Private Tour(130 tours)
Small group(5 tours)
Transfer(13 tours)
Package tour(2 tours)
Sailing's greatest prize meets Italy's most beautiful coastline. Here is how to watch the fastest boats in the world—and experience the Amalfi Coast from the water
America's Cup Naples 2027 marks a historic first: for the very first time in the 175-year history of the world's oldest international sporting trophy, racing will be held on Italian waters. The 38th America's Cup brings the fastest sailing boats ever built to the Gulf of Naples, with the Match scheduled for July 10–18, 2027 — and an earlier preview, the second Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta, arriving in Naples from September 24–27, 2026.
If you've ever watched the America's Cup and thought, one day I want to be there, this is your moment. The Gulf of Naples, framed by Vesuvius on one side and the islands of Capri and Ischia on the other, will host some of the most technically extraordinary racing in the history of the sport. And beyond the race village, beyond the waterfront crowds, lies one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world: the Amalfi Coast, waiting for the travellers who know to look for it.
This guide covers everything you need to plan a trip around the America's Cup in Naples: what the event is and how it works, the full 2026–2027 race calendar, what to do in Naples during race week, and how to build a complete Italian itinerary that uses the Cup as a launchpad into the Amalfi Coast and Capri rather than a destination in itself.
"I've been a sailor since I was ten years old, on a Laser off the Tuscan coast — and being at sea has never really left me since," says Andrea Barsotti, founder of Kiss from Italy, a boutique private tour operator based in the region. "I remember watching Azzurra race at the America's Cup, the first Italian boat ever to compete, when I was still in high school. If you'd told me back then that one day the Cup itself would be raced in the Bay of Naples, I don't think I'd have believed you. And yet here we are."
What Is the America's Cup — and Why Does Naples Winning the Right to Host It Matter?
The America's Cup is the oldest trophy in international sport, predating the modern Olympics by 45 years. First contested in 1851 around the Isle of Wight, off the South coast of England, it has since grown into a global spectacle that combines cutting-edge engineering, elite athleticism and serious geopolitical rivalry between nations. The event is held on a match-race format: the defending team (currently Emirates Team New Zealand) races against the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series in a head-to-head battle for the trophy. Whoever wins holds the Cup, and the right to choose where and when the next edition is sailed.
Previous editions have been held in Auckland, San Francisco, Bermuda and Barcelona. Naples is a step change in terms of setting. The Gulf of Naples is, quite literally, one of the most scenic bodies of water on earth: a natural amphitheatre with Vesuvius rising 1,281 metres to the east, the historic skyline of one of Europe's oldest cities to the north, and the silhouettes of Capri and Ischia at the horizon. Grant Dalton, CEO of Emirates Team New Zealand, described the Gulf of Naples as "perfection" as a racecourse when the venue was announced.
Italy also brings something no previous host city has matched in terms of crowd energy. Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, the Italian challenger, is among the most supported teams in the history of the event. Racing in front of a home crowd in the Bay of Naples, against the backdrop of a country with a centuries-deep maritime culture, will produce an atmosphere unlike anything the America's Cup has seen before.
The Full America's Cup Calendar: Two Chances to See Racing in Naples
One of the least understood aspects of the 38th America's Cup is that the main event in July 2027 is not the only opportunity to see racing. The lead-up to the Match includes a series of Preliminary Regattas — and the second of these takes place in Naples this year, just a few months away.
Preliminary Regatta #2 — Naples, September 24–27, 2026
The grand dress rehearsal. This is the first time the America's Cup comes to Naples, and it represents a genuinely rare opportunity: the chance to experience the event before it becomes the global spectacle it will be in 2027. Teams will race on the same Gulf of Naples racecourse in AC40 foiling monohulls — fast, spectacular boats that fly above the water on hydrofoils — in a fleet-racing format. Five teams are confirmed: Emirates Team New Zealand (the defending champion), Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (Italy's challenger), GB1 led by Dylan Fletcher (Great Britain), Tudor Team Alinghi (Switzerland), and K-Challenge (France).
The atmosphere in September will be electric without being overwhelming. Naples in late September is a city returning to its natural rhythm after summer — warm, golden, less crowded than July, with the sea still at its best for swimming and boat days. For travellers who want to combine America's Cup racing with a relaxed Amalfi Coast experience, the September regatta is arguably the better moment to visit.
The Louis Vuitton Cup (Challenger Selection Series) — Spring 2027
The ultimate knockout tournament. Running through May and June 2027 in the Gulf of Naples, the challenger syndicates—including Italy's beloved Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Great Britain's GB1—go head-to-head in intense round-robin match racing to determine who earns the sole right to face the Defender.
The America's Cup Match — Naples, July 10–18, 2027
The pinnacle of world sailing. Opening races on July 10, with the Match concluded by the weekend of July 17–18. This is the head-to-head between Emirates Team New Zealand and the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup. Races take place on the Gulf of Naples in the AC75 foiling monohulls — boats that sail at speeds exceeding 50 knots and represent the most advanced sailing technology on the planet. The racecourse runs between Castel dell'Ovo and Posillipo, making it viewable from multiple vantage points along the Naples waterfront.
"I tell clients to think of the Cup as a season, not a single race," Andrea notes. "September 2026 is the opening act. Come then, and you'll feel like you got in early on something historic. Come in July 2027 and you'll be inside one of the great sporting moments of the decade. Both are completely different experiences, and both are extraordinary."
Planning your trip around the Cup? Kiss from Italy runs private tours and boat experiences across the Amalfi Coast, Capri, and the Bay of Naples year-round. Get in touch early — availability in the region during both September 2026 and July 2027 will be limited.
Naples During America's Cup: How to Experience the City Without Getting Lost in the Crowds
Naples is not a city that does things quietly. When it hosts an event of this scale — the first time in the history of the America's Cup that racing comes to Italy — the energy will be extraordinary. The waterfront will be transformed. The race village at Bagnoli, a recently redeveloped area on the western edge of the city, will become a hub of team bases, hospitality, and public events. Fan zones, broadcast screens, and live entertainment will run throughout the event period.
All of which is worth experiencing. But it is also worth knowing that 500 metres from the waterfront, Naples remains exactly what it has always been: one of the most layered, complex, and rewarding cities in Europe.
The Historic Centre
Naples' historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a density of churches, underground passages, archaeological layers and street life that has no real equivalent in Italy. Spaccanapoli, the ancient decumanus that cuts the city in half, is still lined with workshops, shrines, and bakeries operating on rhythms that predate the Republic. The underground Naples (Napoli Sotterranea) tours take you through Greek and Roman tunnels beneath the modern city. The Cappella Sansevero contains the Veiled Christ, one of the most technically astonishing marble sculptures ever carved.
The key during race week is timing. Race starts are typically scheduled for late morning to early afternoon. The practical strategy is to spend your mornings at the racecourse or fan village, then move into the city for the afternoon when the racing is done and the waterfront crowds are at their densest.
Where to Eat
Naples is the birthplace of pizza, and the serious pizzerie — Starita, Di Matteo, Concettina ai Tre Santi — are not on the waterfront. They are tucked into the Quartieri Spagnoli, the Sanità neighbourhood, the streets behind the Duomo. Make reservations well in advance for race week; they will fill up.
Beyond pizza, the city's seafood tradition is exceptional. Frittura di paranza, a mixed fry of tiny fresh fish, is the definitive Neapolitan lunch. Spaghetti alle vongole made with clams from the Gulf is something else entirely when eaten 200 metres from where the clams were caught. If you want to know more about which type of food not to miss in Naples, we got you covered.
The Waterfront and the Race Village at Bagnoli
The main public America's Cup Race Village will be centered right downtown along Viale Francesco Caracciolo and the Rotonda Diaz (Mappatella Beach). This puts the heart of the daily fan action, live broadcast screens, and main stage directly on the city's iconic, walkable lungomare. Meanwhile, the team bases for the 38th America's Cup are located at Bagnoli, a previously industrial area on the western edge of Naples that is undergoing significant urban regeneration specifically around this event. This will be the closest point to where the teams are building and training their boats. The public areas of the race village are expected to include interactive exhibits, team viewing platforms, and official merchandise, think of it as the America's Cup's equivalent of an F1 paddock, but on the water.
"What people often don't realise about Naples is that it's not one city," says Andrea. "It's about twenty different cities layered on top of each other over three thousand years. You can spend your mornings watching the fastest boats in the world fly across the Gulf and your afternoons walking streets that haven't fundamentally changed since the Greeks built them. That combination doesn't exist anywhere else."
Travelling with a +1 Who Isn't Into Sailing? You're Covered
A lot of America's Cup trips are not solo trips, and not everyone in the group necessarily cares about foiling monohulls and pre-start tactics. If that sounds familiar, don't worry, this is one of the easiest places in the world to plan around.
"What we are starting to hear from our clients is 'I'm coming for the Cup, but my partner / my parents / my kids couldn't care less about sailing, what do they do?'" Andrea says. "And honestly, it's almost a non-issue here. Naples and this coastline have so much packed into such a small area — art, food, ancient history, islands, beaches — that the non-sailor in the group is usually the one who ends up with the fuller itinerary. We've been building trips around exactly this mix for years. Everyone gets their version of the trip, and most evenings you end up debating who had the best day."
Beyond Naples: Why Smart Visitors Combine the Cup with the Amalfi Coast
Here is the thing about the Bay of Naples that the race programmes don't mention: it is surrounded by some of the most spectacular coastal scenery in the world, and most of it is accessible by boat in under an hour from the city centre.
Races at the America's Cup do not run all day. There are days off between races, waiting days when conditions are assessed, and the simple reality that even the most devoted sailing fans tend to have travelling companions who want to see more than a racecourse. The geography around Naples makes that extraordinarily easy.
Sorrento as Your Base
For travellers who want to combine America's Cup attendance with Amalfi Coast experiences, Sorrento is the answer. Positioned on the tip of the Sorrento peninsula, about 50 kilometres south of Naples and reachable in 45 minutes by the Circumvesuviana railway or by hydrofoil, Sorrento sits at the precise hinge point between the Bay of Naples and the Amalfi Coast. From Sorrento, you can reach Naples for race days in under an hour. From Sorrento, you can be on a private boat heading toward Positano, the Amalfi grottos, or Capri in 15 minutes.
The logistics work in a way that no other base in the region can match.
The Amalfi Coast by Private Boat
There is a version of the Amalfi Coast that most people never experience, because most people see it from a bus on the SS163 coast road, which is one of the most congested stretches of tarmac in southern Italy in July. Don’t get me wrong: the coast road is indeed spectacular. But there is a better way to live the Amalfi Coast.
The Amalfi Coast from a private boat is a different country. You approach Positano from the sea and understand immediately why Steinbeck called it a dream place. You anchor in coves that have no road access, where the water is clear enough to see the bottom at ten metres. You round the headland toward Praiano, past sea stacks and stone arches, with the cliff villages rising above you and nobody else in sight. The famous Li Galli islands, where Nureyev once lived, sit just offshore. The sea grottos — emerald, blue, white — are reachable in summer when the swell allows, and from a private boat you can choose your moment.
A Kiss from Italy private boat tour along the Amalfi Coast can be tailored to a half day or a full day, departing from Sorrento or Positano. The skipper knows the coast. The itinerary is yours.
Capri
Capri is just 40 minutes from Sorrento by private boat and, approached from the water rather than the ferry terminal, feels like arriving somewhere that was made specifically for this moment. The Faraglioni rock stacks rise 100 metres out of the sea. The Blue Grotto, where the seawater glows electric blue in the morning light when conditions allow, is one of those places that photographs have somehow undersold.
The island has a reputation for glamour and crowds, both of which are accurate from the ferry port and the main piazzetta. From a boat, with the freedom to anchor in the quieter bays, to swim off the rocks at Punta Carena, to catch the light on the Marina Piccola in the late afternoon, it is one of the best days possible in the Mediterranean.
"What I hear most from clients after a day like this is some version of the same thing: they didn't expect it to feel quite so good," Andrea says. "Anchoring for lunch at a restaurant you can only reach by boat, with the captain timing everything so you're never rushed. The scenery — Positano from the water, the cliffs of Capri, the light in the late afternoon — it's the kind of beautiful that's hard to describe properly until you've seen it yourself. People come back talking about the freedom of it, having a boat and a captain just for them, going wherever they want, stopping whenever they want. And I understand exactly why, because these are some of my own favourite places, not just in Italy but anywhere. There's something about this coast from the water that's simply magic, every time."
Ready to build your Amalfi Coast days around the Cup? Kiss from Italy offers private full-day and half-day boat tours along the Amalfi Coast and around Capri, departing from Sorrento. Both September 2026 and July 2027 availability is open — and given the number of visitors expected in the region across both event windows, early booking is strongly recommended.
Gallery
View all 8 photos
A 7-Day Itinerary Built Around the America's Cup in Naples
This itinerary is designed around the July 2027 Match, but the structure works equally well around the September 2026 preliminary regatta. Every day below moves seamlessly between racing, history, food and the sea — the kind of week where someone else has quietly handled the driver, the guide and the boat, and all you have to do is show up.
Day 1 — Arrive Naples A private driver is waiting at the airport, and within the hour you're checking into a hotel in Posillipo or Chiaia, with the Gulf laid out in front of you. As the light turns gold, you walk down to the lungomare. Dinner is seafood, a glass of Falanghina, and the first sight of the AC75s moored along the waterfront — tomorrow, you'll watch them fly.
Day 2 — Race Day and the City Morning on the water's edge as the fleet accelerates onto its foils — close enough to feel it. By early afternoon, a private guide is walking you through Spaccanapoli: into churches that have stood since before Columbus, past bakeries that have made the same sfogliatella for generations, and into the Quartieri Spagnoli, where the city's real life happens. Dinner is pizza, in the city that invented it, at a table your agent booked weeks ago because they knew it would be full.
Day 3 — Naples Underground and Pompeii Beneath the city, a guide leads you through Greek and Roman aqueducts carved into volcanic rock — quiet, cool, and three thousand years deep. From there, a private car takes you to Pompeii, where an archaeologist-guide brings the frozen city back to life: the same morning light, the same bay, the volcano still there on the horizon. The contrast with what you saw racing yesterday — ancient catastrophe and modern engineering, on the same water — stays with you the whole drive back.
Day 4 — To Sorrento, and Onto the Water Checkout is unhurried — a private transfer by car or boat carries you and your luggage to Sorrento, where the pace of the trip changes completely. By early afternoon you're aboard a private boat heading along the Amalfi Coast: Positano rising from the cliffs as you approach from the sea, a stop in a grotto where the water glows, lunch at a restaurant that has no road and no name on Google — only a jetty and a captain who knows the owner. You're back in Sorrento for sunset, salt-skinned and unhurried.
Day 5 — Capri, Properly Your boat leaves before the ferries do. Capri from the water, in the early light, with the Faraglioni rising out of a sea so clear you can count the rocks beneath you. The Blue Grotto, swim stops off Punta Carena, lunch wherever the captain suggests — and by the time the day-trippers are arriving on the morning boats, you're already somewhere they'll never reach. Late afternoon back in Sorrento, with most of the day still in your legs.
Day 6 — Amalfi and the Hills Above A slower morning by boat to Amalfi town — the cathedral, the old maritime republic's harbour, a coffee in the square. From there, a private driver winds you up to Ravello, where the gardens of Villa Cimbrone open onto what might be the single best view on this entire coast. Lunch with that view. A final evening back in Sorrento, the kind where nobody wants to be the first to say it's time to head back.
Day 7 — Final Race Day, Depart A last private transfer — by boat, if the sea is kind — back to Naples for the final day of the Match. Whether it's already decided or still on a knife edge, the city around you will feel like nowhere else on earth that day. From there, straight to the airport or the station, already planning the next trip.
Practical Planning: What You Need to Know Before You Book
Book accommodation early — very early
This cannot be overstated. Naples in July 2027 will be the most visited it has ever been. Hotels in the Chiaia and Posillipo areas — the best locations for both race access and quality of stay — are already receiving significant advance enquiries. Sorrento, Positano and the Amalfi Coast villages will similarly fill up for both September 2026 and July 2027. If you are reading this in 2026, book now.
Getting between Naples and the Amalfi Coast
The Circumvesuviana railway runs from Naples Porta Nolana to Sorrento in approximately 65 minutes and is the most reliable surface connection. Hydrofoils run from Molo Beverello (Naples port) to Sorrento, Capri, Positano and Amalfi directly — in summer these are frequent and fast. The coast road by car is scenic but slow in high season and essentially gridlocked on peak summer days. For the Amalfi Coast itself, the water is always the better option.
Weather in July and September
July in Naples is hot and dry — average highs of 30–32°C, low humidity compared to northern Italy, reliable sunshine. Sea conditions are generally calm, making it an excellent month for boat days. The sea temperature in July reaches 25–26°C. September is, many would argue, the better month: slightly cooler (26–28°C), still reliably sunny, and significantly less crowded. The light in September on the Amalfi Coast is exceptional.
Watching the Racing
The America's Cup races are free to watch from the Naples waterfront and from the official fan zones. The racecourse runs between Castel dell'Ovo and Posillipo — both accessible on foot from the centre. For premium viewing, official hospitality packages will be available through the America's Cup Events organisation. For an extraordinary vantage point outside the official racecourse, a private boat in the spectator fleet is an option some visitors arrange through local operators. Tickets and event information are available at americascup.com.
Teams to Watch
- Emirates Team New Zealand (The Defender): The benchmark — four-time Cup holders and the team that has defined modern America's Cup racing.
- Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: The home crowd's team and historically one of the sport's most fiercely competitive challengers.
- GB1: Led by Dylan Fletcher and representing a powerhouse British program built over a decade by Sir Ben Ainslie.
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing & Orient Express Team: Swiss precision and French tactical flair complete the high-speed field.
Plan Your Trip with Kiss from Italy
Kiss from Italy is a boutique private tour operator specialising in the Amalfi Coast, Capri, Positano, and the wider Campania region. We run exclusively private tours: no groups, no shared boats, no fixed itineraries, and we have been doing so long enough to know exactly where to go, when to go, and how to make a day on this coast feel entirely your own.
For travellers visiting the region around the America's Cup — whether in September 2026 for the preliminary regatta or July 2027 for the Match — we are available to help you build the Amalfi Coast portion of your trip: private boat tours, custom itineraries, and on-the-ground advice from a team that knows this water intimately.
Both event windows are open for booking now. Given the exceptional visitor numbers expected in the region during both periods, we recommend reaching out well in advance.
Contact Kiss from Italy to plan your trip
Explore our private experiences: