The Amalfi Coast Before Summer

Villas, yachts, and the Path of the Gods — Amalfi in the four weeks of the year that locals consider its proper season.

The Amalfi Coast in late April is two things at once. It is a working coast — fishermen mending nets in the small harbours of Conca dei Marini and Praiano, lemon farmers tying the new growth to the chestnut poles that hold their pergolas — and it is a coast in the act of remembering, after a winter in which it has been almost entirely itself, that the season is approaching. The hotels are open. The boats are repainted. The first English voices appear in the bars of Positano. The cliff face is still wet from the spring rains. And the bougainvillea, which by July will have become almost a cliché, is just beginning its long climb toward the white walls of the villas.

The Argument Against High Season

There is no version of the Amalfi Coast in August that we will recommend to a first-time visitor. The reasons are practical. The coastal road, the Strada Statale 163, is a two-lane ribbon cut into the cliff and cannot be widened; in August it does not move. The small towns — Positano, Amalfi, Ravello — are filled to capacity by lunchtime each day, with the resulting strain on the restaurants, the beach clubs, and the small mooring fields. The hotel rates, especially since the post-pandemic correction, have become genuinely difficult to defend on a value basis. We arrange August stays for clients who insist, and we do them well, but we do them with the disclaimer that the coast in August is a coast under load.

The four weeks from mid-April to mid-May, by contrast, are the coast as it likes itself. The same hotels are available at perhaps sixty per cent of the August rate. The same boats are available, with the same captains, and they can actually move. The same restaurants seat one with two days' notice rather than two months. The water is cool — too cool for a long swim — but the gardens are at their absolute peak, and the temperature on the cliff paths is ideal for walking.

The Path of the Gods

The Sentiero degli Dei — the Path of the Gods — is the high coastal trail that runs along the upper cliff between Bomerano and Nocelle, ending at the long staircase that descends to Positano. It is, for the right client, the single best half-day in the Amalfi region. The trail is not technically demanding; it is six kilometres, mostly on the level, with an open exposure to the coast that gives, on a clear day, views from Capri all the way to the Cilento. We arrange it with a guide who knows the geology and the local vernacular agriculture — the small terraced vineyards of the Furore zone, the goat-cheese makers above Praiano, the medieval water mills in the Vallone delle Ferriere.

The walk in April is a different walk to the walk in August. The wildflowers are out. The temperature is low enough to walk at midday rather than at dawn. And the path itself, which in summer can be busy, is in April mostly empty — a long, slow, contemplative line above the sea.

Where We Stay

The hotel question on the Amalfi Coast has changed in the last five years. The classics remain — Le Sirenuse and Il San Pietro in Positano, the Santa Caterina in Amalfi, the Belmond Caruso and the Palazzo Avino in Ravello — and they remain excellent in their established way. The newer additions are real: the Borgo Santandrea in Conca dei Marini, opened in 2022, has set a new standard for contemporary luxury on the coast and is, for the right client, our first recommendation; the Maison La Minervetta in Sorrento is small and individual and offers the best view of the Bay of Naples in town.

For clients who want more than a hotel, we arrange private villas. The best of these, on the Amalfi Coast, are not on rental sites. They are family-owned properties that come to us through long-standing relationships, and they include some of the most photographed houses on the coast. A villa in Praiano with an infinity pool over the sea, full domestic staff, private chef, and the use of a wooden gozzo from the property's own slipway, taken for a week in late April, is among the quieter luxuries we arrange.

The Coast, By Sea

The Amalfi Coast was built to be seen from the water, and we strongly recommend at least one day, ideally two, of private boating during a coastal stay. We work with several small operators — local families running classic wooden gozzi or larger thirty-metre Sanlorenzos — who can take a party out from any of the marinas for a day's circuit that might include a swim in the Grotta dello Smeraldo at Conca dei Marini, lunch at Da Adolfo at the Spiaggia di Laurito accessible only by boat, an afternoon swim in the small bay of Furore, and a sunset return along the cliffs to Positano with a glass of Falanghina on deck.

These are days that seem unlikely to be improved upon. They are also days that, in late April, can be arranged with a week's notice rather than three months.