Baia di Erchie e spiaggia del Cauco
Maiori
Hidden gemFree beaches
The story
A fishing village hidden between Cetara and Maiori, its narrow beach held between Saracen towers; the little cove of Cauco is reached only by swimming or by boat.
Access
FREE in parts
Hours and prices
Free entry.
More gems in Maiori
◆ Sacred artAbbazia rupestre di Santa Maria de Olearia
Maiori
Carved into the rock along the road to Salerno, an abbey of three chapels stacked one above the other; fragments of Byzantine frescoes hold on where oil was once pressed.
- ◆ Sacred art
Santa Maria de' Olearia
Maiori (SA)
Carved into the rock along the coast of Maiori, the little cave abbey holds eleventh-century frescoes in the grotto where oil was once pressed: half-light, silence and Byzantium.
◆ Free beachesBaia di Erchie
Maiori (SA)
A handful of fishermen's houses and a snug beach cradled between the headlands, with a torre saracena (Saracen watchtower) at one end: one of the most secluded coves of the Costiera.
- ◆ Sacred art
Capo d'Orso
Maiori
A headland whose rocky profile makes it look like a bear; on the mountains behind it climbs the pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the Avvocata.
- Hiking
Sentiero dei Limoni
Maiori (SA)
An ancient route of steps and mule tracks links Maiori to Minori through the lemon terraces, the coast opening at every bend onto the sea.
- ◆ Views & panoramas
Faro di Capo d'Orso
Maiori (SA)
Suspended over the Costiera between Maiori and Cetara, the lighthouse guards a rocky cape where the road climbs and the gaze runs to the mountains plunging into the sea.
More gems: Free beaches
Free beachesBaia di Ieranto
Nerano
The bay protected by the FAI that looks across at the Faraglioni of Capri, reachable only on foot among olive trees and scrub, with the clear water of an old quarry.
◆ Free beachesFiordo
Massa Lubrense
A cleft in the rock where the sea slips in, narrow and green, almost always shaded beneath high walls: you don't come here for the sun, but for the silence.
- ◆ Free beaches
Lido delle Monache / spiaggia libera di Posillipo e Riva Fiorita
Posillipo
Tiny coves among the rocks, once the bathing place of the nuns of a convent above the sea: almost secret free beaches, reachable mostly from the water.
- ◆ Free beaches
Baia di Trentaremi
Posillipo
A bay closed in by high cliffs of yellow tufo (volcanic tuff), with caves cut by the Romans: no road reaches it, only the sea and the kayaks slip in among the rocks.
- ◆ Free beaches
Capo Miseno e porticciolo di Acquamorta
Bacoli/Monte di Procida
The headland that closes the gulf and, at its foot, the little harbour of Acquamorta with the boats hauled ashore and the water shallow and clear.
- ◆ Free beaches
Cala di Mitigliano e grotta
Massa Lubrense
A path through olive trees drops down to the rocks, Capri looks an arm's length away, and the cave opens in the water like a hall of shadow and salt.