Salerno to Salerno

A 7-night crewed catamaran charter that starts and ends in Salerno, the quieter gateway to the Amalfi Coast: an hour from Naples airport, with a proper marina and none of the summer traffic that chokes the coast road. The route runs west along the cliffs to Amalfi and Positano, across to Capri, round to Ischia and Sorrento in the Bay of Naples, and back along the full length of the coast on the last day. Every leg is short, which is the point of doing this coast by catamaran: the hours are spent ashore in the towns, at anchor with the water toys out, or at a table on deck, not under way. Nights alternate between quiet anchorages and the harbours of Amalfi, Casamicciola and Sorrento. A crew of three, skipper, chef and hostess, handles the sailing, the meals, the moorings and the tender, so the week is yours.

Breakfast on board, then a short sail west along the cliffs to Amalfi, about an hour and a half with the coast on your right the whole way. We moor in the harbour of the old maritime republic, for centuries one of the four great sea powers of Italy, and the morning is yours in town: the Cathedral of Sant’Andrea at the top of its sixty-two steps, the medieval Arsenale where the republic’s galleys were built, and the Paper Museum in a thirteenth-century mill, where Amalfi’s handmade paper is still pressed by hand. Lunch is served back on board. In the afternoon a car can take you up to Ravello, 350 metres above the sea, for the gardens of Villa Rufolo and the belvedere of Villa Cimbrone, with the whole coast laid out below. Night in the port of Amalfi.

A short morning crossing to Capri, twelve miles of open water. The tender lands you at Marina Grande and the day is open. The chairlift from Anacapri takes you to Monte Solaro, the highest point of the island, with a view that reaches from the Bay of Naples to the Gulf of Salerno. Villa San Michele, the Gardens of Augustus above the switchbacks of Via Krupp, and the Piazzetta, the small square that fills with people from lunch until late, are all within walking distance of the bus and funicular. The Blue Grotto on the north shore is visited by rowing boat and only when the sea is calm; the skipper will tell you in the morning whether it is open. Back on board, the catamaran moves round to the south side for an aperitif in front of the Faraglioni, the three rock stacks off the island’s south-eastern point. Night at anchor.

Breakfast on board, then across the bay to Sorrento, which sits on a shelf of cliffs at the northern edge of the peninsula. From the water the view takes in the whole Gulf of Naples: Vesuvius, the city spread along the far shore, and the islands of Capri and Ischia behind you. The tender lands you at Marina Grande, the old fishing harbour, and a lift or the stairs bring you up to the town: Piazza Tasso, the lemon gardens, the inlaid-wood workshops that have worked here since the eighteenth century, and limoncello made from the local lemons. Sorrento is also the easiest point on the route for a half-day on land, with Pompeii forty minutes away by train or car. Night in port.

Breakfast on board, then disembarkation at 9:00 am. Salerno makes the last morning simple: the catamaran is alongside, so there is no tender and no transfer by sea, and the railway station and the motorway to Naples airport are a few minutes from the marina. The crew will have your luggage on the dock and your transfer waiting.