Where to go on holiday in March 2023 - Condé Nast Traveller

Temperature: 19°C high; 13°C low
Season: spring
Travel time from UK: 2 hours 35 minutes
Time difference: GMT +1

Nothing brings a spring to the step quite like the sight of Italy's glorious Amalfi coast. Particularly in March, when its vertiginous twists are bathed in a daily average eight hours of sun. Cliffs plunge into the Tyrrhenian Sea, topped with grand palazzos and smart hotels. Narrow, Roman lanes are stuffed with limoncello stalls flogging the boozy spoils of Sorrento's famous fruit. Its snoozy air and pastel-coloured houses are pure Italian cinema: you might even swear you've seen a young Sophia Loren looking impossibly saucy by the quay. Do as the Italians do and spend the lazy, romantic days enjoying a long aperitivo. Don't miss fresh fritto misto at Marina Grande, the town's old fishing harbour, or Michelin-starred Il Buco in the cellars of an old monastery, where chef Peppe Aversa serves seasonal ingredients under a stone-hewn, vaulted ceiling. The sweet life, indeed.

Sustainable travel tip: Agriturismos blend the Amalfi Coast's lifelines of tourism and tradition, preserving rural communities and beneficial farming practices (which stem landslides and flooding), while giving visitors an authentic taste of country life. Up in the hills of the Sorrentine Peninsula, Antico Casale, a family-run farm overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, offers four bright, airy guest-rooms amid lemon orchards and olive groves, and a true farm-to-table restaurant.

Where to stay: Maison la Minervetta is a five-storey, upside-down hotel built into the cliff-side above Sorrento's pretty Marina Grande. For more options nearby, see our edit of the best Amalfi Coast hotels.