How much can you cram into an 8-day adventure across glorious Southern Italy? A lot, it turns out! We set Zoe Macfarlane the challenge of narrowing her highlights to just five. Read on to discover her best natural, cultural, historical, and culinary inclusions on Back-Roads Enchanting Southern Italy tour.
As one might expect in a destination known for its picturesque coastal towns, world-famous historical relics, and to-die-for cuisine, it doesn’t take long to be charmed by Southern Italy. Especially when shown by the experts.
Back-Roads’ 8-day Enchanting Southern Italy tour kicked off with a peek around Naples and a tour of ancient Pompeii before heading to the famed Amalfi Coast. It was a trip filled with beauty, fun, exploration, connection, cats, and oh-so-much pasta. And far more highlights than five, but here we go!
#5 The real Positano
In life, it’s never good to hear a sudden gasp; when travelling, the opposite is true. And gasps were as common as breaths with every bend turned and vista unveiled on the spectacular drive from Minori to Positano.
Positano isn’t big on sights, but it’s huge on vibes. Tiny alleys give way to the sweeping Mediterranean Sea. Bold flowers and creeping ivy hug the walls of brightly coloured buildings. And George Clooney sips his daily espresso at a cliff’s edge café (or at least he’s rumoured to).
Positano is a place for the famous, the rich, and the wish-we-lived-like-this tourists. To steer clear of hoards of the latter, it pays to say arrivederci to the lower three streets in Positano where the ferry crowds linger; it’s nothing like the real Positano.
As I climbed the cliffside path away from the beach, I could see how charming Positano truly is. Sweeping vistas, quaint eateries, and exuberantly priced villas whisked you away from the everyday and into a life of fantasy. Just like a destination on holiday should!
#4 Pompeii brought to life
Visiting Pompeii without a guide is like watching a musical in Icelandic: still spectacular, but it makes no sense. Going with a guide who is a former archaeologist, however, is like getting box seats to the English-speaking version of the show. It’s the full VIP treatment.
Our rapid-fire Napolitano local guide, Roxanna, was on a mission to show us as many highlights of this ancient Roman city as possible. A summer destination for Rome’s wealthy elite, Pompeii was a thriving city for 12,000 residents.
Until Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD, destroying Pompeii and other cities nearby. A raincloud of scorching ash and red-hot gases followed the initial eruption, killing thousands. Pompeii lay abandoned for centuries.
As we strolled the ancient streets, Roxanna infused them with tales of merchants, markets, slaves, and decadence. Seeing the sites of former shops and homes (including a wood-fired bakery Roxanna dubbed the OG Pizza Hut) she delivered far more than history books and audio guides ever could.
#3 Staying in sleepy Minori
Five days of our 8-day Enchanting Southern Italy tour were spent exploring the cliffside villages and towns on the 55-kilometre-stretch of Italy’s Amalfi Coast. Our base, the lesser-known small Amalfi town of Minori.
I’ll be real, if I had booked the Amalfi Coast myself, I would have stayed in one of the glitzier towns. Maybe two of them over the five days. Thankfully, that’s not the Back-Roads way; they pride themselves on finding accommodation that taps into the heart of the region.
Minori did just that, providing respite from the busier Amalfi Coast towns. The town’s charming trattorias served traditional seafood pasta delights, the quiet beach was perfect for pre-sunset dips, and it was a pleasure watching the locals pause to chat with their neighbours.
The Minori highlights didn’t stop at the authentic town Amalfi Coast vibes; the Path of the Lemons was an unexpected highlight. This 45-minute hillside cobblestone trail connects Minori to nearby Maori, popular with Italian tourists. I passed white-washed villas, abundant lemon orchards, spectacular views, and – my favourite – friendly cats. It was so great I walked it twice!
That Minori was in my top three highlights shows how lucky I am that Back-Roads, experts for over 30 years, planned my Amalfi Coast adventure and not me!
Keen to see what our Minori accommodation was like? Check out my review here <HYPERLINK>.
#2 Free time on the Isle of Capri
Back-Roads factor free time into their itineraries. They want you to enjoy being on tour, and also have time for some you-do-you moments. It’s an asset to how they want their passengers to see the world.
Whether that’s sipping a limoncello spritz in an Amalfi piazza, scouring for souvenirs, or finding an adventure to suit, is up to you. Adventure was on my mind as we sailed to the gorgeous Isle of Capri off the Amalfi Coast.
Capri, once home to the Roman Empire’s elite, appeals with its grandiose villas, landscaped gardens, high-end boutiques, and decadent restaurants. Beyond the glitz, though, there’s another side to the Isle of Capri, its famous brilliant blue sea caves!
While Grotto Azzurra (the Blue Cave) is the island’s most well-known sunlit cave. It’s also its most crowded. I opted, instead, to join a cave kayaking tour on the other side of the island.
The switchback path that led me to the kayak company was beyond beautiful, an adventure in itself. It was nothing in comparison to the (almost unnatural-looking) blue of these underwater caverns, however. Wow didn’t quite cut it!
#1 Farmhouse Italian cooking class
I cook as often as I run. And I’ve run once this year (also in Italy when I nearly missed my Dolomites bus). That a cooking class became my top tour highlight gives you an indication of how amazing it was!
Back-Roads love including local experiences on their tours that deliver authentic experiences, and on their Enchanting Southern Italy tour, they really delivered.
A cooking class is not so unusual, you might think. I’ve attempted cooking classes overseas (flashback to my Pad Thai disaster), but none were like this. Our Italian farmhouse cooking class had soul. Bucketloads of it.
Picture us in a gorgeous 150-year-old farmhouse in rural Southern Italy. The buffalos outside (for the mozzarella), antique Italian furnishings, family pictures adorning the walls, and lush flower-filled gardens set the scene. The Bellini matriarch and her team of hilarious cooks completed it.
Under their tutelage, we made ravioli from scratch, kneaded pizza dough, and baked a traditional cake. Cooking can be fun, who knew?!
In true Back-Roads (and Italian) fashion, our class was not rushed. The pace allowed us to joke, laugh, get flour-dusty countless times, and, of course, eat the feast we’d prepared. This was beyond a cooking class; it was an initiation into the soul of an Italian home, an introduction to how much food brings people together.
Discover more
Learn more about Enchanting Southern Italy and Back-Roads’ other European tours here.
Have you checked out our article about Back-Roads touring style? Read it here.
