Hello - we will be staying in Sorrento November 5th through the 8th and were wanting to take day trips to Positano/Ravello and to Capri during that time. But it looks like most of the ferry or boat transportation shuts down on the 31st of October! Does anyone have any idea what our possibilities are for that time of year? Had been wanting to go out to Positano on the bus and return by boat, but not sure that will work. Rick Steves' guidebook outlines a great day trip to Capri using the hydrofoil, but I can't tell if that will be running either. Thanks for any help.
Lots of people live on the island of Capri year around, so boats and ferries don't totally shut down. For sure the links to Naples will operate, and probably those to Sorrento as well. Hydrofoils don't do well in rough seas, but if the seas are calm, they operate year around from Naples for sure.
The navigation to the Amalfi coast is not as crucial, since those are on the mainland and so, unlike Capri, people will not die of starvation without boats. Boat links for the Amalfi coast (including Positano and Amalfi) are a tourist thing, so they are seasonal and don't operate with rough seas. Your only alternative from Sorrento to the Amalfi coast is the bus or a car.
The only way to get to Capri is by boat, so they do run year-round. Take the bus from Sorrento to towns on the Amalfi Coast. There is regular SITA bus service from the Sorrento train station to Amalfi that stops in Positano. To get to Ravello, there's a bus from Amalfi town. If you want to go farther along the coast, you have to take the bus line that runs from Amalfi to Salerno.
Duh...of course people live on Capri. That was very dumb of me. Hope there are some boats running Sorrento to Positano; may do some sort of a tour if not. Thanks.
AFAIK, the last of the ferry lines, other than Sorrento-Capri, shut down for the winter at the end of October. There's no reason not to take the SITA buses - you can download the schedules on their website. One line runs from Sorrento via Positano to Amalfi, another from Amalfi to Salerno - so if you want to continue to say, Minori/Maiori, you'd change buses in Amalfi. The only way to Ravello is by bus or hiking up from Amalfi.