Views with a room

These Amalfi Coast hotels team sharp service with good looks and cliffhanging locations.

Hotel Caesar Augustus, Anacapri

Perched on Mount Solaro, the highest point on the isle of Capri, this elegant, family-run hotel has spectacular views of the Bay of Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Many of the hotel’s 55 rooms and suites face this vista; all are furnished with antiques and heirlooms. The unpretentious little town of Anacapri is a 15-minute walk, or take a taxi to the island’s more glamorous hotspot of Capri. Guests can pick their own produce from the hotel’s garden for hearty dishes in the restaurant or at four chef’s tables. travel-associates.com.au

Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria, Sorrento

Guests arriving by sea at the Marina Piccola will ascend the Sorrentine cliff face in a glass-walled lift to one of Italy’s finest hotels, an essential stop on the Grand Tour for generations of European aristos. The hotel was founded in 1834 by the Fiorentino family, and fifth-generation owner, Guido Fiorentino, oversees an operation that remains a hallmark of Italian hospitality. The service is legendary, the views sublime (many of the hotel’s 84 rooms frame panoramas of the Gulf of Naples and Mount Vesuvius), and the history star-studded. travel-associates.com.au

Hotel Villa Franca, Positano

This hilltop hotel’s 44 guestrooms are coolly contemporary – white-tiled floors, vaulted ceilings – but, really, all eyes are on the Amalfi-blue view. Perhaps the best vantage for those untroubled by vertigo is the rooftop pool. There are complimentary shuttles to the town, otherwise it’s a 10-minute stroll to beaches and the town centre, and tours of local food and wine producers can be arranged. But many guests find themselves anchored by the view, and settle in at the hotel’s two bars, small spa and two restaurants. travel-associates.com.au