A boat tour from Positano has one advantage no other departure point can match: you are already inside the best stretch of coast. Li Galli is ten minutes away, the Fiordo di Furore twenty, the Grotta dello Smeraldo half an hour. No crossing to get there, no time lost.
You pay for that advantage on land. There is a single jetty, Spiaggia Grande sits at the bottom of a vertical town, and the steps down from Viale Pasitea forgive neither suitcases nor new sandals. This page explains how the pier works, which boats leave from it and what they cost, with prices verified on GetYourGuide.
The Spiaggia Grande jetty: how it works
The jetty is at the eastern end of Spiaggia Grande, towards the Grotte dell'Incanto. It handles everything: scheduled ferries to Amalfi, Sorrento, Salerno and Capri, shared and private boat tours, and the shuttles to Arienzo and Laurito. There is no terminal, only desks, parasols and operator name-boards lined up along the walkway.
Two ways down. From Piazza dei Mulini follow Via dei Mulini past the church to the beach, downhill all the way: ten to fifteen minutes. From the upper part of Viale Pasitea, take the local internal bus to the lowest stop and finish on foot. Going back up in the heat, double the time.
The tours that leave from here
| Format | Price | Length | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared with snorkelling and drinks | €95 per person | 4–8 h | 4.9/5 from 2,429 reviews |
| Private 4 hours | €680 per boat | 4 h | Route agreed with the skipper |
| Private 4–7 hours | €750 per boat | 4–7 h | Long version, reaches Capri or Amalfi |
| Private speedboat | €360 per boat | 2 h | Boards at Positano or Marina di Praia |
The shared tour with snorkelling and drinks is the most reviewed product departing Positano and remains the default choice for two people; commentary and safety briefing are in English. Above four people, do the private sum: the 4-hour private tour at €680 split six ways is about €113 each, split eight ways about €85. The longer version is the private tour along the coast at €750.
If you are short of time or want to cover as much coast as possible, take the 2-hour speedboat from Positano or Praiano at €360 per boat: it runs to the Fiordo di Furore and back. Fast and shadeless, as explained on the speedboat tours page. The full format comparison is in all boat tours, and the per-group arithmetic on the private tours page.
Li Galli: Gallo Lungo, La Rotonda and Dei Briganti, privately owned and for 26 years Rudolf Nureyev's.
Marina di Praia, the alternative ten minutes away
If Positano feels like too much, three kilometres east is Marina di Praia, an eighty-metre shingle cove below Praiano's Torre a Mare. It is the departure pier for Praiano's own boats, with boarding as early as 08:30, plus a dive centre, a bar and a restaurant on the shore. Parking Castellano is quoted at around €3 an hour, and Amalfi is about twenty minutes away by boat.
For anyone arriving by car and wanting to avoid the Positano bottleneck, it is the best compromise on this part of the coast.
Marina di Praia, below the Torre a Mare: eighty metres of shingle and one jetty, far more manageable than Spiaggia Grande.
Arienzo, Laurito and the shuttles
Two more services leave the jetty. Neither is a tour, but each amounts to half a boat trip.
- Arienzo is the beach below the road east of town, reached either on foot down roughly 300 steps or by sea. Packages with a lounger, lunch and the boat transfer start at around €60 per person, with the front rows advertised well over €200.
- Laurito can only be reached from the water. The Da Adolfo restaurant sends its free shuttle, flying a red fish flag, to the jetty every half hour between 10:00 and 13:00, with returns from 16:00; it is reserved for guests who have booked a table.
They are also the two cheapest ways to find out what Positano looks like from the water before committing to a whole day.
Arienzo, the"300 steps beach": walk down, or arrive on the shuttle from the jetty.
Ferries, parking and the rest of the logistics
The scheduled ferries use the same jetty: Positano–Amalfi €10.00 in about 25 minutes and Positano–Minori or Maiori €15.00 on the fares published by Travelmar; Positano–Capri €23.00 one way and €43.50 return with Alicost, first departure 08:50 and last return around 18:15. On top of the Capri fare there is a €5.00 landing tax from 1 April to 31 October; the full picture is on the Capri from Amalfi page.
Cars are Positano's weak point. The local tourist board quotes €4–7 an hour and €25–30 a day for the private garages on Viale Pasitea, while other guides report €8–12 an hour and €50–90 a day at peak; the municipal blue-line bays cost €3 an hour or €8 a day. The free alternative is to park at Nocelle or Montepertuso and come down on the local bus, around €1.60. Buses, ferries and the number-plate scheme are all covered on the getting there page.
The typical half-day route
Leaving Spiaggia Grande the boat has two possible directions, and most trips combine them.
Westwards you run past Fornillo and the Torre Trasita, cross the grottoes below the town and reach Li Galli in ten minutes. From there the coast climbs towards Punta Campanella: deeper water, fewer boats, and the best spot for the first swim when the wind is easterly.
Eastwards you pass below Arienzo and Laurito, round the Praiano headland and enter the stretch of Saracen towers as far as Marina di Praia. Five minutes further on the Fiordo di Furore opens up, the inlet carved by the Schiato stream with the SS163 bridge suspended some thirty metres above it. Further still, at Conca dei Marini, is the mouth of the Grotta dello Smeraldo (Emerald Grotto): the tour boats wait outside, entry costs €7.00 and the visit is made in the cooperative's rowing boats, 10:00 to 16:00. It is explained in full on the page about the two grottoes.
A standard half day takes in Li Galli, one swim stop, the Fiordo di Furore and home; longer trips add Amalfi or a circuit of the Faraglioni off Capri, where the boat passes through the natural tunnel in the middle stack.
How much gets covered depends heavily on the day's wind. With the westerly breeze that usually fills in after lunch, skippers shorten the route eastwards and hug the shore; on a flat sea they push on to Conca dei Marini or beyond. That is why two trips sold under the same name on two different days can follow noticeably different itineraries: it is normal, not sharp practice.
When to go, and at what time
Ten-year averages for sea temperature give 23.1 °C in June, 26.0 °C in July, 26.7 °C in August and 24.9 °C in September: swimming is comfortable from mid-June to mid-October. For time on the water without the queues, late May to June and September still win.
On timing there is no argument: take the morning. At 09:00 the water off Li Galli is flat and the coves are free; from 14:00 the westerly breeze arrives and the trip home turns lumpy. Evenings are a different proposition again: on 21 June the sun sets over Positano at 20:36, and nearly all evening departures are private charters, as the sunset cruises page explains.
If you stay out after you land, the long-standing venue on Spiaggia Grande is Music on the Rocks, in the cave east of the jetty, listed as open from 17:00 to 04:00: details on the nightlife page. For the best angles from the water there is the photoshoot page, and for driving yourself, boat rental.
Booking a boat tour from Positano pays off for one reason above all: here the sea starts immediately. Take the first departure of the day, check current pricing and availability across all boat trips from Positano, and leave the suitcases at the hotel before you head down to the jetty.
