When I first started planning our family trip to Italy, I knew I needed to find a way to work Positano into our itinerary. I researched and read blog after blog about how to get there, how to pack and how expensive it was! I want to share about our time there as just an average family of four, two adults and two teenagers, with an average budget. We did everything we wanted to do and absolutely loved it. Now maybe we didn’t do the fancy hotels and beach clubs that you see all over Instagram and TikTok, but we left feeling so happy and knowing that we would definitely return.

Getting to Positano can be challenging so I want to share what I planned and how it worked. We stayed in Naples for the first night of our trip so it would cut down on our travel time. I think it was the perfect way to break up our long travel day. From Naples I booked tickets on a ferry to arrive in the port of Positano. The ferries can be hard to navigate but they are a wonderful way to get there. I used the Ferryhopper app to find a time that would work for us and booked the tickets ahead of time. It is possible to book same day tickets but since it was our first time there, I wanted to have as much planned as possible. The other options to get there are private transfer (which can be expensive), by bus (can be crowded and unreliable) or you can rent a car. We were lucky that everything worked out with the ferry and we could just sit back, relax and take in the view. The tickets were around $30 USD per person.

The ferry ended up being great! We stopped at the island of Capri to drop offf/pick up other people and then arrived in Positano. Total time was around two hours. The dock was very crowded but we managed to find the porters from our hotel that were there to collect our luggage pretty easily. I had arranged this service in advance because getting your bags up the stairs on your own is a nightmare. We didn’t have to pay for this service, but there are porters available for hire at the dock. When people tell you about the stairs, believe them! It is exhausting getting from place to place but the experience is so worth it. Make sure you pack comfortable shoes because you will be doing a ton of walking! We wore sneakers during the day for exploring and sandals only if we knew we would be doing minimal walking. I also would say to pack and wear what you are comfortable in. I read so many blogs about having to be dressed up but we saw all different types of style, ranging from dressy to shorts and t-shirts.

We stayed at the Hotel Vittoria and loved it. It is about a 15 minute walk from the central part of Positano but we did not mind being a little out of the busy zone. The Hotel Vittoria is situated in the quarter of Fornillo and has a spectacular view over the coast and the surrounding area. I found the rates extremely affordable and our room was huge, with a beautiful private balcony. We paid $1340 USD for our three night stay. Breakfast was included and I found the staff to be extremely helpful with any questions we had. There isn’t a full service restaurant on site, but guests can book dining reservations at their sister property, Hotel Pupetto, as well as reserve beach chairs through the hotel for Fornillo Beach. It is about a 5 minute walk and 200 steps to the restaurant. I wish I would have taken more pictures of our room, but we were anxious to get unpacked and then hit the town.

Let me just say that Positano is as dreamy of a town as you imagine it to be. Yes the dock is crowded and the streets get crowded, but at night it is pure magic. The streets are quiet, people are eating and drinking and enjoying life. if you ever get the chance to go, take it!

I pre-booked all of our dinner reservations because they can be hard to come by if you wait until you arrive. There are definitely restaurants that you can just pop into, but the best require a reservation well in advance. Our first night we were supposed to dine at Da Vincenzo but we were notified that afternoon of a family emergency so the restaurant was closed. We were disappointed we couldn’t have the experience of eating there (it’s a popular restaurant so add to your list), but we ended up finding the fabulous Ristorante D’Aiello and everything worked out perfectly. After dinner we walked the town, stopped to take pictures everywhere and grabbed some gelato and lemon sorbet. What a fabulous first day!

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I would say the most popular things to do in Positano are to hit a beach club or reserve a boat for the day to cruise the Amalfi Coast and visit Capri. As a family we decided boat day was the way to go. Now there are tons of companies that offer boat excursions for a half day, full day, private, non-private, sunset, etc. so do your research. I spent probably a month reading blogs, watching TikToks and reading through posts on a Facebook group. I booked one company and ended up canceling and switching to another. If the price looks too good to be true, don’t book it. We wanted our own boat for the day and the ability to do what we wanted to do. I chose You Know Boat because they offer many choices, have great reviews and were in our price range. Our boat day cost around $1200 USD but that included them picking us up at the Positano Port, that was an extra $100 charge. I was very happy with our day and our boat captain Mario was a gem. I would definitely recommend this company. You can find other options for booking on Get Your Guide and Viator, or search for private companies that are based in Positano. I have heard great things about Blue Star Positano and Barbara Positano Boat Tours, but they were both booked for our dates.

We spent a lot of time cruising around Capri going in and out of caves and grottos. We did pass the entrance to the famous Blue Grotto but opted not to burn the time going there. The wait time was around an hour and it would have cost us extra to do. Maybe another time! We wanted to enjoy our time on the boat. We swam in the beautiful water and did decide to disembark and wander around Capri for two hours. This also cost an extra 100 Euros, payable in cash. It was very busy! I feel like to truly experience Capri, you need to stay on the island. We still had fun though climbing to the top, having a beautiful lunch with limoncello drinks out of lemons and getting gelato. We took a convertible taxi to get back down to the dock for 25 Euros. So fun! Then back to meet Mario and get back on our boat.

This day was one we will never forget!

Cheers to a Fabulous Day!

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Cheers to a Fabulous Day! 〰️

We had dinner at the Hotel Pupetto restaurant that night since we had a long day and wanted to stay close to our hotel. The food was fabulous and it was nice to have a shorter walk back up to our room. It was pouring when we were done with dinner and our walk up was an interesting and very wet one! We took our shoes off and just made the best of it since the water was just pouring down the stairs! Thankfully that was the only time it rained while we were there.

We started out the next day with with cappuccinos and a light breakfast at our hotel and spent the rest of the morning and afternoon shopping and eating our way through town. Some of our favorite places were:

Casa e Bottega - fabulous food and beautiful home goods to buy
Antica Sartoria - for beautiful brightly colored dresses and linen clothing
CB Positano - this place is very popular! Handmade dresses and bags. We bought a ton from here for ourselves and for souvenirs.
Luisa Positano - more beautiful clothing
Safari Positano - for beautiful handmade shoes
Collina Bakery - for gelato and frozen lemons
Franco’s Bar - supposed to be the place for drinks but we never made it there! Maybe if we didn’t have the kids with us haha
La Sponda at Le Sirenuse - probably the hardest reservation to get in Positano and unfortunately I couldn’t get one, but its worth a shot if you are going there!

For our last night on the Amalfi Coast, I booked us dinner at Costa Diva in Praino! It’s located about 20 minutes from Positano. Transportation between towns can be difficult due to how narrow and busy the roads are in the summer. I asked our hotel to arrange a taxi for us in advance so we could enjoy the dinner without the stress of worrying about how to get there and back. Taxis are not cheap! It was 40 Euros each way, plus gratuity. Costa Diva is a hotel but also a beautiful restaurant surrounded by lemon trees. We had a fabulous dinner and we even got to meet the owner of the hotel. He went table to table talking and laughing with everyone there. I even got a kiss on the cheek! We loved every thing about our experience there.

The next morning I was up early to take a walk down to Spiaggia Grande, the famous beach in Positano. The rest of the family wanted to sleep in a bit and avoid going back up the stairs again to our hotel. If we had more time there, we definitely would have done a beach day. It looked beautiful but be prepared to pay. The seating is more expensive the closer you are to the water!

After my walk to the beach, it was time to head back to the hotel to finish packing up and head to our next destination! Rome!

We were all very excited, but sad to leave the beautiful town of Positano. Our private transfer arrived at 11 am and we started our 3.5 hour drive to our airbnb in Rome. Stay tuned for the next installment of our Summer Italy trip!

If you’ve gotten this far, than thanks for reading haha! We really loved Positano and I wanted to share our experience. Don’t be put off by some of the things you read about it. Yes it’s crowded, yes it can be expensive but there are ways to fully enjoy the town even if you have a budget. Let me know if Positano is on your bucket list to visit!

x, Julie