It's been a loooong time since I was on the Amalfi Coast, so looking for your thoughts....
(November trip so hopefully lighter crowds)
Pompeii for a full day (or 2)
Blue Grotto bucket list
Trip to Capua to see the Amphitheater
Option 1: Stay in Sorrento for the Pompeii/Capua days, then overnight on Capri for a night or 2
Option 2: Stay in Sorrento the whole time (I believe they do have a ferry to Capri in November)"
In November there are Monday and Saturday ferries from Sorrento to Capri.
Where are you going after these days?
I would stay in Sorrento the whole time
Since the Blue Grotto is frequently "cancelled" because of rough water, I would expect that November is a month of more cancellations. We skipped the Blue Grotto. Have you checked daily average temperatures for November? Presumably some hotels are closed in November, I would think especially on Capri.
Have you been to the other four ancient sites, as well as Pompeii? Not saying you must do this, but you mention two days at Pompeii.
There is no doubt Sorrento has the best transit connections, and it is closer to Capri than Naples or Salerno. But you should check frequency of ferries from Naples, a big city. November reduces the number of ferries everywhere.
Because people live on the island of Capri, it has ferry service between Sorrento year-round, and every day that sea and wind conditions allow. Yes, they can cancel if the crossing isn't safe.
https://www.sorrentoinsider.com/en/t/sorrento/capri
Tim brought up an important point about the Blue Grotto: the same ferry cancellations for weather apply, and more frequently as this activity involves very small boats (rowboats) that have to enter a very narrow space. In fact, it's currently closed to weather conditions as I'm typing this. So, it's not 100% that you'll be able to cross it off your bucket list if conditions aren't favorable. We skipped it too, were never sorry, and had fun just hoofing around and exploring the island.
To answer a few questions;
This will be after a couple of weeks on Sicily, where we will see Segesta, the Valley of the Temples and Casale. We've seen the Rome Colosseum as well as some of the Roman sites over on Croatia
We will spend a day, maybe part of a 2nd at Pompeii -or- maybe we spend that day heading to Capua
The various competing ferry sites do create some confusion, so thanks.
We will be heading over from Sicily the middle of November
Transit home will either be from Naples or Rome. We're still searching for deals.
If the Blue Grotto in Capri doesn’t work out, don’t despair.
We have been “collecting” blue caves and found three that are bucket-list worthy. I suspect there are even more. We found a spectacular blue grotto in Malta, and stunning blue caves in Bisevo, Croatia (off the coast of the island of Vis) and Kastellorizo, Greece, a tiny island south of Rhodes.
All of these are best seen on a sunny day and none will have the crowds of Capri. We had the Kastellorizo cave to ourselves, just us and the boat captain.
Was there in November 2024. Weather was fabulous. Stayed at Hotel Fortuna, Amalfi, great location. In front of the bus "depot" so could travel west to Portofino and east to Ravello, etc.
Blue Grotto closes Oct 31. Ferries run frequently. All ferry ticket offices were open in November in Amalfi.
Stayed in Naples to go to Pompeii, very easy. Went to Capua, very easy as that is where my grandmother was from. Theatre not open except in summer.
Blue Grotto closes Oct 31.
Hmmm. According to the Capri.com website, the grotto is open (weather permitting) from 9.00 am to 2.00 pm (last entrance at 1:30) November to March. See my link above?
I was there Nov 4-8, 2024 and at that time while I was there information about the BG indicated it was closed. The ferry still ran but BG was closed. I googled BG just now and it does say open all year but can close Nov to March and maybe since I was there just as the summer season ended, they were closed. Very best thing is to check before you go for being opened and then for the weather closer to the day. On my grave will be She double checked, double checked, double checked?
On my grave will be She double checked, double checked, double
checked?
LOL!!! I thought I'd claimed that one for MY tombstone!!! :O)
A "thank you" and a follow up.
We based in Sorrento for 4 nights and had a great trip. I cannot recommend Il San Gaetano pensione in Sorrento strongly enough. DM me for details or check out booking.com
We arrived Naples on the Palermo ferry to a beautiful bluebird morning and took a taxi (I had to barter the price a bit but in retrospect I was happy to have "splurged" vs lugging our packs on the metro/busses. Since we got to the Archeological Museum early, we spent an hour sharing coffee and chatting with a local student at a nearby pasticceria before heading over as the museum opened. We stored our bags at the cloakroom and spent the morning it this ABSOLUTE GEM of a museum. Honestly, this should be required for anyone heading to Pompeii. It really gives you fantastic background before visiting. We took the metro from directly under the museum to the train station and then on to Sorrento.
Blue Grotto
We kept an eye on the weather and a Facebook page dedicated to announcing Blue Grotto openings. For much of the early part of November it was often open. From Sorrento, we booked individual one way ferry tix online to make the most of our visit timing. Having read previous posts I saw that one of the Blue Grotto operators mentioned here (I'll dig up the name) had a few people on a boat getting ready to depart so I snagged a couple seats. The ride was scenic and comfortable. It wasn't a "tour", it was just a direct shot to the cave mouth and back. We arrived just as another boat was finishing up so we got in pretty quick. It's a hoot... from the floating cashier to the hammy, tip-cadging rowers singing for their guests. It was a bucket-list item for my wife and she loved it. I loved the whole crazy experience of it but if I had died without experiencing the Blue Grotto, my life would not have had and empty void. So don't feel sad if you get shut out by weather.
Capri itself is really beautiful and charming in a very polished, and very expensive way. We happily paid €13 for spritzes at the panoramic bar atop the funicular (€3for the drink €10 for the view) and walked to the Giardini Augosto for some different beautiful views. It was a nice day but the early sunset does shorten your time a bit. I would have liked to go to Anacapri.
26 years ago, we used the Amalfi Coast to "take a vacation from our vacation" as Rick said at the time and it was perfect for that purpose again. Slow pace, great dinners, beautiful vistas... yup.
Would highly recommend staying in Sorrento. It’s an ideal location to use as “home base” for the Amalfi Coast. In May 2025, we stayed at the Hotel Conka Park. Very nice spot. Just a short walk to Piazza Tasso and close to outstanding restaurants. Don’t miss Frankie’s Pizza, you won’t be disappointed! For private limo service, I highly recommend Aldo Limos. They were exceptional. They transferred my wife and I to/from Naples Centrale to our hotel in Sorrento. The next morning, we used them to do an 8 hour tour of the Amalfi Coast (Positano, Amalfi, Ravello). We can’t say enough about the service we received from Christina and Aldo. Probably not something you want to do in November, but we used Massimo at The Morgan’s to do a private tour of the Amalfi Coast on one of their yachts. There is no better way to see the Amalfi Coast than by water. Highly recommended. Hope this is helpful.
