Where to STAY on Amalfi Coast Italy ? Positano Amalfi Sorrento or Naples | Low, Mid & High Budget

From Naples to Sorrento to Positano to Amalfi and many places in between, the region is a hotbed of UNESCO World Heritage Sites with millions of visitors every year. Now the question comes, where do you stay? This is a unique area where the experience along the coast can really vary and the price of a Margherita tripling from one location to another. In this video we'll give you a breakdown of the top four locations to stay on Amalfi coast and share their pros and cons so you can plan the perfect trip for you. I am Ash, I'm Raghav and we are the Brown Experts. Our first location on the list is Naples with its airport connecting budget flights to various European destinations and the city being only two hours train from Rome. Naples is usually the first stop for many people visiting southern Italy and is an excellent springboard to explore Naples, Pompeii and villages along the Amalfi coast. For our trip we chose to spend our first three days in Naples and found it to be quite accessible with walking the historical narrow streets or using the well-connected metro system. Naples has a unique charm with the chaotic streets and an urban jungle it felt like a contrast to some of the other places we had visited in Italy. Now you might say why spend three days here? Well if you love pizza like we do then this place is heaven. Here you can have an authentic Neapolitan pizza for under five euros made with locally sourced ingredients by Pisolis who have mastered the craft of making these perfectly cooked pizzas within five minutes in a 400 degree celsius oven. Apart from the pizzas there is other dishes to be had such as a Capri salad, various pasta dishes, those Fogliatella pastries which we thoroughly enjoyed and then ending our perfect meal with gelato ice cream. Our personal favorite flavors were a combination of coffee and dark chocolate which was absolute heaven. Apart from the food there is plenty more to do in Naples. One of the first things on our list was visiting the which houses ancient artifacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum offering a vivid glimpse into ancient Roman life. Our top tip here is that the museums are free on every first Sunday of the month otherwise tickets can cost 22 euros per person so if you can try planning your trip dates to include first Sunday of the month. We also did a day trip to Pompeii. The entry ticket to the famous ruins costed 22 euros per person a total bargain given how well the ruins are preserved. There are free activities in Naples that you can consider doing such as walking around the Spanish neighborhood and really taking in the atmosphere. You might stumble upon places like San Felice palace which has fascinating architecture and find some amazing street art in the neighborhood that you can admire for free. For accommodation we chose to stay at an Airbnb in the center which costed us roughly 100 euros per night. It offered plenty of space and easy walk to the major attractions. There are many pros of staying in Naples but there are also few disadvantages. The first is that it's the largest city in Italy so there are some streets that are dirty in terms of rubbish and has unpleasant odour. Second due to economic challenges crowded streets and high tourist traffic pickpocketing is a common problem in Naples so something you need to watch out for and the third is that in Naples it is easy to encounter many unethical taxi drivers who given the chance will scam tourists so something also keep in mind and confirm fare before starting your ride. So given Naples easy access cheap food accommodation and transport also from zero to low cost activities this is a great location for those who want authentic Italian experience without paying the high price. This is why Naples makes a great low budget option for a place to stay near Amalfi coast. The second location on our list is Positano the poster child of Amalfi coast. For many Positano is the place to be when visiting the area with many choosing to go directly from the Naples airport to this cliffside town and spending their whole trip here but many people get caught out by how expensive this town can really get. For accommodation there are some fantastic high-end boutique hotels if you're after a luxury experience offering breathtaking views of the surrounding cliffs such as Hotel Poseidon. A night here ranges from 400 euros during low season to as high as 1200 euros during the high season. For our visit we chose to stay at this bed and breakfast hotel costing us 230 euros per night. We found it difficult to find anything lower than this especially with such scenic views of Positano. For activities you can explore the many boutique shops in town selling Positano's own unique fashion style called Moda Positano featuring handmade clothing, sandals and accessories that reflect the relaxed beachy vibe of the Amalfi coast. You can consider exploring the town and its Santa Maria church, renting a boat or simply relaxing on the beach. Talking about the beach there's a small section that can be accessed for free by the Rest of Positano's main beach is private where a pair of sun loungers can cost 80 euros which happened to put them in the list of Europe's most expensive sun loungers. Coming to food, Positano is also known for its lemon delicacies and our favorite of this area was the lemon granita an earliest form of gelato in Italy. This is served in an actual frozen lemon which is very refreshing for a hot day. This costed us 7 euros. During our stay this popular family restaurant Saraceno became one of our go-to place to eat meals at. They are regarded as having the best business in Positano which was our experience as well with a Margherita costing 14 euros for reference. Given Positano's tourist reputation we found an average meal here to cost roughly 30 to 40 euros per person. As for the negatives the biggest difference we noticed to other areas was the crowd. From the photos on social media it's easy to miss how given its small size and its popularity how busy Positano can get. During our visit in May we started to see this already. This also leads to a significant difference in price compared to other locations in surrounding area so if you're planning to do Positano on a budget do a lot of research and consider staying in other towns nearby such as the one we will mention in this video. Hence given the prices for everything we give Positano a high budget recommendation. Next on our list is Sorrento. Though this resort town is not part of the Amalfi coast but given its excellent connections to Amalfi towns through both bus and its ferry port as well as its train station connecting Naples and Pompeii Sorrento has become a popular spot for visitors. For accessibility like Naples we found this area to be quite easy to get around by walking. To get to Sorrento we took the ferry from Naples but you can also take the direct train to get here. For food we found an amazing restaurant here which is called La Catanaccio del Popolo where we not only saw tourists but also locals queue up outside for hours to get a table. It offered great customer service and decent prices for delicious food. We paid roughly 15 to 20 euros per person for a meal. Despite its long queues we kept going back every day for lunch and dinner. We highly recommend this place if you want to try some of the best pasta in the region. Compared to the smaller villages of Amalfi coast we found Sorrento to have more options for accommodation including many five-star resorts. We decided to stay in which costed us 380 euros per night. However this is on the higher side of the price range offering live music, private beach and swimming pool. There are also many reasonably priced accommodations in this area ranging from 100 euros per night. For activities Sorrento has a scenic town square with loads of souvenir and handicraft shops and given Sorrento's location is a great launch pad to plan day trips into other popular towns on the Amalfi coast and islands like Capri. During our stay we took both local buses and ferries to get to towns like Positano and Amalfi with buses costing us under 3 euros per person and ferry 30 euros per person. The bus journey itself is considered one of the world's most scenic bus rides and not only you gain respect for the Italian engineers who built the road but also respect for the bus drivers driving here. You can also sign up for farm and food experiences like pizza or pasta making classes, wine tasting tours. We highly recommend these to those who want to learn a bit more about the local produce and cooking methods. Like I already mentioned it's a great launch pad to get to other big attractions like Mount Vesuvius or other parts of Amalfi coast but that also means you will be spending extra time during the day and money on the travel to these places. As a side note over the course of our trip we had better experience with traveling by ferry versus taking the local buses. Provided the cost range for food accommodation and activities we believe Sorrento is a great location for a mid-budget trip and perfect for those who want to cover majority of the Amalfi coast given its frequent ferry and bus routes to other parts of Amalfi. Our last location is Amalfi, the town the coast is named after. Though very popular due to there being many options for restaurants and street food and a lot more locals living in Amalfi than Positano we found the prices to be comparatively lower with the margarita costing around 8 euros for reference and average meal costing 25 euros per person. To get to Amalfi buses are the most common option but since this town is on everybody's list and connects to other places like Rovello the buses can get very crowded with visitors traveling from other towns. We ended up waiting for an hour to get to the next bus as the bus we were going to take was already full but once you're in the town it's pretty easy to walk around and explore. In terms of activities we enjoyed visiting the cathedral which seemed so grand for such a small town. It also gave insights into Amalfi's past glory. The other popular thing to do in Amalfi is obviously relaxing on the beach which we found to be much better than the one in Positano. As for accommodation our typical Airbnb starts for 150 euros a night whereas hotels can be anything from 300 euros. Amalfi is a great destination and in our experience a bit more affordable and you get a bit more authentic experience with many locals around. Given the prices for food and accommodation as well as getting here we give it a high budget recommendation. Let us know if you found this video useful or if you recommend any other areas. To see detailed hotel tours of the accommodation we stayed at see links in the description below. Thanks for watching!