Ten of the trips listed here go by water, and they reach a coast the SS163 cannot: the coves below Praiano, the Fiordo di Furore, the sea caves and the beaches with no road to them. Here is every Amalfi Coast boat tour, what each includes, and how to pick a pier.
A gozzo out of Amalfi's Darsena pier, with swim stops chosen for the water rather than the road. Masks, floats, prosecco and fruit are aboard. Four piers to board at, and a half day or a full one at checkout.
From $110 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Leaves the Bluestar desk on Spiaggia Grande, opposite Chez Black, and works east along the cliffs to the Grotta dello Smeraldo. Masks and a first drink are in the fare; the grotto entrance is bought at the cave.
From $130 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Hotel or port pickup in Sorrento, then eight hours rounding the peninsula before the coast starts. A swim stop at Li Galli, two hours in Amalfi and ninety minutes in Positano. The destination fee is paid in cash.
From $182 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Name your pier from eight between Positano and Salerno and the boat comes to you. Six hours along the cliffs with the Emerald Grotto the one timed stop. Hulls run from traditional wood to a larger yacht.
From $1,053 per group, up to 5
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Twenty-one pickup points from Positano round to Salerno, priced for the whole boat for up to six. Six hours, stopping wherever your group decides. Prosecco, beer, soft drinks and snacks are aboard.
From $1,301 per group, up to 6
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Seven hours between Positano and Amalfi, meeting by the Covo dei Saraceni. Praiano, La Gavitella, the Fiordo di Furore and Conca dei Marini, with ninety minutes ashore. Only the grotto ticket sits outside the fare.
From $159 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A Gozzo Jeranto 750 carrying five and nobody else, with hotel pickup in Sorrento. The Baia di Ieranto, Li Galli and long stops in both towns. Fuel is charged separately at €350 per booking.
From $562 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Capri or the coast, and a 25-foot or 35-foot boat, both settled before you leave Marina Piccola. Snacks, drinks, snorkelling gear, towels and a shower are aboard. Fuel and the landing charge are extra.
From $769 per group, up to 6
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A fixed 9:30am start from under the blue and white gazebo on Spiaggia Grande. Laurito, Marina di Praia, the fjord and an hour ashore in Amalfi. Full snorkelling kit, towels and a shower come with it.
From $176 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Sails from Via Marina Grande and calls at both Amalfi and Positano. Lunch aboard is organic and plant-based, with wine, beer and limoncello. A €10 docking fee is collected on board in cash.
From $147 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A day between the towns rather than in them. You board at a named pier: Positano's Spiaggia Grande, Amalfi's Darsena, Sorrento's Marina Grande or Marina Piccola, Praiano's Marina di Praia, or Salerno's tourist port. From there it is six to eight hours along the cliffs. The boat stops to swim where the water is best and puts you ashore once or twice.
The hull is almost always a gozzo, the wide wooden boat this coast has always used, fitted with a canopy and carrying between five and twelve people. It draws little water, which is how it gets into the coves, and it is comfortable at the speed this coast deserves to be seen at.
The SS163 runs along the contour, well above the sea. Everything at sea level between the towns has no road to it and no bus that goes near it: the coves below Praiano, the beach at La Gavitella, the Fiordo di Furore, the sea caves. That access is the product.
Every one of these leaves from a specific quay with a landmark to wait beside: an orange umbrella, a blue and white gazebo, a yellow lighthouse. There is no meeting square, no roll call and no coach to find.
Not one boat day here includes an entrance ticket, because there is nothing on the water to enter. Only the Grotta dello Smeraldo charges, and it is bought at the cave. That makes the fare unusually easy to compare with another fare.
Two or more stops on most itineraries, with masks, snorkels, floats and life jackets aboard. On a road day swimming is something you fit into a free hour; here it is what the day is built round.
Water, soft drinks, beer, prosecco, limoncello, snacks and fruit are standard across these listings, and one includes a full organic lunch. A road day includes none of it.
The comparison that decides most bookings on this coast. Neither is a lesser version of the other: they reach different places.
| By boat | By road | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical fare | $110–$182 a person | $110–$130 a person |
| Length | 4–8 hours | 8–9 hours |
| Towns ashore | One or two | Three |
| Reaches Ravello | No | Yes |
| Reaches the coves and caves | Yes | No |
| Swimming | Two or more stops | Only in your free time |
| Group size | 5–12 | 8–21 |
| Runs in winter | No | Yes |
The long version of that argument, with the arithmetic, is in the boat-or-road guide.
Every boat day here refunds in full up to 24 hours before it sails.
Check AvailabilityIn the fare, on most of them: the skipper, the boat, fuel and port fees on several, snorkelling gear, life jackets, a canopy, drinks and snacks. Towels on some. A shower and a restroom on the larger hulls.
Not in the fare, on several:
Season. The operators publish their own, and they are the hard limit here. Most open between 13 and 16 April and close between 18 and 31 October. One runs only from 16 May. Nothing sails between November and March.
Booking window. Days ahead between June and September. These boats carry five to twelve people and the good departures go first.
Time of day. Morning. The sea inside the Gulf of Salerno is calmer before the afternoon breeze, which matters if anybody aboard is prone to seasickness.
Which pier. Book from the port you can walk to. Crossing the peninsula to reach a boat wastes ninety minutes of a day you paid for — the coast map shows which ports serve which trips.
If Ravello is on your list, a boat cannot take you. It sits 350 metres above the sea with no route up from it, and only a road day reaches it. The same goes for the Path of the Gods, which runs along the ridge and is walked rather than sailed. Travelling between November and March, nothing sails at all. If anybody in the party is genuinely seasick-prone, or needs step-free access, the road is the honest recommendation. One private minivan states a wheelchair-accessible vehicle; no boat here makes that claim.
And if what you want is three towns in a day rather than one and a lot of water, the road days from Sorrento do exactly that. Everything listed, in one place, is on Amalfi Coast Italy Tours.
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead on every boat listed here.
Check Availability