The Amalfi Coast
The Amalfi Coast is an idealistic vacation destination, located in southern Italy. Known for it’s warm summers and mild winters due to the region’s Mediterranean climate, the Amalfi Coast attracts thousands of tourists annually. The coast lies between the Gulf of Naples and the Gulf of Salerno. This beautiful destination is extremely well known for it’s sandy beaches, crystal clear waters, and classic Italian restaurants and boutiques. The coast is a ferry ride away from the larger city of Naples, as well as the sweet island of Capri, allowing for the perfect mix of environment. The Amalfi coast is a place where one can find an abundance of adventure or an exquisite relaxation destination, attracting a range of individuals. Families, couples, or independent travelers can find just what they’re looking for in this cozy stretch of land.
For me, the best way of getting to Amalfi was from flying out of London Gatwick to Naples, staying the night in a hotel, and then handling out all transportation the day after. The one difficulty I had with Amalfi was transportation. Had I not have been on a budget, traveling could’ve been much easier, but, beings as I’m a college student, sticking to my budget was important. But, in doing the cheaper option, I ended up on a ferry. If there’s any piece of advice I’d hope to stick with you, it’d be to take the ferry! Quick, inexpensive, and beautiful — what more could you ask? And especially if you want to beat that summer heat, there’s the option to sit on the top of the boat, and let me tell you, that wind is unlike anything I’ve ever felt.
Since I stayed in Positano, one of the more popular towns on the coast, we had to take a bus upon arriving at the ferry terminal. The bus was only two euros for a 45 minute ride to the center of town (I know, what a steal!!), and we decided to catch lunch before heading to our airbnb. Lunch consisted of an Italian classic, caprese, but hey, it’s a classic for a reason. Soon after, we headed up to where we were staying, only to find that it was a total of 300 steps up to our house. Bearing the hot Italian sun, we climbed the steps, holding tightly our luggage along with a scary amount of sweat. But once we got up there, we realized those steps might just be worth it. I mean, look at this view.
After awing at our view and touring our new temporary little home, we decided to take a quick break before the real exploration started, so I decided to start my social media stalking. Right off the bat, I realized just how popular the Amalfi Coast is on social media. But I mean, can you blame people? The amount of beauty in this coastal town was unbelievable, and with Amalfi, pictures are truly worth 1,000 words.
Upon realizing this, I went straight to Instagram, the photography and videography hub of the internet.
The town having such a photogenic way to it, with it’s beautiful landscape and incredible architecture, is perfect to promote on Instagram. To begin, I simply started with the hashtag, “#amalficoast”, knowing that people love to hashtag their location, especially in vacation destinations. Then, I decided to do put a location filter on it. Here were some of my results.
The top six consist of the “most popular” images, whereas the bottom six are the beginning of the most recent. It’s hard to ignore though just how beautiful all of these pictures are, a testament to the beauty of the town.
Travel accounts were loving the Amalfi Coast, as it’s a fantastic place to visit, as well as adding quite a bit of beauty to their Instagram aesthetic.
Next, I took it to twitter.
There was definitely some talk about the Amalfi Coast on twitter, but, I personally believe it is best shown through more graphic platforms, rather than wordy platforms. Still, there was some talk about it, and here’s what I found using hashtags and Tweetdeck location settings.
The tweets with images embedded are much more appealing and curb the viewers interest much more. Also, because of this feature, Twitter is a good platform to promote articles about the Amalfi Coast, giving more room for creativity and to inform.
As I stated above, travel accounts love the Amalfi Coast. But you know who else does? Travel websites! There’s so much to write about when it comes to the Amalfi Coast, whether it’s the history of the town, fun things to do during the day, the best restaurants, and so much more. The Amalfi Coast is a prime vacation destination, providing a large audience who want to know more about it — perfect for writers who want to talk about travel. The Amalfi Coast has everything a traveler would need, making it a beautiful and posh thing to write about.
Here, we see that both the Guardian and Vogue have written articles on the beautiful Amalfi Coast, linked below.
https://www.vogue.com/article/amalfi-coast-cinque-terre-italy-travel-guide?mbid=social_twitter
These articles and websites are a perfect way to share both knowledge and beauty of the coast of Amalfi.
Pinterest is another way that both information and photography are being shared. With such a visual platform, but the ability to link articles, Pinterest really caught my eye. The layout feels very modern, paralleling the feel of Amalfi. Classy yet in touch with the times, Pinterest is the perfect way to get a feel for the coast before actually being there.
Pinterest was definitely something I should’ve explored before traveling to Italy, because with the use of visuals and articles about anything and everything I would want to know, I felt more than informed.
Next, I checked out Facebook. Facebook felt a little less visual and a little more wordy, but still was a good way to check out the coast. Something I really enjoyed about Facebook was getting a more realistic and personal feel, as most of the posts I was looking at, I found to be posted by regular people, simply updating friends and family.
I even found that some of my friends have been here!
In doing this experiment, it was so surprising to see just how easy it was to stalk and check up on people. When it comes to most things, especially travel, social media can be extremely helpful and informative. We had the best weekend in Amalfi, and thanks to social media, we felt a lot more informed on a personal and realistic level.