Amalfi Coast from Sorrento

Without a doubt, catch the SITA bus. We did this. Bus to and boat back. Make sure you go a few extra kilometres on from Amalfi and take in Ravello. It's a must see

We took the ferry both ways from Sorrento to Amalfi. The fast ferry over and the show ferry back.

Taking the fast ferry, you are further from shore, the scenery is a bit different. The slow ferry was very enjoyable as we got closer to the towns, and the photography was wonderful.

Make sure you walk from Amalfi to Atrani and find the 1,000 stair hike to Ravello. If you are in decent shape, it's not a hard hike, will take an hour or so and the view is not to be missed.

I've talked to several people who have taken the bus and won't do it again. The view is always the same from the bus, with the boat, you get to see the entire coast line, not just the ocean!

Oh....also, from Sorrento, find a tourist agency and do the tour of Pompei and Mt Vesuvio. There is a great agency in the shopping area just across from the train station in Sorrento. The bus tour was about $100 for 2 of us....both sights included and the guide was fantastic. Elizabeth lives in Rome and gave us the must wonderful history of the area on the ride over and back and our tour of Pomepei was fantastic due to her information!

Does anyone have any more info on the ferry? Do you need to book ahead? Do you know when they run in May?
If anyone has a website with info that would be great!
Thanks

Hope the following 2 web sites help
http://www.costadiamalfi.it/english/timetable_ferries.htm
http://www.coopsantandrea.com/index_en.asp

Great advice so far I take the SITA bus (all the same route) to Ravello enjoy all the great vistas along the way. Then take bus to back to Amalfi, then back to Positano, see Positano on foot and take ferry back to Sorrento from Positano at days end. know the ferry schedule ahead so you do not miss it.
If you don't mind spending the money and you like it to be guided then do so. But it is so easy and cheap to just take the bus and ferry back. I think it is effortless and so memorable.These are walking villages not driving ones. hope this helps.

What drivers do you and/or Rick Steves recommend for Sorrento? Thanks!

Rick Steves recommends Monetti taxi service and they are located in Sorrento.
The following is their web site.
http://www.monettitaxi17.it/English.htm

We're going to be in Sorrento for 4 nights in October and after talking to sev people have decided to save up and hire Rick's recommended taxi driver Carmello Monetti because we would like to go all day and down to Paestum---have e-mailed him and he's been very cordial

This is all very interesting to read. I would of never considered taking a boat back.

Now I have consider the pros and cons of taking a bus down the coast to be able to take a boat ride back.... or hire a driver to take a boat ride back. Does this sound stupid?

Is is possible to do a tour of the Coast and Pompeii in one day?

My home base would be Sorrento for 4-5 nights with my 13 year old daughter.

My husband and I will be in Rome in August and have booked 4 nights at Punta Civita, just outside of Ravello. We are going back and forth as to whether we should rely on public transport to get us from Rome to Ravello, then around especially for tours to Pompeii, Herculaneum and then back to Fumicino for our flight home. Believe it or not, it seems more cost effective to rent our own car and drive, but we are not sure we want to do so after hearing about Amalfi coast roads in August. Any advice? Also this is the first I've heard of bus tours of the ancient sites - I thought we'd have to hire private driver but that might be answer to it all. Any further infor would be greatly appreciated.

Just got back on Saturday. Took the ferry to Amalfi and bus back. The ferry was a disappointment, because it was completely enclosed and filled with 200 very noisy school kids. Could not take pictures and sat in the middle of the boat away from the windows. Some of the other boats we took were nicer, so try to find out which boat you are getting ahead of time.

We've taken the SITA bus and stopped along the way and then returned to Sorrento via the ferry. I would highly recommend that way of travel. It's great to spend some time in Positano, Ravello, and Amalfi and it's also great to see the coastline from the water. We'll be doing it again in a few weeks!

no choice but bus or cab from amalfi to ravello. other than that I recommend ferry. Bus was croweded, hot, noisy and a rough ride....not scenic.

Mr. Monetti is the way to go. Everything Rick says is true. The man has a permanent smile and is very jolly. It is a family run business and Raffael, his son and Tony, a brother in law, do much of the driving. You can't go wrong with their Amalfi Coast tour for 200 Euros. The taxi holds up to 7 people.

We took the ferry back from Amalfi. Don't do it, unless you're idea of how to spend your time on vacation is to watch water go by the boat. We took the boat from Positano to Amalfi, it was a nice ride, not too long. So we said, what the heck, lets take it back to Sorreno. Problem is that it goes all the way around this hook in the coast and you're in for a several hour ride. It's the difference between leaving Amalfi at 2pm and having time at 4pm to do something else in Sorrento, or showing up in Sorrento around 5-6pm. If you're time is not rushed and you don't mind spending the afternoon on the boat it could be ok, but as a typical rushed American who didn't have that much time to spend in the Amalfi coast region I thought I could have made a better use of my time elswhere than on the boat.

Re: Mike in LA...I do not disagree with what you experienced, but that is not what we experienced. We left Naples about 2:15 pm, crossed the bay and stop at small town, then stopped at Sorrento, total ride so far about 40 minutes. Then swept around the tip of the Amalfi peninsula and stopped at Positano, where we got off. total ride no more than 2 hour. When we left it was from positano to amalfi to Salerno. That total leg was about an hour.

Randy, thinking back on the boat ride I now recall that there were boats of various speeds. Were you on one of the faster boats?

On the map (http://tinyurl.com/2arbjd) it shows that to go from Positano to Sorrento by boat you need to go around the tip of the peninsula.

We have a packed itinerary for a 10 day trip in beginning of July. We are going from Rome to Pompei for a tour with Mr. Manfredi (recommended by Rick for Pompei guide). We decided to stay overnight in Sorrento, but must leave the following day for Florence. We can be in Sorrento by 3 PM. My kids very much wanted to experience the famed Amalfi Coast road. Is it feasible on this tight schedule to hire a taxi for a brief jaunt up the Amalfi? Is SITA not an option on such a short timeline?
Any advice would be most appreciated!
- Jeff in Orlando

Our family spent 4 nights in Sorrento in July 2006. We parked our car at our hotel and used the bus and train.

One day we took the train to Pompeii which is very easy to do. Another day we did a daytrip to Capri and Blue Grotto, etc. Another day we took the SITA bus from Sorrento to Positano, spent the day here and then took a boat back to Sorrento--very relaxing.

I am sure my husband could have driven the Amalfi Coast with no problems as the week before we had driven to Vernazza on the Cinque Terre--a very "thin" road. (as they said in their e-mail to us when we booked our accommodations)