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The Cliff
Where you will be.
Three terraces cut into sixty metres of rock above Positano, nine cabanas, a grotto in the cliff face and ninety-four steps down to open water. None of these photographs are composites.
The building
Cut in, not built on.
The site was a lemon terrace until 1996 and, before that, a fishermen's store reached only from the sea. Almost everything here is excavated rather than constructed — the grotto, the cold basin and the lower rest room are all holes in the rock with a floor put in.
The stone is the local grey limestone, cut on site. The only imported material of any volume is the glass, which is triple-glazed because a cabana sixty metres above open water is a windy place to lie down.
Nothing here was designed to be photographed. It simply happens to be pointing at the right thing.
What we keep
Forty lemon trees from the original terrace, the 1890s stone stair to the cove, and the winch house at the bottom, which is now where the towels live.
Come and See ItThe layout
Three terraces.
Upper — arrival
Reception, changing suites, the thalasso pool and the warm resting stone. Step-free from the road.
Middle — treatments
Nine cabanas, the grotto, the cold basin and the horizon infinity pool. Reached by twenty-two shallow steps or the lift.
Lower — eating
The terrace kitchen, the rest room and the lemon walk. Dinner service from 18:00 for Evening Tide guests.
The cove
Ninety-four steps below the lower terrace, or the funicular on request. Attended 10:00 to 17:00, weather permitting.
The lift
Runs upper to lower, takes a wheelchair, and is the reason step-free access reaches every treatment room.
Camera etiquette
Photographs on the upper terrace only. The pools, cabanas and grotto are phone-free, and it is enforced kindly but completely.
Guests
Nine hundred reviews, one recurring word: quiet.
“The cold basin is cut into actual rock and looks out over open water. I have never been anywhere that made me feel further from a city.”
“We booked the cabana for our anniversary. Four hours and we saw exactly two members of staff, both times because we asked.”
“The algae wrap sounded absurd and it was the single best treatment I have had anywhere. I have been back three times since.”
It is better than the photographs.
Which is not something a spa is supposed to say, but the pictures do not include the sound.