The last few days have been hot. Very hot and very humid. So getting around has been a challenge but returning home from the hotel a few days ago things changed. We were offered a ride in the hotel Tuktuk.
The best way home
Reply
Category Archives: Eden Roc Hotel
Visitors to the coast
Over the last few days we’ve been joined in Positano by Jake and Lauren, our lovely niece and nephew from Texas. They arrived last Friday and left Tuesday, heading north to a wedding in Tuscany and then on to the Dolomites.
They are keen walkers and, for those of you who know Positano, that’s good because the village is all walking – up, down and sideways.
It was lovely to be able to provide some tips for them – places to go and things to see – although they had a pretty full itinerary worked out before they arrived.
They visited Pompei, did the walk of the gods and spent a day on a boat cruising along the coast to Amalfi and back. We organised a dinner at Il Ritrovo in Montepertuso, above Positano, and an afternoon at Da Adolfo, a beach club along the coast only accessible by boat. We also had dinner at the famous Chez Black on the waterfront.
We had a great time and it was lovely to spend time them both.
Pool lunches
Our days spent by the hotel pool are broken by lunch at the Eden Sky Bar. The food is always great but we have very different orders. One is healthy and delicious, the other is fish and chips. Guess who has what.
Super Yacht Watch
It’s been a busy week on the water at Positano. Following Ferragosto last week a few boats have stayed moored offshore. This is the view from the hotel pool looking south towards Praiano.
My elusive Jean
I try very hard to get photos of people in blog posts. But it can be tricky – particularly when my lovely wife is involved. She is a bit camera shy – but God knows I’ll keep trying.
Positano – first impressions
We arrived in Positano on Saturday and have settled into villa life. The jet lag is pretty much gone and we’re feeling human again. The last couple of days have been spent in and about the hotel pool dealing to our winter whiteness, and even after a couple of days we are both a little browner and a little more able to fit in with the locals.
One thing we were expecting – the crowds – were much reduced on two years ago.
The last time we were here Positano was packed. Mid August is peak season and the combination of the village population trebling as hotels and Air BnBs fill up, and the day trippers arriving by the coach load, meant the village could barely cope.
Good news – this is not so much the case this year. Everyone we have talked to puts this down to a combination of economic uncertainty (particularly holding back American visitors), global unease and shifting travel habits with more visitors earlier and later in the season. In fact one local said with some shock, that some hotel rooms were available at 24 hours notice which, for the last few years has been unheard of.
Day trippers still mean the village is crowded between 10am and 3pm but much less so than in the past.
And the hotels are finding that they are booked longer into the shoulder season. Eden Roc Hotel closes at the end of October which is traditionally when bookings have dropped dramatically but this year they are fully booked right to closing day.
Two weeks in the sun
We’ve now been in Positano for a fortnight and have gone from a pasty white colour to a burnished brown (Jean) and a slightly brown tinge (Me). Our stress levels have dropped and our ability to spend time doing next to nothing has increased.
Positano is busy but less busy than last year. The number of people in the village each day seems less and everyone – including the locals – seem happier about that. The general consensus seems to be that 2024 is a return to 2022 visitor levels.
The main reason for this seems to be a reduction in the number of American visitors holidaying this year versus last year.
By coincidence, there is an article on stuff.co.nz today (originally from the Washington Post) looking at tourism on the coast and painting a pretty grim picture of the numbers and the crowding. Some of it rings true but, based on our two weeks, some of it seems to be more about last year than this year.
This last few days we had a visitor from the north staying with us. Our friend Tina has been on holiday in Tuscany and she came down to stay in the casetta for a few days. Days of wine and … more wine.
After two weeks it is time for us to move on to Tuscany – high speed train from Napoli to Firenze, then a rental car to Radda in Chianti and our place for the next few days – Relais Vignale.
As a farewell to Positano, here are a grab-bag of images from the last week.
Carved out of the cliff
When we say that Casetta Arienzo is carved out of the cliff, we are not kidding. The best place to see this is in the laundry/downstairs toilet. I’ve posted about this before but it still amazes me the work that went in to building this place. You can still see the holes where the builders drilled into the cliff.
View from the pool
The hotel pool has a great view. Yesterday afternoon at 5pm the dock was busy with ferries coming and going. Beside them, the smaller boats dropping off their day trip customers – returning from Capri, Amalfi or other places along the coast.
Further down the coast a gaggle of super yachts are moored up as they prepare for another night on the water. I have to say – the slide? Really?
Sweet treats
Tony works at Eden Roc hotel and, among other things, manages the breakfast service. He is a lovely man with a happiness and joy about him that is infectious. Even the grumpiest breakfast customer is inevitably won over by his charm and eagerness to make “Tony’s breakfast” the most important meal of the day.
Even on days that we don’t have breakfast at the hotel but come later to spend time around and in the pool, he appears with a small box of sweet treats for us (well me actually) – a selection of the cakes and pastries he knows I like – that we can bring back to the casetta and eat later.
Toscanakiwi 