Il San Pietro di Positano and Borgo Santandrea are the two of our ten with a beach kept for their own guests, each with a lift down the cliff to the water. Caruso, A Belmond Hotel, has no beach at all: it is here for a heated infinity pool hung 350 metres above the Gulf of Salerno.
3 of our ten · Hand-pickedHotels cannot pay to be hereLast checked: October 2026
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A beach hotel on the Amalfi Coast is not a hotel on a strip of sand. The beaches are mostly pebble, and most have paid beach clubs, the stabilimenti, beside free public stretches: at Minori a club charges €20 to €40 a day for an umbrella and two loungers. The towns are built on cliffs, so from Positano, Praiano or the cliffs of Conca dei Marini every walk down to the sea is a climb back.
That is what makes these three worth booking. Il San Pietro and Borgo Santandrea are the only two of our ten that keep a beach for their own guests, and both run lifts down to the water, so the climb is someone else's problem. Caruso is for the other kind of sea day: a heated infinity pool at the top of Ravello, with the coast below and a free shuttle to Amalfi when you want the real thing. Children: Borgo Santandrea takes them from 8, Il San Pietro from 10.
Borgo Santandrea is stepped down 90 metres of cliff above Conca dei Marini, and the bottom of it is the point. Two of its eight lifts run 79 metres down to a white pebble beach reserved for hotel guests, with sunbeds, umbrellas and towels, and the hotel's own jetty. You can also walk down by the garden paths and stairways.
The day is planned around the water. A saltwater pool sits on the way down, Aqva serves lunch from 12:30 to 18:00 in a nineteenth-century fishermen's boathouse, at a table or under your parasol, and Marinella serves dinner on the beach. The free shuttle to Amalfi runs by boat from the jetty as well as by car. For a pool of your own, three suite categories come with a private infinity pool heated to as much as 30 °C. Children are welcome from the age of 8.
The room to book
Deluxe Room Sea View & balcony
about 30 to 40 m²€3,472 a night
It looks straight out over the bay you swim in, where the Superior sees the sea from the side and the Classic faces the gardens.
Il San Pietro is built down the Laurito headland about 1.5 km east of Positano's centre, and a lift cut through the rock takes you from the lobby to the hotel's own cove in about 45 seconds. At the bottom, between the cliff and the pebble beach, are sea platforms, a sun deck, a bar and a tennis court, kept for resident guests and open from 9am to 7pm. Carlino, at the foot of the lift, serves handmade pasta and fish from the morning's catch. If you would rather walk, 400 stone steps wind down through ten terraces of gardens.
The sea goes further than the cove. Every day except Sunday, from May to mid-October, a free two-hour cruise sets off from the dock at 11:30 with a stop for a swim and a drink, and the pool on a terrace above faces Praiano. Guests must be 10 or over.
The room to book
Elite Room
from about 40 m²€4,665 a night
It is the first rung with sunbeds on its own sea-view terrace, for the hours between the cove and dinner, and the first with a large bathroom.
Caruso is on this list for its pool, not a beach. Ravello sits 350 metres above the sea, and the hotel's heated infinity pool, built in 2005 where the terraced gardens end, juts out over the Gulf of Salerno, with loungers and cabanas for guests. The Caruso Grill serves wood-fired lunch beside it from 12:30 to 16:00, and La Piscina is the pool bar, so a pool day needs nothing else.
For salt water, the hotel runs a free scheduled shuttle down to Amalfi, about 15 minutes by road, and the beach at Castiglione is 9 minutes by car. The beaches below are pebble, with paid beach clubs beside free public stretches, so book a sunbed for the days you go down and keep the others for the pool.
The room to book
Deluxe Sea View Junior Suite with Balcony
about 50 to 60 m²€3,695 a night
It has sun beds on a balcony or terrace facing the sea, so the view you swim towards from the pool carries on from your own room.
Minori is flat, and its beach of sand and pebbles is 3 minutes' walk from Hotel Santa Lucia, where the partner lido rents an umbrella and two loungers for €20 to €40 a day. There is no pool, but no steps either.
Hotel Marina Riviera has a heated pool and sun terrace on its top floor, Marina Grande, Amalfi's main beach, 4 minutes' walk away, and the ferry pier 7 minutes away for boats along the coast.
From about €615 a night
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Which hotels on the Amalfi Coast have a private beach?
Of our ten, two keep a beach for their own guests. Il San Pietro di Positano has its own cove below the Laurito headland, reached by a lift through the rock, where the sea platforms, sun deck, bar and tennis court are for resident guests. Borgo Santandrea, above Conca dei Marini, has a white pebble beach and jetty reserved for hotel guests, reached by two lifts that run 79 metres down. The other hotels use public beaches and beach clubs nearby.
Are the beaches on the Amalfi Coast sandy or pebble?
Mostly pebble. Positano's Spiaggia Grande is pebble, and so are Gavitella below Praiano and Marina di Conca below Conca dei Marini; Minori's beach is sand and pebbles. Most beaches have paid beach clubs renting loungers and umbrellas beside free public stretches: at Minori, Lido California charges €20 to €40 a day for an umbrella and two sunbeds. Amalfi's Marina Grande, 2 minutes from the Duomo, is equipped with loungers and umbrellas and has a comune service for disabled bathers. Book a sunbed ahead in summer.
Does Caruso in Ravello have a beach?
No. Ravello is about 350 metres above the sea, and Caruso's water is its heated infinity pool at the top of the gardens, with loungers, cabanas and lunch at the Caruso Grill beside it. For the sea, the hotel runs a free scheduled shuttle down to Amalfi, and the beach at Castiglione is 9 minutes by car. On foot, Atrani and Minori are 32 and 34 minutes down steep stepped paths, with a long climb back.
How do you get down to the sea at Il San Pietro and Borgo Santandrea?
By lift. At Il San Pietro a lift cut through the rock runs from the lobby to the cove in about 45 seconds, and the alternative is 400 stone steps through the gardens. Borgo Santandrea has eight lifts linking its levels, and two of them run 79 metres down to the beach, which can also be reached by garden paths and stairways. Both hotels are built down the cliff, so there are stairs between levels too.
When is the best time for a beach holiday on the Amalfi Coast?
June to September for the warmest weather: in Salerno, afternoon highs average 26.4°C (80°F) in June and 29.5°C (85°F) in August, with rain on about 5 days in July and August. The hotels keep a season. Il San Pietro opens from April to October, with its free boat cruise from May to mid-October; Caruso reopens on 13 April 2027; Borgo Santandrea closes over the winter, roughly November to March.
How did you choose these hotels?
Independently, through extensive research, trusted sources and first-hand visits. Hotels cannot pay to be included, and every one of the ten has to exist for a different reason.
The design one
