For our big Summer 2023 vacation, my husband and I went to Italy for our second time together. I typically don’t want to return to places I’ve already been to because there’s so much I want to see, but I wanted to experience some different areas on a more romantic trip with my husband. The first time we went was actually 7 years ago with my husband’s family, where we got to see Rome, Florence, and the Amalfi Coast. Our planned itinerary for this trip was 2 nights in Lake Como, three nights in Amalfi, and three nights in Capri.
Lake Como
For a while, I went back and forth deciding on when we would visit each place. I ultimately decided on Lake Como first since we flew into Milan and could get there the quickest. I worried that flying further south to the coast would make us lose too much of the day to travel and I wouldn’t be able to make the most of our time there. Our time in Como is detailed in my Two Days in Lake Como blog post, so I won’t go into as much detail here.
We stayed in an Airbnb in Como, which is the largest city on the lake and sits at the bottom tip. The first day there we spent wandering around the city before our dinner reservation. There’s so many cute shops and restaurants to sit at for an aperitif! Our dinner at Bistrot Figli dei Fiori was absolutely amazing and I highly recommend making a reservation if you ever find yourself in Como.
The next day in Como was spent mostly on a boat with a private tour of the lake with “Lake Como For You.” We were picked up at the local docks in Como in a stunning wooden boat with a boat captain and our lovely tour guide. We were able to see all of the hot spots on the Lake including Villa Balbianello, the waterfall in Bellano, and Bellagio. I highly recommend splurging on a private boat tour, especially if you’re short on time and want to make the most of it!
After our boat tour, we took the funicular up to the village of Brunate for some amazing views. The car can get very crowded and there wasn’t a ton to do while in the village, so I don’t think this is a must-do if you don’t have the time. We sat at a restaurant for a drink while taking in the views, then made our way back down. Since I didn’t make any reservations for this night, my husband found us a delicious pizza place called l’ideale Pizza Contemporanea & Bistrot. It was amazing and perfect for a casual dinner after a long day.
Early the next morning, our driver picked us up in Como and brought us back to MXP for our quick flight to Naples.
Amalfi
This was the part of the trip I was most excited for. My husband and I loved the Amalfi Coast the last time we were in Italy and couldn’t wait to get back! Last time we were there, we stayed in an airbnb in Praiano just outside of Positano. This time, we splurged on the oh-so amazing Hotel Santa Caterina in Amalfi.
A driver from the hotel picked us up at the Naples airport and we made our way through the winding roads to Amalfi. We got to the hotel pretty early around noon but they kindly let us check-in. Everything about this hotel is stunning from the moment you walk in.
We booked the side sea view room but ended up with a very large patio off the side of our room with a front view of the water. I think I was too excited and don’t remember if we were upgraded or not but this seemed to be a better room than we were expecting. After setting our stuff down in the room we made our way to the famous beach club that made me this hotel a must-do for me!
It’s not very common for hotels on the Amalfi coast to have direct water access, so I was very excited for the beach club. When you walk down the steps (after taking an elevator) an attendant gets your seats and umbrella set up for you. We never had an issue getting chairs by the water despite not being very early risers. Two days were spent lounging at the beach club and I could’ve done it for even longer. A rossini to drink and pizza for lunch by water and I was a very happy girl!
Our meals were all nothing short of amazing. Our first night was spent at Da Ciccio, a family-owned restaurant in Amalfi. We included in our reservation where we were staying and one of the brothers picked us up from the hotel. When we first arrived they had us enjoy a cocktail out on their balcony, taking in the amazing views. Dinner lasted quite a while because the whole meal is an experience with multiple courses. They’re well known for their spaghetti with clams baked in parchment paper, and it did not disappoint. This is a pretty seafood heavy meal, which surprisingly my husband (who is kind of iffy on seafood sometimes) loved!
Our second meal in Amalfi was at Santa Caterina’s Michelin starred restaurant Glicine after a pre-dinner drink at Bar La Terrazza. This was another multi-course meal that honestly may have been the best meal we’ve ever had. It was not cheap, but certainly worth every penny.
For our third day, we ventured over to Positano via ferry. Santa Caterina provides drop-off and pick-up to town which made getting over to the port a breeze. The ferries are a little chaotic, but it’s a pretty easy option to get to and from other towns on the coast. We made a reservation for La Scogliera beach club for a home base to keep our stuff and enjoy beautiful Positano. This provided us with a daybed, umbrella, a table, and towels for us to use. After arriving, we hung out at our daybed with some drinks before it was time for our reservation at Da Vincenzo. This was a great meal and I recommend checking it out, but we had to walk pretty far and I was quite literally dripping in sweat when we arrived. If I were to do this again, I think I’d go somewhere closer or just eat at the beach club. We left with enough time to catch the last, very crowded ferry back to Amalfi.
When we arrived back to the hotel from Positano, we ordered room service and enjoyed the beautiful balcony in our robes. Staying at Hotel Santa Caterina was our absolute favorite part of this trip and I’m already determined to come back some day. I always like to check out new places, but I told my husband that this is the first hotel I feel very strongly about coming back to. I can’t think of anything I would change about it!
Capri
We packed up our stuff and shuttled to the Amalfi port so that we could take a ferry to our last destination. We made a mistake here thinking the ferries were more frequent than they were and ended up waiting quite a while for the next one. They go to Positano pretty often so we assumed it would be like that for Capri. Learn from our mistake and review the shuttle schedule online ahead of time!
I had seen on social media and blogs that Capri is totally different when you stay there versus taking a boat for the day. When we were last in Italy, we did a boat tour that brought us to Capri and it was one of our favorite days of the trip. Because of these two factors, I originally booked 3 nights in Capri at a 4-star hotel I won’t share the name of. Let’s just say that I completely disagree with this sentiment and think a day trip or 1 night is plenty.
Before I get into what we did like about Capri, I’ll share what we didn’t. It’s a very small island only accessible by boat, so we ran out of things we wanted to do very quickly. Our hotel was also a big factor in us not loving our stay. This hotel was recommended on another travel blog and since it’s 4-stars I expected only good things. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case. Our bed was rock hard and because of the way the hotel is set on a cliff the rooms are under the dining area. This led to us hearing EVERYTHING from silverware falling, chairs scraping the floor, ice being dispensed, etc. It was awful for someone who is a light sleeper and takes her sleep very seriously. They had a shuttle to where the restaurants and shops are, which was nice but it took SO long due to limited space and added so much time to anything we wanted to do. For the first time in my life, I checked out of a hotel early. I was planning on just letting the cost of our last night go but they refunded it after I (politely) brought up my frustrations.
I hate to be negative, but I wanted to get that out of the way in the hopes that it helps someone. There is still plenty I loved about Capri!
Starting with our first day, we arrived later than I had hoped and missed our first day of our La Fontelina reservation. We instead wandered around the shops until it was time for our dinner reservation at Villa Brunella. Since we were worried about getting lost we actually arrived early and they let us enjoy some drinks and snacks in their lobby (it’s part of a hotel). We had a wonderful dinner and I was able to try the ravioli alla caprese Capri is known for. After dinner we just made our way back to the hotel since it had been a long day of walking and moving around.
For our second day we made the long journey on foot to La Fontelina, the famous beach club. There’s a boat that will take you here not far from where our hotel was but we had no clue where it was and didn’t have any cash. The quirky thing about La Fontelina is that you need to make a reservation for three days, but you don’t necessarily need to show up for all three. We missed our first day due to delays getting to Capri, and we missed our third day due to leaving early. Thankfully, there weren’t any financial consequences to doing it this way.
We enjoyed hanging out with some drinks and going for quick swims in the freezing (to me) Mediterranean Sea. While I’m glad we got to experience this, I think it’s a tad overrated. It took a long time to be acknowledged by the staff and get drinks and our lunch was just ok.
Our last dinner in Capri was spent at Da Gelsomina in Anacapri. There’s a shuttle that you can call ahead to pick you up from the center of Anacapri up to this gorgeous restaurant on the hill. The views alone made this restaurant worth it and we enjoyed some delicious ravioli alla caprese and wine.
After getting back from dinner, we sat there and debated what we wanted to do the next day. We didn’t feel passionately about going back to La Fontelina and there was nothing else we felt we needed to see again. These factors, on top of the stress of getting from Capri to Milan for our flight back to the States all on the same day, influenced us to leave the following morning. We quickly packed up and took a ferry to Naples, then the train to Milan.
The train to Milan was easier than I expected and not a bad way to travel. Another mistake we made, however, was not having any food or cash with us. The attendants would come around with coffee, water, and a light snack but this wasn’t enough to hold us over for 5 hours. There are vending machines but they sadly only take cash.
I got us a hotel room for the night while on the train at the Crowne Plaza near Milano Centrale. It wasn’t anything special, but was actually quite nice and significantly more comfortable than our hotel in Capri. Once we arrived we set out to find some dinner and stumbled upon San Giorgio Ristorante Pizzeria. This meal was genuinely one of my favorites of our whole trip! We had fantastic pizza, pasta with burrata, and house wine for a very reasonable price.
We unfortunately didn’t have as much time as we hoped to explore Milan before we got on the Malpensa Express train to MXP. From what we saw, however, we thought Milan was cool and it reminded us of New York with so many young people out having fun.
In Conclusion
Overall we had the most wonderful time in Italy despite some of the mistakes we made. If I were to do this trip over, here is what I change:
- Increase the amount of time in Amalfi from 3 days to 4 days and arrive here first
- Decrease the amount of time on Capri to 1 night and stay at a more luxurious hotel
- Keep the same number of days in Lake Como, but change our accommodations from an Airbnb to a hotel. Also, put Lake Como towards the end of the trip so that it’s easy to get back to Milan
- Keep 1 night in Milan and get there early enough to explore
I hope you found this post helpful for a future trip to Italy!