Positano
Bonjourno! Summer is at an end but I’m still declaring lemon everything because, well… Positano has made its way into my soul. This was my third time to Italy but first time to the Amalfi Coast and hot damn, it was everything I dreamed it would be. My childhood best friend and I decided that even if we’re the only two people who can make it happen financially, time-wise, etc. we’d still do it no matter what. I hope everyone has a Baylee they can call a friend and travel with. She is present and truly sees the magic in even the smallest of moments and it’s the kind of joy and energy you always want to be around, but especially when venturing to somewhere new. I wouldn’t have wanted to experience this trip with anyone else in any other way!
Most trips I’ve been on have been hopping around and trying to see as much as possible within a short amount of time. I decided to take a different route with this trip and just simply do one place and man, am I glad I did. I didn’t have to worry about details of transportation between cities, time spent moving around and in between different places, and I felt like the week I was there truly felt like a week. I allowed myself to unwind and feel completely relaxed. I believe as I’m getting older and gaining more experience traveling, I’m giving myself more room to do trips like this and it feels like I’m *growing up* y’all.
Onto the deets! Let me put this out there first: this was, by absolute definition, a perfect trip. However, we had one hitch that was resolved fairly quickly but it wouldn’t be traveling without any hiccups and learned lessons. Here is now my #1 piece of travel advice: BUY. AN. AIRTAG. They’re $29 from Apple and worth every cent. It’s no secret that Europe especially has been experiencing issues for months with their luggage system. Amongst the cities that have been having the worst time, Naples wasn’t one of them. But out of an abundance of caution, we both bought Airtags and continued on! Our very tight layover in Paris just before Naples confirmed my absolute hatred for the CDG airport. If you know, you know. Moments before taking off, we noticed our bags were in the vicinity of the plane and even the flight attendants said we would be waiting a few more minutes as they were loading more bags. Fabulous. Great. No problem. We’re good.
We land, gather ‘round the carousel, and… our bags are nowhere in sight. We check the location aaand they are indeed still at the Paris airport. I’ve never dealt with lost / delayed luggage so we were experiencing a first, y’all! After filling out paperwork in line with many other people, we were told the bags are coming in on the next flight in from Paris that evening and the courier service provided by the airport will deliver our bags to our hotel in Positano (with no traffic, Naples to Positano is a little over an hour). Luckily, my carry on had a couple extra t-shirts, a pair of jeans, toothbrush, etc. Fabulous. Great. No problem. We’re good.
We arrive to our awesome hotel… BIG shoutout to Hotel L’Ancora as they were so incredibly kind and helpful as we navigated this situation and were very accommodating. Before we fall asleep that night, we see that our bags indeed arrived to the Naples airport. Whew. We wake up Monday and see that they’ve made their way to what we assumed to be the courier service just outside of the airport. Relief! It’s so close! We didn’t have any plans for Monday, just settling in and walking around, getting a feel for where we were at. The day goes on and no movement. We emailed the airport services and asked if we could get any contact information for the courier service. The response was generic with no answers to our questions. Now what? We asked our hotel manager to call and see if they can give him any further information and was told “tomorrow.” Tomorrow?! Tomorrow is when we were taking a boat day to Capri which we needed our bathing suits for. Which is in our luggage. In Naples. An hour away. So. Close.
Frustration now bubbling, we took many deep breaths and decided to go buy what we needed for the next 24 hours as the airline has to compensate you for the money you spend while you don’t have your luggage. We also bought a large helping of gelato as we decided at this point: we deserve it. Tuesday morning comes and we chose to just enjoy our day on the boat, revel in our private tour, and will deal with whatever the circumstances are whenever we come back.
We come back to our hotel late afternoon and our bags STILL! have not moved. And we’re done. Not fabulous. Not great. Many problems. We’re not good. Our hotel manager offered their transfer service that we used to initially arrive in Positano and said we could retrieve our bags that way. Because of our *AIRTAGS* we knew the exact location of where our bags were. If we didn’t have those, we would have no clue where our luggage was. Our driver knew the manager of that courier service, made a quick call, and confirmed we could pick up our stuff. Actual relief! There’s no telling when we would’ve gotten our bags and we certainly weren’t factoring in making another run to Naples, but 48 hours after arriving in Italy, we had our belongings and were ready to truly kick off this trip. A quick change when we got back in Positano and we were offer to a late dinner at the one and only Chez Black.
Actual tears in my eyes upon receiving our bags FINALLY
And then found bliss a couple hours later
Alright, that’s out of the way. Let’s get into all the good things. I mentioned the amazing Hotel L’Ancora! Booking flights, looking at restaurants and things to do was no problem and didn’t take much time. But where we were staying I wanted to get just right. A quick note for everyone: Positano ain’t cheap. We knew this, we accepted this. I went back and forth with hotels and Airbnb’s forever. I don’t think I’ve ever had this much of a hard time deciding between the two. However, Airbnb’s kinda suck these days as their fees are so ridiculously high. I knew I was rolling the dice with wherever we were at because all of the reviews had one thing in common: stairs. It was difficult to tell how many from each place I looked at, but as I was going through my exhausted, final search of hotels… I found her. The only room left at Hotel L’Ancora for our dates was the family junior suite so baby, we had ROOM 😂 Two things really won me over for this place. No wait… three. One: The location. This was in THEE location. Next door to the coveted and wildly expensive Le Sirenuse and a 10 minute walk down to the main beach in Positano. Our balcony had primetime viewing of the ocean and hillside. Two: The transfer service. Yes, you remember! The one that saved us. They picked us up from the airport and made a last minute hero move with a second trip to obtain our luggage. Perhaps cheaper services that bring you to your hotel is usually with other people and you make several stops and we simply didn’t want to do that. Three: Breakfast was included! Their buffet had a decent variety every morning on their covered patio and gave you more and more views. No need to go searching for food in the a.m.!
Our day in Capri. If you recall, this was sans our normal outfits / bathing suits we packed, but we were side-barring that and intended to have a blast and a blast we had. We booked private with Exclusive Cruises through Tripadvisor and our skipper Antonio was awesome. I’ve been on many excursions and boat tours when you’re packed in with so many other people and it’s more difficult to have space to relax and get the pictures and videos you’re wanting. I highly recommend booking private for an all day cruise like this. You get to customize how long you spend in certain places, if you want to skip something, etc. without feeling any pressure. Antonio brought us to different swimming spots in caves and grottos in the most refreshing, blue water all with a Dean Martin and ABBA heavy playlist playing in the background. We hopped off and walked around Capri and indulged in more time in the water. Our lunch was at Il Cantuccio on Marina del Cantone and our dinner was at the aforementioned Chez Black… and we gotta chat about it.
We did what most people do when they travel: we search endlessly on Instagram and Tik Tok for the best / coolest places to eat. Chez Black had come up numerous times so it was at the top of our list to go. Friends let me tell you… we went not once. Not twice. Three times. It was that good. Besides their wide variety (and ok OK their very sweet and flirtatious waiters), the atmosphere was *chef’s kiss*. I am still thinking about the pesto linguine absolutely smothered in cheese. Unbeknownst to us, this was apparently the spot for A list celebrities when they visit. We, very sadly, missed Denzel Washington by one night. Tragic.
The following day was spent at Arienzo Beach Club. We learned quickly there are 3 main things you do in Positano: go to a beach club, do a boat excursion, and eat. I had seen Arienzo on pretty much everything I searched for pertaining to Positano so it was a given. The cool part about this private beach club was that the chair you rent for the day also includes your lunch and drinks. Score. They offer a complimentary pick-up and drop-off boat service so our 5 minute ride was quick and easy. This day was more swimming, caprese, lemon ravioli, cocktails, and reading. Couldn’t ask for more!
On Thursday, we were on the hunt for a pool but alas the only ones around were at other hotels that you had to be guests at. Fret not, we booked a couple chairs on the main beach in Positano and had a very similar day than the one before. Sandwiches, reading, Uno, and relaxing. That evening was our last planned excursion which was a sunset cruise booked through Grassi Junior. Our skipper Clem showed us some cool little spots to swim around Praiano and peacefully watched the sun go down with a glass of Prosecco in our hands. In my experience, sunset cruises are so worth it. This was another one we booked private but since it was only for about an hour and a half, was much cheaper than our full day in Capri. Grassi Junior was great because we got to choose what kind of boat we wanted!
Our last day in Positano included one last breakfast at our hotel and last minute shopping and picture taking around town. Our flight out of Naples was early the next morning so we opted to get an Airbnb in Naples for our last night. We used a normal shuttle service (our spendings on anything private was over) to make our way to Naples with a late night glorious pizza + wine, a short sleep, and then headed home. Our luggage did in fact make it back with us without any issue. Wild.
I told myself after not leaving the country for the last few years that I really wanted to go somewhere in 2022 and for it to be somewhere big that I’ve always wanted to go to. I’m glad I didn’t just let time pass by and let other things determine what I really wanted to do. I would’ve saved money had I stayed home, but I also wouldn’t have this incredible experience that’s now taken up room in my heart. As stressful as it was dealing with our bags, I’m weirdly grateful that it pushed me to learn how to figure out something hard in somewhere that wasn’t my comfort zone. Those situations help us evolve and isn’t that the point, really?
Destination Recommendations for Positano are here and… did I mention buying an Airtag? Heeere you go.
“Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone.”
— John Steinbeck
