Why this ride
Out of Sorrento, one way: 63 km, roughly 1 h 17 in the saddle. It goes by way of Positano, Praiano, Amalfi and Ravello junction. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Amalfi Coast Road
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 63 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 17
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Amalfi Coast Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 21 km this is Amalfi Coast Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 21 km
- Named road
- Amalfi Coast Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Sorrento
Sorrento sits on top of a cliff, and the whole town is aware of the drop. It lies on the northern side of the peninsula that separates the Bay of Naples from the Gulf of Salerno, about fifty metres above the water, with Vesuvius filling the view across the bay and the island of Capri visible from the headlands. Lemon groves, some of them netted against frost, cover the slopes behind the town, and the lemons are the foundation of limoncello, the sweet yellow liqueur that is sold in every shop. According to myth, this is the coast of the Sirens, who lured sailors onto the rocks with their singing.
Read the complete Sorrento write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sorrento is where the day begins. Next is Positano.
2. Positano
Positano is a town built on a staircase. Houses in pink, ochre and white pile up the steep hillside above a small, pebbly beach, so close together that they seem to hold each other up, and from the coast road above, the whole place looks like a painting hung on a cliff. It is the most photographed town on the Amalfi coast, and the view of it from the road, with the sea spread out below and the green-domed church at the bottom, is the reason for the stop.
Read the complete Positano write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Positano comes up 14 km in. Next is Praiano.
3. Praiano
Praiano gets the sunset that Positano hogs the postcards for. The village faces west, stacked up a cliff halfway between Positano and Amalfi, and in the evening the light drops behind the little islands of Li Galli and sets the water on fire while the people of the terraced bars hold their glasses and go quiet. It is a fishing village that has stayed more or less itself, with a tiny harbour at Marina di Praia tucked into a cleft in the rock, a church with a bright majolica dome, and houses climbing the hillside in tiers of pink, ochre and white. The whole Amalfi Coast is a UNESCO site, and Praiano is the part of it that feels least staged.
Read the complete Praiano write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
28 km in you reach Praiano. Next is Amalfi.
4. Amalfi
Amalfi was once the capital of a maritime republic that traded across the Mediterranean, and it is hard to believe, looking at the small, crowded town squeezed into a ravine at the water's edge. For a few centuries around the year 1000, it rivalled Pisa and Venice, with a fleet that sailed to Constantinople, Egypt and Syria, and a population many times larger than it has now. Its maritime laws, the Tabula Amalphitana, were respected in ports across the sea. A great earthquake and storm in the fourteenth century swept much of the old town into the sea, and Amalfi never regained its power.
Read the complete Amalfi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Amalfi, about halfway. Next is Ravello junction.
5. Ravello junction
Ravello sits so far above the Amalfi Coast that it feels like a different place entirely. Where the seaside towns are crowded onto ledges at the water's edge, Ravello perches on a ridge some three hundred and fifty metres up, in cooler air, with the sea a bright floor far below. In the Middle Ages it was a rich and proud town, part of the maritime republic of Amalfi, and the merchant families built palaces and gardens that are still the main attraction. Composers, writers and artists have come here for a century and a half, and Richard Wagner is said to have found the model for the magic garden of his opera Parsifal in the grounds of Villa Rufolo.
Read the complete Ravello junction write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ravello junction sits at 57 km, late in the day. Next is Vietri sul Mare.
6. Vietri sul Mare
Vietri sul Mare is where the Amalfi Coast begins, or ends, depending on which way you are riding, and the town marks the point with a cascade of colour. It stands on a steep slope at the eastern end of the Costiera, just beyond Salerno, and it is famous for ceramics. Painted tiles decorate the church domes, the benches and the house fronts, and the shops sell plates and jugs in blue, yellow and green. The craft goes back centuries, and in the early twentieth century German artists settled here and gave the local style a new life. Cava de' Tirreni, a proper town of nearly fifty thousand, is just up the hill, and Salerno is a few kilometres east, so supplies and fuel are easy.
Read the complete Vietri sul Mare write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 63 km.
Leg by leg
Sorrento to Positano
Sorrento → Positano is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Positano to Praiano
Positano → Praiano is 8 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Praiano to Amalfi
Praiano → Amalfi is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ravello junction to Vietri sul Mare
Ravello junction → Vietri sul Mare is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.