Lying at the neck of the Capo Palinuro, in southern Campania, the little town of Palinuro has an idyllic location in the vast green expanse of Cilento coastal national park. This, the Parco Nazionale del Cilento e Valle di Diano to give it its mouthful of a name, is a glorious spread of mountainous, forest clad wilderness, fringed to the west by the blue waters of Italy's Mediterranean coast. Palinuro, at the mouths of both the Mingardo and Lambro Rivers, lies some 80km south of Salerno. The Naples to Reggio Calabria main railway line lies 8km north at Pisciotta-Palinuro. The town, in Campania region's Salerno province, has a permanent population of 1500, which is somewhat swelled in the summer months.
The town is drenched in myth, like so much of this southern Italian coastline. The name comes from Palinurus, the ship's helsman of Aeneid fame. Coming up to date, the beach at Palinuro has won the coveted Blue Flag status, for the quality of its water, almost every year for the last decade. Capo Palinuro itself, meanwhile, is a startlingly lovely promontory pushing out into the blue Mediterranean, with dramatic cliffs topped by the maquis undergrowth. The Cape is pitted with caves, great fun to explore by boat, which can be chartered from Palinuro itself. Palinuro too is a fun and lively town, the southern counterpoint to Agropoli at the north of the national park.
To the left you'll find a selection of hotels, to get you in the mood
- see also our full listings of Palinuro hotels.
