The Amalfi Coast and Bay of Naples: A Deep Dive
There are few stretches of European coast where the chart and the postcard agree so completely as the Bay of Naples and the Costiera Amalfitana. Vesuvius broods over the gulf, the towns of Positano and Amalfi spill down their ravines in pastel terraces, and the water off Capri turns a luminous blue under the limestone stacks. Yet for a sailor this is demanding cruising: deep water close to the cliffs, few all-weather harbours, marinas that fill weeks ahead in August, and a sea that can turn rough in an afternoon when the libeccio rolls up from the southwest. This is how the week actually works from the cockpit.
The shape of the cruise
The natural one-week loop starts and ends in the Bay of Naples and swings south to the Amalfi coast, with the islands as bookends. A workable rhythm is Naples or Salerno as the base, then Capri, Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi, and Ischia or Procida on the return. Distances are short — rarely more than 20 nautical miles between stops — so the constraint is never the sailing but the berth. The Amalfi coast has almost no natural shelter, so plan each night around a confirmed marina or a settled forecast, and treat the anchorages as daytime stops rather than guaranteed beds.
Capri: the Faraglioni and the morning window
Capri is the centrepiece and the trap. The Marina Grande on the north side is the only harbour, small and chaotic, with the hydrofoils thrashing in and out and berths that must be booked far ahead in season. Most yachts anchor instead off the Faraglioni stacks on the southeast corner or in the lee of the island depending on wind, but the holding is patchy over rock and the swell wraps around relentlessly. The trick is timing: be off the Blue Grotto and the Faraglioni early, before the day-tripper armada arrives from Naples and Sorrento around 10:00, and move to a sheltered side for lunch. The water under the stacks is genuinely worth the effort, but never leave the boat unattended at anchor here.
Sorrento and the Punta Campanella
Across the channel, Sorrento sits on its tufa cliff above two small marinas, Marina Piccola and Marina Grande, both tight and best reserved. The headland of Punta Campanella, the tip of the peninsula that separates the Bay of Naples from the Gulf of Salerno, is a marine protected area with anchoring restrictions and a famous tidal race when wind meets current through the Bocca Piccola channel to Capri. Round it with respect, ideally near slack water and with an eye on the forecast, because this is the gateway to the Amalfi coast proper and the first place the southwesterly swell makes itself felt.
The Amalfi towns: Positano, Amalfi, Cetara
South of Punta Campanella the cliffs rise sheer and the famous towns appear one by one. Positano has a buoy field and a daytime anchorage off the beach, deep and exposed, fine in settled weather and untenable in any southerly. Amalfi itself has a small marina, the Marina Coppola, and a harbour wall, but space is scarce and the town is besieged in summer. Further east, the fishing village of Cetara — still a working anchovy and tuna port, source of the famed colatura di alici — is quieter and more authentic. The honest advice is to use these as lunch stops and sleep in a real harbour: Salerno to the east or Marina di Stabia to the north both offer reliable berths within easy reach.
Salerno, the eastern anchor
Salerno is the underrated key to the week. Its large port and the Marina d'Arechi just south give the only genuinely secure, large-capacity shelter at the eastern end of the Amalfi coast, with fuel, water, chandlery and a railway station for crew changes. From Salerno you can day-sail the whole Costiera westward to Amalfi and Positano and return to a safe berth each evening, which is far less stressful than chasing scarce marina space along the cliffs. The Greek temples of Paestum lie a short way south for a layover day, and the city itself has a lively, unpolished waterfront that the tourist towns lack.
Ischia and Procida: the volcanic islands
On the return leg the two western islands reward the detour. Ischia, the larger, is volcanic and green, ringed with thermal springs; the harbours of Ischia Porto, a flooded crater, and the picturesque Forio and Sant'Angelo on the south coast give several berthing options, and the Castello Aragonese on its islet is one of the great sights of the gulf. Procida, tiny and far less developed, is the photographer's island — the pastel houses of the Marina Corricella tumbling to the water — with a small harbour at Marina Grande. Both sit closer to the mainland than Capri and make a gentler, less crowded end to the week before the run back into Naples.
Winds, weather and the August reality
The summer pattern is a thermal sea breeze that fills from the west or southwest late morning at 10-15 knots and eases at dusk, ideal for the short hops. The danger is the libeccio, the strong southwesterly that can build over a day and send swell straight onto the exposed Amalfi anchorages — when it is forecast, be in a sheltered harbour by afternoon. August brings heat above 30°C, a wall of charter and day-boat traffic, and marinas booked solid; June and September are far kinder, with sea temperatures still around 24-25°C and berths a fraction of the peak price. Check the forecasts daily against the Italian meteomar bulletins and never trust an open anchorage overnight on this coast.
Marinas, berths and budgeting
Reserve everything in high season. The premium berths — Marina Grande on Capri, Sorrento, the small Amalfi harbour — command some of the highest prices in the Mediterranean in August, several hundred euros a night for a 12-metre yacht, while Salerno, Marina di Stabia and the Ischia harbours are more reasonable and far easier to secure. Fuel and water are reliable in the mainland ports and on Ischia, thinner on Capri and in the Amalfi towns, so top up before the cliff coast. Anchoring is free where permitted but rarely secure overnight here; budget for marina nights and treat the famous anchorages as the daytime jewels they are.
Explore on the map
The Bay of Naples rewards planning by chart more than almost anywhere: the difference between a magical day under the Faraglioni and a sleepless rolly night is often a single forecast and twelve miles back to a safe wall. Open the interactive map to browse the marinas, harbours and anchorages from Capri to Salerno, and to see how Punta Campanella divides the two gulfs. Zoom into Italy on the map, trace the short legs between the islands and the Costiera, and build a week that keeps a secure berth always within reach.