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amalfi coast

Hello
My family of 4 adults will be spending 4 nights in Sorrento in May. I am booking a private driver to take us to Amalfi/Ravello/Positano for one of the days. I have 2 1/2 more free days and the 1/2 day will be just walking around Sorrento etc. For the remaining 2 days- I was planning on visiting Capri one of the days- but not sure if we should just wing it and take a ferry or boat ride over there on our own or to plan something. We do not want to snorkel- but would not mind a nice boat ride either. I am also not sure what to do on our third free day. Any suggestions are appreciated and btw we are not worried too much about cost- and don't want to deal with busses on our own etc.

Posted by
8223 posts

You can go to Pompeii on the one day as it is easy to get to from Sorrento. Look on the Internet or in a guide book to see if Pompeii would be of interest.

Posted by
12031 posts

Pompeii or Herculaneum are the obvious choices for your 'third' day.

Posted by
8022 posts

Good decision on the private driver. Note that the rear seat of the sedan will have three people in it.

One decision you have to eventually make about Capri is whether to waste (Opinion! We skipped it.) hours on the Blue Grotto. You can barely scratch the surface of Capri in one day, and it takes a lot of walking (like Pompeii.) Taxis cannot go to even half of Capri. But we've been there twice, and liked it. It will be sweltering in May.

I've read here about private boat trips to Capri, with a ride around the island. Most people take the commercial ferries, which are not "a nice boat ride", but rather a cheap, efficient, comfortable (on windy days, for example!) delivery to the island. We didn't reserve, but the ferry company will pressure you to buy your fixed-time return ticket when you set out. That actually is a good idea, since we had to sit on the floor of our multi-hundred passenger ferry on the late May return. (Beer from the bar made it easier.)

There are several ways to get to the ferry docks, depending on where your hotel in Sorrento is.

My favorite activity in Sorrento was taking the 2 or 3 Euro bus up to Sant' Agata sui Dui Golfi, having a local lunch (microscopic downtown), view from the Monastery, and then walking 1.5 hours downhill to Sorrento. This does not require hiking shoes, because the highly improved path and steps are 98% paved. But you might get bloody feet if you do this in flip flops or sandals, because of the steep grade down.

Not to overstate the case, and sorry to sound pedantic, but note that Sorrento is just "before" the Amalfi Coast begins. It is the ideal place for daytrips. Read some old posts here about the Circumvesuviana. (Search box top center.) We used it to get TO Sorrento, but since the taxi to the hotel cost 15 Euros anyway, we had the hotel order a 90 Euro car service back to the Naples rail station.

Posted by
4105 posts

Since you don't want to do busses to travel the Amalfi Coast, then a private driver is your best bet. You could also use the ferries to reach all the towns on the AC, not just Amalfi, Positano and Ravello. Google, Atrani, Minori, Maiori, and Vietri sul mare to see if they are of any interest. Timetables here.

https://www.travelmar.it/downloads/orari_travelmar.pdf

Be sure to check the return ferry times.

To reach Capri you have to first reach the ferry dock. Taxi or little bus will get you down there.
Ferry schedule. https://www.sorrentoinsider.com/en/ferry-schedule?from=sorrento&to=capri#

For transit on Capri...use the cute taxis.

http://www.capriislandreview.com/capri-taxi-prices--guide.html

Things to do on Capri

http://www.capriislandreview.com/capri-itineraries.html

Look at all the itinerary and choose the places you want to visit.

Hope this is of some help.