Amalfi Coast, Italy

Positano and its neighboring villages are built directly into the cliffs above the Tyrrhenian Sea, a genuinely dramatic setting that also means most streets are stairs rather than flat sidewalks — worth knowing ahead of time for anyone bringing a stroller or with mobility concerns. The coastal road connecting the villages, the SS163, is narrow and famously winding; we book a private driver for most families rather than a self-drive rental for a first visit.

Ferries running between Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello are a more relaxed and often more scenic way to see multiple villages in a day than the road allows. Ravello, set higher up the cliffs with quieter clifftop gardens, is worth a stop for families who find Positano's crowds overwhelming.

There's no airport directly on the Amalfi Coast; most itineraries fly nonstop into Rome or Naples, then continue by a two-and-a-half to three-hour drive or a ferry from Naples or Sorrento. May through June and September into early October bring comfortable weather with far fewer crowds than July and August's peak season, when hotel rates here run among the highest in Italy.

The coastal road connecting Positano, Amalfi and Ravello is as much the attraction as any single town — a narrow, cliffside drive with constant sea views, best done by local bus or boat rather than a rental car given the road's hairpin turns and limited parking. Ravello, set higher up the cliffs than the other towns, offers some of the coast's best panoramic views and hosts a well-regarded summer music festival in its clifftop gardens.

Three to four nights based in one town with day trips to the others. It suits couples and travelers who enjoy scenic drives and seaside towns, and traveling by local bus or boat rather than a rental car meaningfully reduces stress given the coastal road's narrow, winding conditions.

Getting there: About 9-10h nonstop to Rome or Naples, then a 2.5-3h drive or a ferry from Naples/Sorrento. We check the realistic routing options for a trip like this and help time it around May to June, or September to early October rather than leaving it to chance.

The Amalfi Coast's dramatic, near-vertical geography — towns like Positano and Amalfi built directly into cliff faces above the Tyrrhenian Sea — is exactly why the coastal road connecting them, the SS163, built in the 1800s with roughly 1,000 curves across about 50 kilometers, remains one of the most famous and genuinely nerve-testing drives in the world, a significant part of why Voldeluxe routes most clients with a private driver rather than a self-drive rental here. Amalfi itself was a major maritime republic and naval power in the early medieval period, rivaling Venice and Genoa for Mediterranean trade dominance from roughly the 9th to 11th centuries, before a combination of Norman conquest and a catastrophic tsunami in 1343 that destroyed much of the lower town ended its prominence — a history now mostly forgotten by visitors who see only the coast's later reputation as a 20th-century celebrity retreat. Limoncello, the bright yellow lemon liqueur now sold throughout Italy, has its most credible origin claims specifically on this coast, where the local Sfusato Amalfitano lemon variety — notably large, thin-skinned and less acidic than typical lemons — has been cultivated on steep terraced groves supported by centuries-old stone walls since at least the medieval period. Coastal Campanian cuisine here runs on seafood, lemon and the region's excellent buffalo mozzarella, sourced from nearby Paestum and Battipaglia rather than the coast itself.