Amalfi coast

Italy
19-23 October, 2015

Day hikes along the Amalfi coast, between Maiori and Positano. A romantic and spectacular area with excellent hiking. We stayed in a house above the village of Minori.

 

Day 1. Minori - Ravello - Atrani
 

We rented this house at the "Il Campanile" agrotourism.
The house wasn't accessible by car, which is common in this area.
 
 

The view from the campsite terrace near our house.
The town below is Minori and up on the hill lies Ravello.
 
 

The walk down from our house to Minori along a staircase passed this 11th century tower.
 
 

Stairs dominate the trails around the villages, usually next to walls or lemon groves.
 
 

At the Minori beach. Our house was half-way up on the ridge to the right.
 
 

Minori beach
 
 

The streets in these towns are often very narrow and sometimes tunnels.
 
 

The path towards Ravello passed several churches.
 
 

Getting close to Torello, a tiny village below Ravello.
 
 

Torello
 
 

The path passing another old church
 
 

 
 
 

Having a coffee on the main square in Ravello
 
 

Ravello main square again
 
 

Ravello was expensive and fancy, with many five star hotels.
It was more green than the other towns we visited, and many
houses looked like palaces.
 
 

View towards Pontone village (and Pogerola further away in the distance)
shortly before the Villa Cimbrone
 
 

Villa Cimbrone
 
 

View from the terrace in the villa garden
 
 

Descending from Ravello
 
 

We found a small path through chestnut groves.
 
 

 
 
 

Entering the Drogone valley
 
 

Reaching Atrani town
 
 

Plenty of caves in the area
 
 

Atrani was perhaps the most exotic town, like a pirate's nest.
The streets were very narrow, often tunnels.
 
 

The main square in Atrani. The street to the left is probably the largest "road" in the village :)
 
 

The church in Atrani, seen from the bus stop
 
 

One last view of the packed town of Atrani
 
 

Day 2. Minori - Maiori
 

A bit of a rainy day. Instead of doing a longer hike, we just walked to the neighboring town of Maiori.
This was a pleasant route, very easy to walk with almost no elevation difference.
 

Minori from above
 
 

View into the Sambuco valley behind Minori
 
 

Olives
 
 

View of Maiori
 
 

We found a very good trattoria in Maiori
 
 

Finn enjoyed the playground while waiting for the bus.
Most places that sold bus tickets were closed. The only open place we found was out of tickets. So we took a chance and jumped on the bus without any ticket, since it was a short ride. Luckily we wasn't checked :)
 
 

Day 3: Mullini valley
 
 

We took the bus to Amalfi town, probably the most beautiful of the ones we visited.
 
 

We started ascending towards Pontone village.
 
 
 
 
 

Amalfi is really squeezed in between steep mountains and the sea.
 
 

View towards Amalfi from Pontone village.
 
 

In the outskirts of Pontone village
 
 

Entering the Ferriere valley
 
 

A surprisingly wild landscape in front of us
 
 

Starting to descend into the valley floor
 
 

We reached the valley floor at this ruin of an old mill.
Behind the mill was a couple of nice waterfalls.
 

 

We followd the stream back to Amalfi, passing several small waterfalls
 
 

 
 
 

We passed several ruins of old paper mills
 
 
Day 4: Sambuco valley
 
Pretty bad weather this day. Instead of doing the high walk around the Ferriere valley, we decided on the Sambuco valley. The latter route started at our house, so we could just as well give it a try in spite of the bad weather.
 

Through chestnut woods
 
 

It was really chestnut season :)
 
 

 
 
 

Here we saw a shepherd and his dogs came barking at us.
 
 

"Cyklamen" flowers
 
 
 
 
 

View of the valley from Sambuco village.
This felt like a genuine farming village, far from the tourist crowds of the coast.
 
 

Finn walked for about 90 minutes this day
 
 

Everything is interesting to investigate
 
 

Old mill ruins were plenty in this valley too.
 

 

Day 5: The path of the Gods
 

We saved the best for last, and the weather was finally sunny.
This is by far the most popular and famous trail on the Amalfi coast.
And rightly so, because the views were the best we saw on the entire trip.
 

Descending from the Agerola plateu
 
 

Centuries old rock dwellings
 
 
 
 
 

An interesting rock pillar, split at the top
 
 

Houses above the rock walls that were full of caves
 
 
 
 
 
 

Finn playing with rocks
 
 

After Colle della sera, we reached this fountain and suddenly
the classic view of the coastline opened up for us.
 
 

These views are why "The path of the Gods" is so famous
 
 
 
 
 

Having a snack break
 
 

Getting a bit too steep on the side of the path to let Finn walk by himself :)
 
 

Another rock dwelling
 
 

First view of Positano town
 
 

Positano is built on an incredibly steep slope :)
 
 

First view of Nocelle village, the goal of the hike
 
 
 
 
 

Getting close to Nocelle
 
 

View back to where we came from
 
 

Finally reaching Nocelle
 
 

A pretty nice roof terrace in Nocelle :)

We took a bus down to Positano from here.