Hiking the Amalfi Coast was pretty high up on Ken’s ‘to-do’ while in Positano. There is so much pristine coastline to hike that there are people who hire guides and make an entire trip out of hiking from seaside town to seaside town. Ken and I? We indulged in an adventure that took the good part of a day.
‘The Path of the Gods’ was the trail Ken set his sights on. There are a ton of places on the coast where you can hook onto the trail. (Read all about them on Trip Advisor.) We took the bus just south out of Positano proper and climbed a staircase off the main road up to Nocelle, a tiny town clinging to the hillside with a direct connection to the trail. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend doing what we did as it wasn’t just a few stairs. It was 800 stairs. Yep, and we were pretty darn exhausted by the time we reached Nocelle, and we hadn’t even made it to the “hike.” Nonetheless we had fun with it, and there was a stand at the top of those 800 stairs selling freshly squeezed orange juice using oranges the owner had grown in his garden. Molto buono.
Once you make it to Nocelle, it’s a quick pass through town, and then you’ll come to the trail head. We hiked about an hour and a half towards Praiano, found a good spot to perch, took in the views, ate the little lunch we’d packed and turned around and headed back to Positano. The path itself is pretty mild and easy to hike as it’s very well marked and there are wooden guardrails everywhere. The views of the sea and sky from the path are what dreams are made of, so I wouldn’t pass up the chance to hike on the Amalfi Coast. However, rather than taking the stairs from Positano like we did, I think you’d be better served catching a bus to either Nocelle or Ravello for a similar hiking experience sans hundreds of stairs!
What to bring on a day hike:
- Cash or coins for bus fare and freshly squeezed orange juice if you hike through Nocelle.
- Sunscreen. You’ll sweat off the layer you applied when you got ready in the morning within the 1st half hour.
- I suppose hiking or tennis shoes are ideal, but since we packed light, I wore my Madewell Sightseer Sandals and they were champs.
- Camera. The views are unreal, and you don’t want to miss capturing them for a raining day when you get back home and need a pick-me-up!
- Water bottle + snack. I think this one is self-explanatory.
