Arienzo Beach Club Positano — Attraction in Positano

YOU MUST AVOID THIS PIT OF MISERY AT ALL COSTS.

Go here if you: Want to pay 4x the prices of all other beach clubs Want to be spoken to in a condescending manner Want to hear every popular radio song from the year 2000 to 2008 blasted at full volume while you're trying to relax

Avoid this place if you: Have good taste in the places you frequent Are not fond of being scammed Want to relax at the beach without hearing "Uptown Funk" 3 times in a span of 2 hours

If you were planning on visiting this beach club at the end of your hike of Path of Gods, or even as part of an plan to spend the day away from the centre of Positano, I would strongly suggest changing your mind.

Upon descending down the steps towards the entrance of the beach club, you can already smell the opportunity to be robbed by the people running the club. Given their lack of accessibility (down a few hundred stairs) and the fact that they have a monopoly over the only toilets and bar on the beach, they have set up the perfect conditions to gouge their prices.

The tacky carpet and red velvet rope at the entrance only further indicates that the managers are clearly confused about the fact that they are nothing but cheap chairs on a patch of sand disconnected from the public beach by a thin piece of string.

We were offered to pay €200 for 2 lounge chairs and a bottle of prosecco. When we told them that we only wanted chairs, we were denied prices and the person minding the rope told us that the only offer was for the chairs and prosecco.

Aside from polluting the piece of the beach where they are operating their greedy scam, they also manage to ruin the experience of all beach-goers (even on the public side) by playing absolutely horrendous music at an extremely loud volume and denying everyone an opportunity to relax and enjoy the sounds of nature.

Establishments like this are the true definition of trash and an embarrassment to the incredible hospitality I have received in Italy throughout...

Truly terrible experience! My friend and I were so excited to come here. Upon arrival, we were sat in the back row (which is totally fine, just context for later) and told that we booked 12:45 lunch, so they will “be back at 12:45 to take our order” and “make sure we already know what we want when they come back at 12:45” - they stressed this multiple times! 12:45 passes and we can’t get anyone’s attention and no one comes to the back row at all. We are trying for 45 minutes to talk to someone and when we finally do, they tell us our ordering window has passed and we’ll have to wait until 2. We’re SO hungry at this point as we thought we’d be eating much earlier and can’t believe there’s no way to get any food at that point. Then, of course, 2 pm rolls around and nothing. We again spend so much time attempting to get someone’s attention and finally are able to grab a runner who goes and gets someone to take our order. At this point we’re pressured into buying more drinks and told we must be wrong about what time we booked lunch (by the same person who told me make sure I know what I want to order at 12:45 earlier) and they make me show my QR code again to prove it. We then mistakenly get brought 2 drinks and are like whatever, we’ll take them! We take sips and go down to the beach and when we come back the drinks are gone. They had taken them back! Not sure if they ended up giving the sipped-from drinks to the chairs they meant to go to. Also, we heard rumors their kitchen was shut down days prior and so the only options were sandwiches and salads, no cooked food. We weren’t warned about this ahead of time so were super disappointed by the...

Summary: Lovely day and worth the splurge to compliment a nice vacation. Base price for back few rows corresponds to value. Be ready to pay $$$ for drinks beyond your included bottle. Don’t rely on staff to provide top notch service and make your day.

Pros: -boat picks you up right beside ferry port which is great if you are coming from sorrento or elsewhere. -boat drivers allowed a few minutes so everyone could get a pic with the coastline backdrop -nice lounge/waiting area before getting on boat where Prosecco served. Makes it feel like VIP experience -loungers nice, water amazing and warm -private beach area. Feels safe to leave your belongings while you swim -music and DJ was good. -drinks were good.

Cons -lunch was just ok, would suggest they focus on executing more simple dishes. -makes you pay for water throughout the day, which I find shameful. -staff are honestly a bit self absorbed and seem disengaged/not interested in serving you. A lot of vaping off to the side/texting. -Beware if you are coming as a group of girls. They might hit on you and make you uncomfortable (overheard it happening to the lounger beside us and read about it in other reviews) -very hard to walk on rocks, bring water shoes. -a lot of instagram photo shooting going on all day. If this bugs you, you won’t like it there. -alcohol not included beyond the bottle you get is $$$$. For reference, bottle of Peroni was 10€, cocktails were 15-20€, cheapest bottle of...