Naples & Amalfi
Why go?
The Amalfi coast is simply breathtaking – you have to see it
once in your life, preferably with a loved one, and ideally on your
honeymoon (if it's not too late, or early, for that). Craggy
mountains, whose lower slopes are painstakingly terraced with lemon
groves, or dotted with gravity-defying villages, fall sheer into
seas which are fringed with needle-like rockstacks and implausibly
clear waters. Granted, it is expensive and crowded, especially in
midsummer, and can feel a little desolate out of season, but if you
get it on a clear, warm spring or autumn day (and there are plenty
of these), its dizzying seascapes, picturesque towns and ubiquitous
scent of lemons will remain with you for years to come.
Naples is the perfect counterbalance - vibrant, colourful, packed
with world-class art and architecture - and a worthwhile city break
in its own right. It's also a good base for exploring the uniquely
preserved Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and scaling the
(still active) volcano which destroyed them, Vesuvius.