3 Days in Sorrento

We are also spending 3 nights in Sorrento. You might check for info on related threads. We are stopping at Pompeii on our way to Sorrento from Rome. There is luggage storage. We did think about stopping at Herculaneum on the way back to Rome, but I am hearing there may not be luggage storage there.

If you arrive in Sorrento by 12:30-1:30 drop your luggage at your lodging, take the little bus down to the port and hop the ferry to Positano. "It's a small village" wander around have dinner then take the bus back to Sorrento.

Ferry & Bus timetables

https://www.positano.com

Day 2 head to Pompeii as early as possible, grab a guide at the entrance. Plan on a 2 hour tour and 1-2 hours extra to explore on your own.

Day 3 do Herculaneum & the Archeological Museum then one of the great Napoli pizza 🍕.
To complete your evening.

Do make sure to check return times by bus and Circumvesuvian from both Positano and Napoli.

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. I think we'll try to make it to Positano the day we arrive in Sorrento.

I would certainly give Positano - and Amalfi - more than a half day. If you have three nights in Sorrento devote one full day for the Amalfi Coast. Not sure if the boats are still running in Oct, if they are take the boat one way and the bus back. If not, the bus both ways is fine. You can fit both Amalfi and Positano into one full day, if you move fast even include Ravello. The other full day you can do Pompeii and the archaeology museum in Naples. Depending on your pace you might be able to include Herculaneum as well, but if not than you could always do that en route to Florence. You'd need to check into luggage storage in that case.

Thank you, Isabel. We can tour Pompeii on our way to Sorrento as was suggested earlier, which will leave us one day for the Amalfi coast. Do you have any suggestions on how best to visit the Amalfi coast if we only have one day to spend?

But don’t short-change Sorrento itself, our favorite town on the AC (although not technically the AC, might as well be). It’s worth your time too, not just as a place to sleep. I like Positano, but don’t love it. We do love Pompeii and Herculaneum.

You have a brutally busy itinerary, so be prepared for typically half-hour intervals between SITA busses and between Circumvesuviana trains. (Plus normal southern Italian non-punctuality.) We waited an hour (in summer) for a lunch seat at a “name” pizzeria in Naples. Don’t skip the Farnese Marbles at the Archaeology Museum.

Keep in mind that Herculaneum is 15-minutes downhill of the Circumvesuviana station, and has no food inside. (Pompeii does.)

Although I saw too many of the same old international clothing and jewelry boutiques in Positano, I would say that Positano (and even more, Ravello) are much more interesting and unique than Sorrento. But Sorrento has more and cheaper hotels, and much better transit connections.

Everyone is different... Positano is a pretty hillside town. It is very steep from the beach up to the top, which means steep uphill/downhill walking, it was mostly tourist shops and restaurants. We enjoyed being there for a few hours, but no desire to go back.

For me, Sorrento is beautiful, mostly flat, on the cliff with mind blowing views. All of Sorrento is charming and fun to explore. Good stores, good places to eat. And, like Tim said, a transportation hub which makes it easy to get anywhere. I find Sorrento to be super relaxing and very enjoyable.

Thanks, Tim. One thing we try not to do is overload our schedule and be rushed going from place to place. Wish we had an extra day in the area but our schedule is pretty locked in. Our primary reason for staying in Sorrento was to use it as a jumping off point for Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the Naples Archeological Museum. Might just keep to the original plans. and not overload the schedule. I'm sure we'll enjoy it whichever way we go!

“I'm sure we'll enjoy it whichever way we go!”

You definitely will. There really are no bad choices in this area, they are all winners.

What a great community.....thanks to all of you for taking the time to provide your experiences and suggestions!

This will be expensive but you could hire a private driver for the day. He/she can take you to the Amalfi coast. It usually is an all day experience. You get to build your own itinerary so go where you want for as long a you want. Again, it is expensive but if time is an issue it is one way to go.

A private driver is a good option, but we much prefer taking a boat to Positano / Amalfi. It’s a fun experience in and of itself.

I'm going to Sorrento in October for two weeks... and spending a few nights in Ischia...having beer or wine while watching the sunset is the best thing ever.

We were in Sorrento for five days two years ago and enjoyed every day immensely. The scenery from the beautiful bay of Napoli at night time Is etched in my memory. I would suggest you go to Herculaneum early one day then go into Napoli and the museum. I wouldn’t waste time going back and forth so much. Then you have a day to spend in the Almafi coast or Capri. Also, beware that the SID buses to Positano, Ravello, almafi at the end of September when we went were packed full each time. My husband and I both got sick on the bus (literally) due to the motion, heat (no ventilation) and amount of people. My niece and nephew took the city sightseeing bus that they got at the train station down to Ravello and had no problems, since everyone had a seat and there was ventilation for just a few euros more (as opposed to a private driver). Good luck

My wife and I stayed 3 nights in Sorrento, arriving Aug 23 (Fri) and leaving the 26th (Mon). The following schedule worked well for us. I definitely recommend the Mondo Tours Amalfi Coast tour, which we did the second day. This tour was apparently created with input from Rick Steves.

Aug 24 (Sat): the original plan had been to go to Naples first and visit the Archaeological Museum, and then visit Pompeii. We decided to skip the Museum and instead did the following:
- 8:27am: boarded Circumvesuviana train in Sorrento and arrived Pompeii about 9am. We used the Rick Steves audioguide and though the route could not be followed exactly, it was great. In fact, a gentleman who had rented the local audioguide came to us asking questions as he was confused by his audioguide. Arriving early is a good move. There was barely a crowd at that time. Be sure to walk out of the station to the right to the ticket office. On leaving the station there were several aggressive young men attempting to sheperd people to the left by declaring that "the" ticket office was located in that direction. In reality these were entry tickets that included private guided tours. NOTE also that the Pompeii ticket office had NO printed maps; they said they were out and instead provided a url for downloading a map. There are copies of the map, however, that can be photographed - though we didn't need them as the Rick Steves map included with his book and audiotour was sufficient.
- 11:37am: boarded train for Naples. Our only goal for Naples was to have pizza. We completed that, as well as a partial Rick Steves walk, before catching 5:15pm boat back to Sorrento. (we missed the earlier boat so waited an hour or so for this boat).
- Walked into Sorrento from ferry boat landing, doing the Rick Steves walk in reverse.

Aug 25 (Sun). 9am to 5pm: Mondo Tours Amalfi Coast tour. I will post a complete review separately. Essentially you have a driver/tour guide who takes you to three towns (Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello). At each town you are on your own to explore for an hour or more, before meeting back with the driver to proceed to the next town. A great value.

We left early the next day. Some additional notes:
- We visited Gelateria David twice. (Mentioned in RS Italy guidebook). Excellent.
- Circumvesuviana train. As our Mondo Tours guide (Vincenzo) humorously described it: "a very special local train". If buying a ticket (at least in Naples) you'll need less than a 20 Euro bill (unless buying multiple tickets). We saw one poor Italian woman unsuccessfully pleading at all the windows to please take her 20 Euro bill. For safety we always rode in the first or second cars, and didn't have any problems. The hostess of our HomeAway apt warned us that trains are sometimes cancelled without notice, and on our final day advised us to leave at least one train earlier than planned in order to be sure to catch our connecting train out of Naples.

Enjoy!

I think Jeff's plan for the Pompeii/Naples day is good. And I'm not saying the "tour" of Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello might not be a good 'value' for some people but I can't believe, that financially at least, it is a good 'value' for most people. You can do the exact same thing with the bus. If you are there while the ferry boats are still running (they stop sometime in October I think) you can take the ferry from Sorrento - stay on past Positano (wonderful view of the town from the water) - to Amalfi. Take a short separate bus ride up to Ravello, see that and return to Amalfi and spend some time there. Then take the bus back to Positano and finally back to Sorrento. If the ferries are not running you just take the bus in both directions. I have done all three towns like this several times and it fits nicely in one day (about 9am-5pm or so) as long as you don't want a really long lunch. You really can't do it much faster with a "tour". And it doesn't sound like the "tour" includes anything in the towns themselves - which makes sense as they aren't that kind of place. They are more for wandering and views and just 'being there' as opposed to large cities where having a guide helps you navigate efficiently. I wonder what the price of the "tour" is. But if money is no object then of course a private driver is probably nicer than a bus.

Really appreciate all of the suggestions! I'll post our Sorrento trip itinerary afterwards and hopefully will add to the information that's out there for others.

Be sure and take into account any regular closures. The Naples Archeological Museum is closed on Tuesdays.

Good point. Thanks.

I would suggest Pompeii as the destination for the day, not a stop on the way to somewhere else.

The day we did it, from Sorrento, I would not have wanted to have been doing it 'on the way' to somewhere.

Its a choice you have to make of how much you want to cram in to one day