Path of the Gods - How difficult and are hiking shoes needed?

I hesitate to reply because this is only anecdotal; I haven't done this hike myself. But, a few years ago we stayed in Sorrento for a few days, and one of the other couples in our B&B did a section on the Path one day. I don't think by intention, they left the path to descend to a village -- 1500 steps down! The next day she couldn't make the one step down to the breakfast room!

I'll leave it to somebody with first hand experience to advise about the shoes and terrain, but I would suggest starting out with a good plan of how to get OFF the path....

One of the best travel days in our travelling experience.

We did wear hiking boots and was glad we did. We both wore low cut Merrill Moabs, you don't need a heavy duty mountain boot. I wouldn't have wanted to do it in a normal athletic shoe, too many rocks and steep climbs. I wouldn't call it dangerous though.

So many "nice looking" trail boots now that could easily do double duty for the long walking days on Italian cobblestones....

Have a great trip.

Last year we did the Path of the Gods from Nocelle (we took the bus from Positano up to Nocelle), through Bomerano, and down into Praiano.

I don't remember the path from Nocelle to Bomerano to be overly strenuous - you are not doing a steep ascent to a hilltop. And we never felt unsafe - no cliff hanging parts to the path ! The views were drop dead gorgeous and we were so glad we did it.

We hiked for 5 hours and I just wore my slip on Skechers - these are my go to travel sneaker because I don't like to travel with my bulkier Merrills.

I would say go for it ! You can hike for a short bit and if there were any concerns you could just turn back. You would get some beautiful views of this amazing coastline !

I did this hike just two months ago and regretted it beyond words. I'm a middle aged man in pretty decent shape. Bad knees, but I felt pretty prepared with knee braces and plenty of water. I'm not averse to hiking and usually do a little something on most trips. Don't be taken in by the sexy name! This thing is tougher than it gets credit for. It's safe, but there's a good deal of elevation change with much of it on hard rocky ground. I went from Bomerano to Nocelle, and by the time I made it to Nocelle I was gassed and my feet were hurting. Nocelle is not close to Positano. I could not find the bus stop in town, so decided to start hiking down. Eventually, I ran into another gassed group of hikers I recognized and we waited for a bus. When it arrived, it was packed and at that point in the day I knew I couldn't wait 45 minutes for another packed bus to show up. So, a couple of us trooped down all the way through Positano. This part was lovely actually, and the locals went out of their way to keep us on the right path, but it was endless steps. Just doing the trail would have left me in bad shape, but at this point I was shattered. This was at the halfway point in my trip, and I was ruined for days.

It was on the ferry back to Amalfi that I truly realized what a waste this was. I looked up at the cliffs I had just hiked for the spectacular views, and thought "It's just as spectacular from down here."

Just don't do this, nothing will make me happier to know that someone avoided this hike based on my experience. If you were avid hikers and you were in the area for a week then maybe, but I'd suggest about twenty other things first.

My husband and I did the Path of the Gods hike last summer while visiting the Amalfi coast and it was the highlight of our trip. We stayed in Amalfi and took the bus to Bomerano. We started the hike with a bunch of other people, all taking pictures of the board in town with information on the hike, which was quite amusing. People spread out quickly, although we kept running into some of the same people. There were young adults up to people in their 70s doing the trail. We took the upper trail and had absolutely no problems. We did it in an afternoon stopping to eat the lunch we had brought at one point. There is a convenience store at the end of the hike where we bought treats and bus tickets. We then waited for the bus rather than hike the steps down. Those would have been worse than the hike itself which honestly is not that bad at all. I wore low hiking boots but my husband just had walking shoes on. I wore the hiking boots walking as well. I have had problems with my feet (plantar fascias) and am always a bit conservative with hiking.

We took the bus down to Positano and then walked down to the harbor where we caught a ferry back to Amalfi.

We are in our late 50s and in reasonable shape. I don't think you want to do it if you can't imagine walking for a couple of hours. If you do it, the thing you want to make sure you do is take the bus down to Positano as the steps are much more taxing than the hike. I had a picture of the store from looking on the internet and it was really very easy.

We stayed in Amalfi because it is easier to do the loop starting there than Positano. Bus transportation goes through Amalfi.

Beth

We did this hike last year---also took bus up and bus down to Positano--then ferry to Amalfi
we wore walking shoes and carried a couple of water bottles and some snacks----the trail is fine although I agree that I would not want walk down . I'm 66 and had no problems---just take your time and take breaks---the scenery is stunning and its fun to try to spot where you were from the ferry back.

Paul