Amalfi Coast & Capri

• Region: Tyrrhenian Sea, Gulf of Naples and Gulf of Salerno, Campania
• Scale: Naples to Capri about 17 nautical miles, Capri to Positano about 9, Amalfi to Salerno about 13
• Season: May to October, with the Italian peak concentrated on the two weeks around Ferragosto on 15 August
• Capri berthing: Marina Grande takes vessels to 60 m, depths 2 to 8 m, around 30 transit berths
• Mainland base: Marina d'Arechi at Salerno, 1,000 berths, a superyacht quay for boats from 32 m to 100 m, up to 7 m draft
• Anchoring: Punta Campanella marine protected area governs Nerano and the Bay of Ieranto, with zoned access and no free anchoring in zones B and C
• Anchoring window in the protected area: 08:00 to 20:00, clear of Posidonia and off the beach lines
• Capri assistance: the marina provides a diver free of charge for vessels over 30 m anchoring off, on 12 hours notice
• Air access: Naples Capodichino is slot-restricted, Salerno Costa d'Amalfi reopened to private jets on 11 July 2024 with a 2,000 m runway
• Defining weather risk: southerly and southwesterly swell, which closes the open anchorages within hours
• Jurisdiction: Italy, EU, Italian charter VAT and paperwork
• Blue Grotto access: small rowing boats only, and closed on any real swell

A thirty mile arc, worked by day

This is a small ground worked hard. Naples to Capri is about 17 nautical miles, Capri to Positano about nine, Positano to Amalfi five, and Amalfi to Salerno thirteen. Ischia and Procida sit 16 miles northwest of Capri. A yacht can cover the entire coast in a day and still stop three times.

A realistic week runs Salerno or Naples out to Capri for two nights on the mooring, a day off Nerano and the Bay of Ieranto, a night below Positano, a lunch stop at Conca dei Marini and the Furore inlet, then back to base. Two weeks needs more ground. The usual extensions are north to Ischia and Procida for a quieter three days, or south to the Cilento coast and across to the Aeolian Islands, which is an overnight run of about 130 miles from Salerno. Owners who try to fill a fortnight on the Amalfi Coast alone repeat themselves by day six.

The anchorages, and what each one is for

Off Capri the choice is dictated by wind. The northern shore off Marina Grande works in anything southerly, and the southern side under the Faraglioni works when the wind is in the north. The water is deep close in, so a large yacht drops in 25 to 40 metres with plenty of chain out. Nerano, at the tip of the Sorrentine peninsula, is the best-sheltered corner of the whole ground and the reason many crews plan around it.

On the mainland side, the anchorage below Positano is the picture everyone comes for and one of the least comfortable places to spend a night. The Li Galli islands two miles west are privately owned, quieter, and give clear water for a swim. Conca dei Marini and the Furore fjord are tender stops, not anchorages. The Bay of Ieranto is inside the Punta Campanella protected area and can only be entered by prior arrangement, with landing on foot from the trail. Amalfi town itself has a roadstead that is workable in settled weather.

There is almost nowhere to berth a large yacht on the Amalfi Coast, which is why the good plans all start on the mainland.

Berths at Capri, Salerno and Naples

Alongside space for a 50 metre yacht barely exists on this coast. Capri's Marina Grande caps out at 60 metres with depths from 2 to 8 metres and about 30 transit berths, and those go to a small circle of returning boats at rates that sit near the top of the world table in August. Anything larger lies off, and the marina will send a diver free of charge to supervise the anchor for vessels over 30 metres on twelve hours notice. Amalfi and Positano have no large-yacht berths at all.

The practical answer is a mainland contract. Marina d'Arechi at Salerno has around 1,000 berths, a dedicated superyacht quay taking 32 to 100 metres, and up to 7 metres of draft, and it is 13 miles from Amalfi. Naples offers Molo Luise and the Borgo Marinari basins, with the whole commercial port for bunkers and heavy work. Marina di Stabia at Castellammare is the third option and the closest to Sorrento. From any of the three, the coast is a day trip and the boat sleeps somewhere with power, water and a road.

The southerly swell decides the day

The temperature curve is easy and the sea state is not. May and early June are mild with water still cool for swimming. July and August are hot, with light thermal breezes and long calm mornings. September is the crew's favourite month, with warm water and thinning crowds, and October is pleasant ashore with a rising chance of a front.

The southerly decides the day. The Amalfi shore faces south and southwest with no protection at all, so a libeccio or a scirocco puts swell straight into Positano, Amalfi and the Faraglioni within a few hours. Anchorages that were glass at nine in the morning are untenable by two in the afternoon. The Blue Grotto closes on any real swell, which disappoints more guests than anything else on this coast. Crews here run a mental list of which bay works in which wind and move without being asked.

Ferragosto and the day-tripper economy

The fleet builds through June, is at full strength from the first week of July, and peaks brutally in the fortnight either side of Ferragosto on 15 August, when Italy takes its holiday and the domestic fleet arrives together. Capri in that fortnight is at capacity on the water and ashore. The Ravello Festival runs through the summer in the gardens of Villa Rufolo and pulls guests off the boats for evenings inland. September empties the coast steadily and the last two weeks are the best value of the year.

Two structural pressures shape the season. The first is the day-tripper economy, with fast ferries and tripper boats running continuously from Naples, Sorrento and Salerno into Capri, Positano and Amalfi from around eight in the morning. The second is Capri's own capacity, which the island has been openly debating for several seasons as visitor numbers and water supply have both come under strain. Both mean the shore experience between ten and five in high summer is crowded in a way the photographs never show.

Salerno's airport changed the logistics

Naples Capodichino is the main gateway and is heavily slot-restricted, which private aviation has complained about for years. Salerno Costa d'Amalfi reopened to private jets on 11 July 2024 after nearly eight years closed, with a runway extended to 2,000 metres that takes everything from very light jets to ultra long-range aircraft, and it sits minutes from Marina d'Arechi. That single change has made the Gulf of Salerno a far easier place to run guest rotations than it was.

Roads are the problem. The SS163 coast road between Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi is a single carriageway cut into the cliff, and in August a transfer that maps at forty minutes routinely takes two hours, with restrictions on when coaches and cars may run. Helicopter transfers to Capri, Ischia and the coastal pads are common and expensive. For anything on the water, the tender beats the car every time, and well-run boats simply never put guests in a vehicle on that road in high summer.

Nerano, Capri and the eating

The eating here is the best argument for the destination. Nerano is the pilgrimage, with Lo Scoglio and Maria Grazia both accessible by tender and both built around spaghetti alla Nerano and the local zucchini. On Capri, Il Riccio above the Blue Grotto holds a Michelin star, Da Paolino serves under a lemon grove, and La Fontelina and Da Luigi ai Faraglioni are beach clubs reached by tender or by a steep path. Da Adolfo west of Positano is a beach shack reached only by boat and it books out weeks ahead.

Inland, Ravello is the one excursion worth the car, with Villa Rufolo and Villa Cimbrone and their gardens on the clifftop, and its summer festival. The nightlife is thin by Riviera standards. Capri has the piazzetta, a handful of late bars and the Anema e Core taverna, and Positano closes early. Guests looking for clubs are in the wrong place.

Punta Campanella and the paperwork

The regulated water is the Punta Campanella marine protected area, which covers the tip of the Sorrentine peninsula including Nerano and Ieranto. It is zoned, free anchoring is prohibited in zones B and C, access to zone B needs authorisation from the managing authority, and anchoring where permitted runs from 08:00 to 20:00 and must be clear of Posidonia and set distances off the beaches. A set of extra restrictions the authority tried to impose on charter yachts, including permits, charges and mandatory active AIS, was struck down by the Campania regional administrative court in a ruling published in early 2025. The current ordinance is worth confirming before each season.

Italy is in the EU, and charter operations carry Italian VAT and a paperwork chain that no owner should attempt without a local agent. Support is concentrated on the mainland. Naples has the yards, the bunkering and the engineers, Salerno has the marina infrastructure, and Capri has neither in any meaningful sense. Provisioning is done from Naples or Salerno and run out by tender or by truck to the marina. Nothing technical gets fixed on the island.

The honest downside

This is a demanding coast to enjoy from a big boat. There is no berth, no shelter from the south, no support and no privacy, and in August the anchorage below Positano is a car park of yachts, tenders, tripper boats and jet skis with ferry wash crossing all of it. Tender operations are the hardest part, because the landing places are small public quays shared with commercial traffic and the beach clubs run tight arrival slots.

The other honest point is repetition. The famous sights are few and close together, and once a guest has seen Capri, Positano, the Faraglioni and Ravello, the coast has largely shown its hand. Owners who come back tend to do so for the food and for one particular anchorage, not for new ground. Anyone planning more than a week should build in Ischia, the Pontine islands or the Aeolians from the start.

Who it is for: An owner who will hold a berth at Salerno or Naples, cruise the famous coast by day, and treat a settled southerly forecast as the thing that decides the week.