Best of South Italy - advice re beaches

When I took this tour in June 2023, we had bad winds and rain while in Vieste so I have no experience regarding beaches there. We stayed in Maiori in the Amalfi coast. Our hotel had a private beach which we could use for free. The front desk provided beach towels. The water was the warmest I have ever experienced. During our free day in Maiori, some of us walked the Lemon Path in the morning before it got hot, then spent some time at the beach.

Where in the Amalfi Coast? Distances are significant between places, at least in terms of time given the nature of the road (lots of curves).
I stayed in Vieste last year (on my own not with RS), but I drove to beaches out of town. In the town itself, the one in front of my hotel was nice and large, it's called Spiaggia San Lorenzo. Also nice is the one on the south side of the city center where the famous rock monolith is, called 'Pizzomunno'. It's a long beach that extends for almost 2 miles south along the promenade road. That was also very popular (in July). If you go there June-Sept there will be also the beach club concessions ("Lido" in Italian) where you can rent umbrellas, chez, etc. Some have restaurants too, in addition to the coffee bar.

I wish I knew, but I have no idea where the RS tour will be lodging us yet. This is all the information provided by the itinerary:

…we'll follow the cliff-clinging seaside road to Salerno, where we'll take a scenic boat ride to our final destination: the Amalfi Coast.

I have no experience with the Rick Steves’ tour but if you are going to that “undisclosed location” on the Amalfi coast from Salerno via ferry, the ferry stops only at Amalfi and Positano. Since Rick Steves doesn’t seem to like Positano too much, since it’s very touristy and super expensive, I tend to believe you will be going to Amalfi, which has a beautiful Duomo to see, but then maybe, once in Amalfi, his tour might have a motor coach that takes the group elsewhere. Assuming it’s Amalfi, there is a beach (pebbles not really sand) at the west side of the Marina. If the group takes you to Maiori, there is a similar pebbles beach but significantly bigger. Assuming you go there in summer, there will be beach club concessions on those beaches where you can rent umbrellas and chez, although if you go in August, they are likely all booked. If so, you can use the “free beach”, which is very small and likely crowded with people.

As I mentioned earlier, the Rick Steves tour stayed in Maiori on the Amalfi Coast in June 2023. The name of the hotel was Hotel San Francesco.

https://hotel-sanfrancesco.it/en/hotel-san-francesco-english/

This is from the hotel's website:

For our guests, the hotel has an exclusive private beach, just 50 meters away.
...
Our beach service includes an umbrella with two sun loungers, the use of the swimming pool located on the chalet and also the daily supply of beach towels.

Our beach is operational from 8.00 until sunset.

A bar with a large terrace awaits you on our chalet Lido Hotel San Francesco, where you can relax in the shade sitting at one of the tables surrounding the pool, enjoying a refreshing lemon granita, gold of the Amalfi Coast or indulge in a quick snack thanks to the Bouvette Bar offering salads, sandwiches, fruit salads, etc.

Thank you for the input. As you may know RS uses a number of hotels for their groups. On occasion in smaller areas my group has even been split up into two different hotels so you never know where you’re going to end up until the full itinerary is released. However, I really appreciate your input and I will definitely keep it in mind.