Amalfi & the Rivieras

May to June and September offer warm seas and golden light without the August crowds — the connoisseur's seasons.

Yes — the yacht is yours alone, with full crew, for the French coast portion of the journey.

Easily. The journey extends naturally to Tuscany, the Italian Lakes or Saint-Tropez at your advisor's hand.

Staying in a private villa above Positano means waking to the town tumbling toward the sea from your own terrace, with breakfast laid in the morning light. The villa is your home on the Italian coast. Its pleasures are simple and absolute: a lemon grove, a long lunch, the sea changing colour as the afternoon turns.

Positano is famous; knowing how to be there well is not. On this Amalfi and Rivieras journey that means a private launch instead of a queue for the road, a trattoria that holds your table by name, and an after-hours hour at a closed church. The Italian and French coasts both reward the quietly insistent, and your advisor knows the doors on both shores.

On the French Riviera, a crewed yacht carries you between Cap Ferrat and the calanques. Lunch and swims follow your own schedule rather than a fixed itinerary. The yacht is yours alone, with full crew, for the French coast portion of the journey, widening the horizon after the villa days on the Italian coast.

The truffle hunt in Umbria takes you into the oak woods with a hunter and his dogs. Afterward comes a long lunch built around the morning's find. It brings the journey inland from the Amalfi Coast and the Côte d'Azur into the Umbrian hills, adding a countryside moment to the Mediterranean's coastal pleasures.

Yes. The Amalfi and Rivieras journey strings together the finest of the Italian and French coasts. On the Italian side, a private villa above Positano is your home; on the French side, a crewed yacht sails between Cap Ferrat and the calanques. An inland moment follows in the Umbrian hills with a truffle hunt. Both coasts reward the quietly insistent, and a single advisor knows the doors on both shores.

On the Amalfi and Rivieras journey, the private villa above Positano is the home base on the Italian coast, while the yacht widens the horizon on the French one. The yacht is yours alone, with full crew, for the French coast portion, carrying you between Cap Ferrat and the calanques with lunch and swims on your own schedule. Together they pair a settled terrace above the sea with days spent moving along the water.

Four to five nights on the Amalfi Coast itself, usually split between Positano and Ravello. That is enough for boat days, a Capri excursion and the archaeological sites without rushing the slow coastal road. Amalfi & the Rivieras runs ten days in all, because it adds a crewed yacht on the Côte d'Azur and a truffle hunt in the Umbrian hills; your advisor sets the balance between the two coasts.

Through Naples. Many guests arrive by private transfer from Naples airport or by helicopter to Salerno, and from Rome the fast train reaches Naples in just over an hour. On the coast, the SS163 is winding and slow and runs an alternating licence-plate scheme on many dates, so a private driver in a suitably sized car handles arrivals and a chartered boat moves you between towns when the road is congested.

Spend the days on the water and above it: a private boat to Capri and the coves below Positano with lunch in Nerano, the Path of the Gods from Bomerano down to Nocelle, lunch in a lemon grove with a family that has terraced the hillside for four generations, and a private dinner on Villa Rufolo's terrace in Ravello after the concert. Pompeii and Herculaneum are within easy reach. On this itinerary, the base is a private villa above Positano.

It is the starting point. Private luxury trips to Italy start from US$10,000 per traveler, in double occupancy and before international flights, for eight to eleven days with the family. A culinary journey starts from US$11,000 and Italy by crewed yacht from US$21,000 per traveler, so a route with a yacht, like Amalfi & the Rivieras, sits higher. A luxury summer in Italy runs from around US$1,500 per person per night.

By water first, then on foot. A private boat from Positano runs past the coves below the town to lunch in Nerano and across to Capri, while the Path of the Gods covers 7.8 km from Bomerano down to Nocelle in three to four hours, mostly descending. Ravello closes the route from above, with the terrace of Villa Rufolo, and Pompeii and Herculaneum sit within easy reach for a day inland.

For where to stay, Positano: most of our guests split four to five nights between Positano and Ravello, and see the town of Amalfi from the water on a boat day. Positano gives the vertical charm and the beach clubs; Ravello gives height, gardens and quiet. Bear in mind that Positano is a staircase with a view, so guests who cannot manage steps are better served elsewhere in Italy.

Start with the dates, then the base, then the transport. Late May to mid-June and September are the season; four to five nights split between Positano and Ravello is the usual length; and arrivals run through Naples with a private driver, because the SS163 runs an alternating licence-plate scheme on many dates. Book the Path of the Gods in July and August, treat the Blue Grotto as weather-dependent, and expect ground costs from around US$1,200 per person per night, plus a US$250 planning fee per itinerary.