No trip to Positano is complete without a meal at a restaurant that can be reached only by boat. Such places abound up and down the coast, and they all offer free water shuttles from the marina in Positano. The most fun one is Da Adolfo, a super-casual spot that doubles as a stabilimento balneare (beach club, meaning it provides lounge chairs, umbrellas, and changing facilities for a fee), so plan to make a half-day excursion of it, with swimming and sunning on either end of your meal. Da Adolfo spirits guests from Positano in a boat marked with a red fish. In high season, this part of the experience is a zoo. Don't worry, though—everyone gets a ride eventually, and after a 10-minute ride, you're deposited on the pebbly beach of Laurito and in front of a ramshackle building that can't possibly be the restaurant. Except that it is.

Da Adolfo is a shack, an often chaotic one, in which the busy, efficient waiters wear flip-flops and swim trunks as they navigate the stairs from the kitchen to the dining area, and if that sounds off-putting, eat elsewhere. However, Da Adolfo's fans find incredible charm in the fun, relaxed atmosphere here—which, along with a glorious waterfront setting, makes for a theatrically memorable lunch. (It doesn't serve dinner.)  The cuisine is lovingly executed homestyle Neapolitan—fabulous mussels prepared three ways, heaping pastas made with the catch of the day, perfect grilled fish, and fresh veggies, all washed down with copious amounts of the local white sangria with peaches.

Despite the somewhat run-down look of the place, Da Adolfo has a cult following, and many patrons arrive on their own yachts. If you don't plan on arriving by private yacht, reservations are highly advised for the smoothest, most confusion-free experience. Be at the dock in Positano a good half hour before your reservation time, and be ready to jab elbows with the masses. You can also go much earlier—the boats start at 10am—and lounge on the beach before the kitchen opens.