The Amalfi Coast in September

The sea still warm, the crowds long gone — the case for September on a coast that, in this month, returns briefly to itself.

There is a fortnight on the Amalfi Coast, from roughly the tenth to the twenty-fifth of September, when the coast returns to its proper character. The August holidaymakers have gone home. The cruise ships have largely shifted their itineraries north. The day-tripper traffic from Naples and Salerno has thinned to a manageable trickle. The hotels — most still open, the closures coming in late October — operate at perhaps half their August density. And the sea, crucially, is still warm. The water temperature on this coast in the second half of September averages twenty-five degrees, which is to say it remains the warm Mediterranean of August, only without the August.

The Sea, Specifically

We mention the sea first because the sea, on this coast, is so much of the point. The Amalfi swimming experience is not the swimming experience of the wide open beaches of Sardinia or the deeper coves of the Aeolians. It is the experience of small, sometimes pebbled, sometimes platformed swimming areas at the foot of the cliff — the Bagni di Tiberio at Capri, the Marina di Praia below Praiano, the cove at the foot of the staircase from Furore, the small platforms at the Conca dei Marini. These are intimate swimming places. Their charm depends, in large part, on not being shared with too many other swimmers.

In August this charm is, frankly, compromised. The coves are full. The platforms have queues for the ladders. The sound of the place is the sound of crowds. In late September the coves are largely empty by mid-morning and almost empty by late afternoon. The same swim at the same place becomes a different experience entirely. We will sometimes recommend, for clients who have only experienced the August coast, a return visit specifically in the second half of September; the response, in nearly every case, is that they had not realised how different the same place could feel.

The Cliff Walks

Walking on the Amalfi Coast in August is, except in the very early morning, an exercise in heat management. The cliff paths — the Sentiero degli Dei, the Valle delle Ferriere, the steps from Amalfi up to Pogerola — face south and are exposed to the full Mediterranean sun, with temperatures on the path readily exceeding thirty-five degrees by midday. We do not generally recommend cliff walking in the August coastal week.

September is a different month. Daytime temperatures are in the high twenties, the air feels noticeably cooler than in August, and the cliff paths can be walked at any hour. The Sentiero degli Dei in particular — the high coastal trail from Bomerano to Nocelle, ending with the staircase down to Positano — is a half-day's walk that, in late September, is among the most rewarding hours one can spend on this coast. The wildflowers are the autumn ones, the visibility tends to be at its annual peak, and the descent into Positano in the late afternoon arrives at a town that is, blessedly, not at full visitor density.

Tables With Air

The dining experience on the Amalfi Coast in September is markedly different from the August experience. The kitchens are settling into a more relaxed rhythm. The tables that in July required two months of advance booking — La Sponda at Le Sirenuse, Il Ristorante by Heinz Beck at the Tremezzo's sister property in Capri, Il Faro at the Caruso — can be confirmed with a few days' notice, in some cases on the day. The wine lists, after a long summer of heavy turnover, are often deepest in September.

We arrange, for clients in residence in mid-September, a particular kind of evening that we cannot easily arrange in August. A table for two on the upper terrace of Le Sirenuse at sunset, with the lights of Positano coming on across the bay below, and the kitchen running at a pace that allows the meal to take three hours rather than ninety minutes. A long lunch at Da Adolfo at the Spiaggia di Laurito on a Tuesday in the third week of the month, with perhaps fifteen other tables rather than the thirty-five of August. The evening at Don Alfonso 1890 above Sorrento that, in summer, requires a four-month booking and that, in late September, can be arranged in a week.

The Window That Is Closing

We will mention, in closing, the worth of being aware that the September window on the Amalfi Coast is becoming better known. The visitor numbers on this coast in September have grown each of the last five years, and the major hotels have responded by extending their high-season pricing through the third week of September. The discount from the August rate is no longer dramatic. What remains, however, is the experience itself — the sea, the air, the cliff paths, the tables — and that experience, in our reading, continues to justify the September week even at rates that have approached the August ones.

We tell our clients, half-seriously, that the second half of September on the Amalfi Coast is the most expensive secret left on the Italian summer calendar. It is, however, still a secret, and for the experienced traveller it remains the most considered way to do this coast.

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