After Naples, Salerno felt like a reset.
It was busy without being hectic, tourist-friendly without feeling like it existed entirely for tourists, and just local enough to feel comfortable.
We could easily imagine it being much busier in the middle of summer, but in September it struck a really nice balance.
We started the day with coffee and a frolla — a lemon pastry that was exactly the kind of lemon flavour we would end up chasing for the rest of the day.
Tart but sweet.
Lemony without tasting like Lysol.
Fresh and refreshing without feeling like you were biting directly into a lemon.
Then we boarded the ferry for Minori.
Seeing the Coast From the Water
The ferry ride was beautiful.
Leaving Salerno, the coast slowly changed into something that felt unmistakably Mediterranean.
Mountains rose sharply from the sea. Cliffs folded into green hillsides. Small towns appeared wherever people had managed to carve out enough space to build.
It felt calm.
Peaceful.
And after the noise and density of Naples, it was exactly what we needed.
Minori felt coastal without really feeling like a fishing village. The sea was obviously central to everything, but what stood out more was how people had built their lives into the cliffs and valleys behind it.
And that became even clearer once we started walking.
The Path of the Lemons
The Path of the Lemons sounds gentle.
It is, in fact, a lot of stairs.
A lot.
The path climbs above Minori and works its way toward Maiori through terraced hillsides, lemon groves, homes and small agricultural plots built into terrain that does not look particularly interested in being farmed.
But every climb seemed to come with a reward.
Sea views opened below us.
Lemon orchards appeared around the next bend.
Terraces stacked one above another across the mountainside.
Homes clung to cliffs in places where I still don’t quite understand how anyone managed to build them.
More than anything, the walk felt like a glimpse into what life here had been like for generations.
People didn’t flatten the landscape.
They adapted to it.
The hillsides were carved into terraces and reinforced with walls. Lemon trees were trained and supported over slopes that seemed far too steep for agriculture.
It was one of those places where the landscape and the people living in it felt inseparable.
We were there outside the main lemon season, so many of the lemons were still green, but the orchards were impressive anyway.
Apparently the Answer Was More Lemon
We stopped three times along the way.
And somehow every stop involved lemon.
There was lemon sorbet.
A limoncello spritz.
Lemon slush.
Lemon cake.
And finally lunch, where even the pasta got involved with lemon spaghetti and wine.
By then, the day had basically turned into one long citrus tasting menu.
And somehow it never became too much.
That was what surprised me most about the lemons here.
The flavour was strong, but balanced.
Tart but sweet.
Fresh and refreshing.
Intensely lemon without tipping into that artificial cleaner taste that bad lemon flavouring sometimes has.
After climbing all those stairs, it was exactly what we wanted.
Minori to Maiori
We didn’t really spend much time visiting Minori or Maiori themselves.
They became the bookends of the day rather than the destinations.
Minori was where the ferry dropped us off.
Maiori was where we eventually came back down from the hills, found some wine, and gave our legs permission to stop working so hard.
Then, while waiting for the ferry back to Salerno, there was one more limoncello spritz.
Obviously.
A Different Kind of Amalfi Coast Day
What I liked most about the day was that it didn’t really feel like sightseeing.
There were no major monuments to check off.
No museum rooms to move through.
No famous artwork waiting behind glass.
It was mostly walking, climbing, eating, drinking and looking.
Looking down at the sea from above.
Looking across terraced hillsides.
Looking at houses wedged into cliffs.
Looking at lemon groves and wondering how many generations had worked the same slopes.
It felt less like visiting an attraction and more like moving through a landscape people had spent centuries learning how to live with.
Would I Do It Again?
I’m glad we walked the Path of the Lemons.
I’m also not pretending I’m eager to repeat all those stairs tomorrow.
But if we found ourselves back in the region during the height of lemon season, I could absolutely see us doing it again.
The views were beautiful.
The coast felt peaceful.
The climb showed us a side of the Amalfi Coast we would never have seen from the water alone.
And the lemon?
That’s probably what I’ll remember most.
Not sour.
Not artificial.
Not overpowering.
Just fresh, bright and exactly what the day tasted like.
Justyn Perry
Justyn shares first-hand travel stories, honest recommendations and the practical details that make a journey easier to plan.
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