Camping Sant'Antonio ****

We rarely read or leave reviews as they are so subjective and personal to an individuals expectations. It is only when we experience an exceptional site that we comment on it. This is a typical Italian site. The access is steep narrow and twisting, culminating in turning through an archway. However it not at all dangerous and is nothing that any competent Caravanner or motorhome driver should not be able to cope with. On arrival you are met by John who runs the site with his wife and because there are no marked pitches, will discuss with you suitable alternative places to set up. The site itself is in an old lemon orchard. It has a fantastic swimming pool immediately outside the archway, called The Bay of Naples. It is located on the harbourside of Vico Equense and part of the small village that surrounds the harbour. Consequently it is very quiet as the main town is up above you on top of the cliffs. The site has a small restaurant but John will give you a discount card for one of the harbourside restaurants about 100 yards away. Eat there. We had probably the best meal out there of our 10 week journey through Italy. The toilet facilities are basic but adequate and cleanliness is of a high standard. Whilst we were there Liz unfortunately developed toothache. We expected all sorts of hassle as our only Italian is a vague memory of some Latin 50 odd years ago. This is where the exceptional service comes in. John arranged everything. His wife took Liz to their doctors along with their young daughter (in Italy you have to be referred to a dentist by your doctor). The daughter stopped with Liz whilst she saw the doctor and then took her to the dentists next door. Dentist prescribed antibiotics, daughter called her mother who reappeared with the car to take Liz to the chemists, and back to the site. John had arranged everything no EHIC\'s or fees required because we were staying at his site. It was so wonderful to find a site where you are treated as a guest and not a cash-cow, we didn\'t think that any existed anymore. There is no way that that we will not go out of our way to stop at this site everytime we are even remotely around southern Italy.

First emotion at getting to Sant’ Antonio is relief that you’ve made it down the tricky road down to the harbour from the main Sorrento road above. It’s certainly a small site but in a great location and only a few yards away there is Italy beach holiday in full swing. It’s not particularly quiet – the harbour and beach are in a bit of an amphitheatre formed by the cliff and hill behind and any sound tends to echo around. We found local dogs particularly annoying. The facilities are basic and a bit out dated – basically they are housed in a couple of shipping containers. The men's has 2 hot showers and 4 cold ones. Showers are excellent – plenty of hot water on a proper temperature adjustable tap rather than a timed button. Basins only have cold water. Toilets don’t have seats and paper not provided. Also there were no water taps around the site so had to fill at the washing sinks which isn’t ideal especially if using an aquaroll since have to negotiate steps. Tap water is quite hard and generated lots of limescale so for drinks we used bottled water.
Some pitches were well defined, others less well so. We got a good informal pitch with a balance of shade and sun but it was dusty and the grass was sparse and uncut. The site is in a lemon grove and when we were there the trees were heavy with lemons. There were also walnut, orange and olive trees.
There are two paths up the hill, one to Seiano and one to Vico, so these can be used to get to the stations and are much safer than trying to walk up the road.
Wifi good and free and we could get it at our pitch but others obviously couldn’t – there were benches outside the bar/shop which were in frequent use. There was no restaurant on site when we were although some meals were being provided for groups. There are several around the harbour.
Now, about the road…. Getting to site is a relatively simple right turn off the main road with a couple of hairpin bends and then a fairly narrow road down to the harbour side. You turn left along the harbour and then left again under a bridge into the site. The good news is that whilst we were there they were completing road widening work on the first stretch down around the hairpins and the whole road was resurfaced from top to bottom so it’s probably a big improvement compared with previous reviews. The exit though back on to the main road is a problem with near constant traffic on the main road and few opportunities to get across you simply have to ‘go for it’ and hope the oncoming traffic stops! There really should be traffic lights on the junction.

You need to understand the area before judging this site. There are only 2 ACSI sites in this area and when you visit the area you realise that there are few sites, so this site is providing a much needed stopping point. The toilets are basic, but that seems the norm this far south in Italy , they were clean but hot water in shower was charged for. Staff exceptionally friendly. Location good, the site entrance on harbour, but not much to do there, you can get boat to Capri 36€ each for return. Amalfi coast not really camper van friendly due to roads, we had scooter so ok but local drivers are bonkers. The road to site is challenge but doable the was a caravan on site while we were there. Good wifi and electric.
Reviews for other site on Amalfi coast do seem similar.
If you do need to stay in this area then this site will cover your basic needs but not a high quality site, but lovely people.

We wanted to use this as a base camp as we like to leave our motorhome parked up and use public transport but this site is nearly a mile uphill from the train station, much as we like walking we thought it too far to do every day, however it is a lovely site and ideal for anyone wanting a beach holiday away from it all.

A fairly informally laid out campsite under citrus trees. Very helpful staff. Fairly straightforward drive into Pompeii etc. The peninsula is crowded out and spoilt by traffic.