we did the basics AKA pizza! Naples is considered the birthplace of pizza, so we had to get the best of the best, aka L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele. Each pizza here is around $5 (yes, a WHOLE pizza, not a slice) and the wait is actually terrifying. We heard that people wait hours for this restaurant, so we ended up doing takeout since it was close to our airbnb. The takeout from start to finish took 45 minutes! But, still better than an hour. When we got back to our airbnb and finally tried it…. O M G. Best margherita pizza of my life! It just tasted so FRESH–everything from the tomatoes to the basil and the mozzarella. I dream about this pizza! We heard Sorbillo is the second favorite pizza in Naples, but we didn’t get to try it.
We did a little shopping in Naples (Darrell finally got his Gucci!) and I got my loafers, but other than that, our time in Naples was pretty short! Regardless, writing about our honeymoon has me reminiscing on how much fun we had. My husband Darrell is my favorite travel partner, life partner, and everything in between. I look forward to many more trips and making more memories with him. ♡
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