Praiano, Italy: The Amalfi Coast’s Hidden Gem

You can view all posts from my trip to Italy here. 

The Amalfi Coast is known for famous towns like Positano and Capri, but Praiano, Italy was one of my favorite places to visit on the coast. We also stayed there because it was a central location and easy to get to any town on the Amalfi Coast without having a long bus ride, and it was a lot cheaper (and quieter!) than the bigger towns! I only spent about 40 euros a night for a pretty nice hotel with beautiful views. I’ve already posted some of the scenic views from our balcony on last week’s bridal photoshoot on the Amalfi Coast (I’m so excited for that photoshoot so check it out if you haven’t already!), and everywhere we went in the town had amazing views. If you’re planning a visit to the Amalfi Coast, I highly recommend staying in or visiting Praiano, Italy!

It was hard to photograph the winding coast as we were riding on the bus, but I couldn’t get enough of the coastline! It was pretty amazing how the houses were built into the cliffs.

I love that Medieval tower on the beach!

There isn’t too much to do in Praiano, Italy (which makes it a great place to stay if you’re not into the crazy nightlife), but there’s a nice “beach” to soak in some sun by the ocean. You do have to hike down quite a bit to get there, so make sure you wear your walking shoes! The walk down and up is very pretty though, so I stopped a lot to take some photos (and to catch my breath).

I loved the mosaic domes on the churches!

There aren’t many true beaches on the Amalfi Coast since the area is made up of cliffs, so Praiano has a man-made “beach.” There are lounge chairs there and they were free, so you don’t have to worry about finding a chair or sitting on the concrete. The water was incredibly rough the day we went (it was so bad that all the ferries in the area were shut down for the day!) so we didn’t get to go swimming, but we did get to cool off with the water splashing up. Even though we couldn’t swim, the rough water did make for some neat photos!

Be prepared for lots of stairs!

I loved seeing the local vineyards and fruit groves!

After soaking in some sun, we headed back up the cliff for more exploring and dinner. We were near the Church of San Gennaro (the mosaic dome pictured earlier) and there was a square outside with beautiful views of the water during sunset. My photos of it were lost in the great external hard drive crash, so the rest of these photos were taken by Stephanie!

While we were taking photos, a parade led by priests appeared out of nowhere, and we got trapped in the corner of the square! I’m sure the sight of confused tourists scrambling to get out through the only exit of a narrow alleyway was quite funny to see- especially since the minute we tried to escape down the alleyway, the second half of the parade started coming down! I’m not sure what the occasion was, but it seemed like the entire town was there giving us crazy tourists confused looks. We finally got out without interrupting too much, and we got to watch the rest of the festivities from Tramonto d’Oro Restaurant, the restaurant we went to for dinner. I don’t have any photos from dinner, but everything was delicious! The gnocchi was some of the best I’ve ever had.

After a delicious dinner and seeing the beautiful sunset, the festivities at the Church of San Gennaro were still going on, and they actually set off fireworks! (I posted a video of them on my Facebook page). It was really cool to see local traditions, and it’s one of the many reasons why I recommend staying in Praiano, Italy! Don’t miss this hidden gem when you’re visiting the Amalfi Coast! 🙂

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