Aussie tourist’s ‘overwhelming’ experience visiting Italy’s stunning Amalfi Coast – and
An Australian traveller has shared her ‘honest review of the Amalfi Coast’ and why the popular tourist destination is ‘not for the faint hearted’.
Isabella Highfield and her partner, from Sydney, visited the picturesque must-see Italian town in early August but were left disappointed.
While Isabella described the Amalfi Coast as ‘one of the most beautiful places she’s ever been to’, it was tainted by awful experiences.
She claims catching jam-packed buses felt like a ‘death wish’, restaurants charged ‘too much’ for a bowl of pasta and she felt sick by the smell of body odour.
The experience left the couple wanting to flee and travel back home as soon as possible.
Isabella Highfield and her partner, from Sydney, visited the Amalfi Coast in Italy but their travels didn’t go to plan. She claims catching jam-packed buses felt like a ‘death wish’, restaurants charged ‘too much’ for a bowl of pasta and she felt sick by the smell of body odour
Isabella detailed her experience in a five-minute TikTok video that’s now been viewed more than 70,000 times.
‘Let’s start with getting here. We are staying in a little town called Minori which is one across from Amalfi. Whichever town you stay in on the Amalfi Coast … you first have to get to Salerno which is the main train station,’ she said.
It took the couple five hours to travel to Salerno on the train from Rome via Naples, which she said was a hassle in itself.
But the bus ride to their hotel was possibly the most terrifying experience of the whole trip.
‘We had to catch the bus to Minori … it took over an hour. When I say I’ve never experienced anything in my life like this before, it’s not an understatement,’ she continued.
‘I’m talking about a one-way street they somehow manage to fit three, four lanes of cars depending if there’s people parked on the side of the road.
‘The buses drive at literally 100km/h whirling, whirl-ing around corners.’
She claims it seemed like two buses driving in opposite directions were only ‘millimetres’ away from each other.
‘It’s wild, and they just honk their horns around the corners for safety. I honestly thought I was going to die,’ Isabella recalled.
‘Not to mention the other motorists or motorcyclists that swerve in and out of these cars, or walk on the side of the road.’
The experience left the couple wanting to flee and travel back home as soon as possible. Isabella detailed her experience in a five-minute TikTok video that’s now been viewed more than 70,000 times
This year in particular thousands of Australians have travelled to Europe for the ultimate summer holiday, but Isabella said the sheer number of people visiting Amalfi was ‘overwhelming’.
‘Not to mention that I think people in general doesn’t know what deodorant is because the smell.. I mean it is hot..,’ she said.
‘If you’re not gonna be sick from the buses, you are gonna be sick from the smell of people.’
Isabella also claims the ferries and buses ‘don’t arrive’ on time based on the schedule – so plan ahead.
She added how the lines for the ferry are unorganised
‘We had to catch a ferry from Amalfi to Positano … but there’s one line, and hundreds and hundreds of people all waiting in line for lots of different ferries, but one line,’ she said.
‘So when your ferry comes and you’re right at the end of the line, you’ve just got to push your way through people that don’t want to get on that ferry.
‘Like, why not just have six different lines? It’s honestly not that hard, there’s definitely room for it.’
The entire ordeal left Isabella ‘frustrated’ and feeling the need to ‘rant about it’.
As a whole, likely because of the surge in popularity in recent years, Isabella found Amalfi to be an expensive place to visit.
She dubbed the food as ‘average’ and ‘expensive’ compared to other parts of Italy.
‘Some places are charging €36 ($60 AUD) for a plate of pasta. It’s f***ing flour and water!’ she added.
This year in particular thousands of Australians have travelled to Europe for the ultimate summer holiday, but Isabella said the sheer number of people visiting Amalfi (pictured) was ‘overwhelming’
After watching Isabella’s video opinions were divided and some agreed with her.
‘My sister HATED IT! Said the bus trip to get there was the scariest thing ever,’ one commented.
‘Agree overly priced,’ another said, a third added: ‘We were there last week and we had nearly the same experience.’
However others felt like Isabella was overreacting.
‘Epic dramatisation,’ one wrote, another said: ‘The train from Rome to Salerno is one hour and an half. Logically the cheapest one is four hours.’
‘The problem is that lot’s of people try travelling without information of the place their visiting,’ a third said.
Others recommended thoroughly researching a destination before travelling.
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