Seaside Sleeping on the Amalfi Coast // Hotel Pupetto
It was past 1AM when we arrived in Positano. Between our delayed Friday evening flight from Frankfurt to Naples, the pouring rain that welcomed us to Italy, and the long winding cab ride along the cliffs on the SS145 (named as one of Nat G’s most scenic drives) we were totally spent… and hungry (read: borderline hangry).
The late-night attendant, Luigi, at Hotel Pupetto greeted us with a warm smile despite the hour. It was silent in the hotel except for the sound of the rain outside and roll of the waves. With little optimism, I asked if there was anything for us to eat. Like magic, he promised a quick return and disappeared, but first advised us to settle into our rooms. He’d call for us shortly. We followed his instructions and expected something on par with a spread of bread rolls. Our two-bedroom room was clean and fuctional, minimally decorated with big windows opening out into the blackness, in the direction of the sea. While the rooms themselves were simple, the shower ended up being a winner with the group- a spacious rain shower with beautiful Italian tiles (my engineering-minded father-in-law later remarked how impressed he was with the tilework).
Around 1:20AM Luigi buzzed our room and asked for us to come back down to the terrace. A bit bewildered (I was still betting on the bread basket) we were delighted to find that he’d set out a table for us with plates of caprese salad and wine. It couldn’t have been more perfect. We toasted, dove in and licked our plates clean. It was immediately clear, this was the perfect start to our Italian vacation.
I had initially reached out to Hotel Pupetto because of the price point and solid Trip Advisor reviews. While I could rave all day long about Positano, it’s certainly on the more expensive end in terms of travel budgets – especially when it comes to lodging. The reviews I’d read had mentioned a 10 minute walk from the center of Positano, which initially seemed unappealing. After our first trial of ‘the walk’ we quickly realized that this might be one of our favorite aspects of the hotel. ‘The walk’ (arguably deserving of a much more creative name) is actually a beachfront trail that winds along the rocky coastline, essentially connecting the tiny harbor inf front of Hotel Pupetto with the main harbor of Positano. The sweeping views of the dazzling bright blue sea and village are absolutely ridiculous, in fact I’d highly recommend adding this stroll to your to-do list when visiting Postiano.
In the mornings we had our breakfast on the big covered terrace in front of the hotel. After a breakfast buffet was offered to hotel guests, the space turned over to a low-key brick oven pizza restaurant that ended up being handy for beachside lunches. Dan is a pizza monster, so if were up to him every hotel should be outfitted with a brick oven pizza.
Alternatively, there was also a small beach café open during the day that offered a larger variety of Italian favorites, plus drinks. At the time I was on a champagne kick so I was pleased with my option of drinking bubbly in the sunshine. While our visit coincided with a mix of cooler weather and rain, the beach scene was picture perfect and would have undoubtedly made for a perfect beach vacation.
While our room didn’t have a balcony, Hotel Pupetto did let me sneak into some of their other larger rooms to scope them out. After taking a look it’s probably better we didn’t have a balcony because I surely would have barricaded myself in there the entire trip – so beautiful, right?
All and all: Yep, I’d totally recommend Hotel Pupetto for anyone visiting the Amalfi Coast. Perfect location, nice facilities, reasonable prices and fantastic staff! Enjoy!
Hotel Pupetto offered me a reduced rate in exchange for this review. Per usual, I only feature experiences, tours and hotels that I would suggest to my nearest and dearest. Hotel Pupetto is one of them.