The prettiest Amalfi Coast towns to visit

The legendary Amalfi Coast – La Costiera Amalfitana – is home to some of the most spectacular coastal scenery on earth, its craggy, twisted shoreline lapped by sparkling azure waters, its towering cliffs dotted with a string of impossibly pretty towns and villages, all linked by the SS163, the celebrated corniche road known as the Amalfi Coast Drive. Once a hard-to-reach backwater, the area was ‘discovered’ in the 1960s and endures as one of the most desirable destinations in Italy, adored in equal measure by celebs, TikTokers, day-trippers and romantics chasing the last, elusive echoes of la dolce vita.

In spite of the crowds, some of these towns remain relatively quiet and under the radar; Cetara, Montepertuso and Praiano, for example. Others are best enjoyed in the evenings once the day-trippers have left.

Getty Images

Nerano and Marina di Cantone

Just west of Positano and spilling over the hillside down to a shingle beach lapped by gin-clear water and backed by a string of bars and restaurants, Nerano is best accessed by sea. It’s a perfect spot for a relaxed day of swimming and sunning with the added draw of a handful of brilliant restaurants. Best known is Lo Scoglio, famous for its celeb-studded waterside terrace and delicious local food; this is one of the best places to sample spaghetti alla Nerano (with courgettes and provolone del Monaco cheese), although the recipe was invented by Maria Grazia at the eponymous trattoria along the beach. If fine dining is your thing, you can’t do much better than Quattro Passi up the hill, where Fabrizio Mellino (who headed up the kitchen at Jeff Bezos’ nuptials) has earned three Michelin stars for his brilliant, elevated take on the local cuisine.