I spent 4 nights on the Amalfi Coast. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, but I'd never go back.

05.09.2024 - 03:22 / insider.com / Conde Nast

From the moment my husband and I got engaged in 2021, we knew we wanted to honeymoon in Italy. After all, our shared Italian heritage really bonded us during our early days of dating.

When we began mapping out our trip, we planned to visit historical sites in Rome, sip wine in the Tuscan countryside, and explore the colorful hillside towns and turquoise waters of the Amalfi Coast.

I was perhaps most excited for our four-night stay on the Amalfi Coast, which was named one of the best honeymoon destinations for 2024 by Condé Nast Traveller.

Although the Amalfi Coast is absolutely gorgeous, and we enjoyed our time there, I left feeling like something was missing from the experience.

When we returned home and told our family and friends about this portion of our honeymoon, many were shocked to hear that my husband and I had no desire to return.

Here's why our trip to the Amalfi Coast didn't quite live up to our expectations.

As soon as we were dropped off alongside the busy road outside our Airbnb, I noticed one thing — there weren't sidewalks or pedestrian walkways.

As my husband and I explored the town we were staying in, we clung to the walls on the side of the road as buses and motorbikes sped by.

We found that the majority of the towns we visited along the coast didn't have sidewalks either, which meant getting around on foot felt a little more difficult and dangerous than we expected.

Although the locals didn't seem phased, I was a little nervous about walking down the busier streets.

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My twice-weekly Pilates classes did not prepare me for the hundreds of steps and steep inclines of the Amalfi Coast.

One night, we decided to visit a gorgeous seaside restaurant in Praiano. When figuring out the best way to get there, we discovered it was only a 40-minute walk from our Airbnb.

Since it was a nice night, we decided to give it a go. However, I didn't realize the walk would be more like a hike.

Before leaving home, I had been warned about the many steps on the Amalfi Coast, but I severely underestimated how difficult it would actually be to get around on foot.

In all fairness, I did visit in July, when temperatures reached up to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Although the heat definitely made the steps harder to conquer, I'm not sure I would have fared much better in cooler temperatures.

As someone who grew up right outside New York City, I can typically smell a tourist trap from a mile away. To me, a lot of the most popular destinations on the Amalfi Coast felt as though they were specifically designed for tourists.

I guess this makes sense since the coast attracts roughly 5 million visitors a year. However, the coast felt like a far cry from the more authentic Italian experience I was