Trail by trail. Some walks come down to a bay with four serious kitchens; others come down to nothing at all, and you carry your own lunch. Here is what waits at the bottom of each.
Prices are the ordinary lunch range the restaurants quote; the starred kitchen costs more. Seasons and menus change — we do not publish a figure we have not re-checked.
A bar, a couple of small restaurants, four houses and a church. After three hours on a cliff, that is enough. The lemon granita tastes better there, and everyone says so. The real reward is on the other side of the mountain, at Nerano.
→ Path of the GodsNothing at the point. Nothing at Termini worth planning around. Drive twenty minutes down to Marina del Cantone and eat on the water.
→ Punta CampanellaYou come out at Nerano, and below it is Marina del Cantone. Four serious restaurants on one pebble beach — a Michelin star, the birthplace of a famous dish, and two family kitchens that draw cooks from around the world.
Nothing at the fjord. Nothing to buy, nothing to drink. Bring everything, and eat at Torca or Sant’Agata afterwards.
→ Sant’Agata sui Due GolfiWhy four, in a fishing village at the end of a mountain road? Because of the Caputo family, who came back from Argentina in the early 1900s and gave the place an olive press, a bread oven and electricity.
A Michelin star on a pebble beach. The starred kitchen at Marina del Cantone — expect to pay considerably more than an ordinary lunch here.
→ Read moreWhere spaghetti alla Nerano was invented in the 1950s. The plate of pasta that made the village famous started at this table.
→ Read moreThe name chefs fly in for — a family kitchen on the water with a reputation that travels far beyond the bay.
→ Read moreFifteen minutes further on foot, at Recommone. The same water, one cove along, reached on the coastal path.
→ Read moreThe dish these tables are known for has its own story — spaghetti alla Nerano, invented here in the 1950s.
The bay is beautiful and hard to reach, which is exactly why it fills. Turn up in August without a table and a parking plan, and you may do neither.
Lunch runs €35 to €60 in the ordinary places, considerably more in the starred ones.
These are small kitchens on a small beach. In July and August, a table without a booking is not a plan.
Roughly April to October. Check before you drive forty minutes of hairpins to a closed door.
Parking at Marina del Cantone is paid — published rates run from €10 to €25 — and full by nine in August. More on the Marina del Cantone page.
Book. Always, in summer. Many of these kitchens are seasonal, roughly April to October — check before you drive forty minutes of hairpins to a closed door.
Nocelle has a bar and small restaurants. For a proper meal, most people continue to Positano or drive to Nerano.
One, at Marina del Cantone: Taverna del Capitano.
At Maria Grazia, in the 1950s, at Marina del Cantone.
No. Carry your own food and water.
In summer, yes.
Seasons, prices and stars change. Contact the restaurants directly before you drive down. The lunch range and parking rates here are the figures the venues publish, not fares we have set — and we do not repeat a figure we have not re-checked.