Amalfi/Sorrento balance for hikers

We did what you are planning. We only had an afternoon in Ravello and while it was lovely, I would have liked more time. It had been pouring rain so we ended up with a very long lunch in Amalfi. We hiked down through Atrani which involved walking through a restaurant to the tunnel to Amalfi! Maybe there is another way but that is what we were told to do when we asked.

I am not sure how much you are going to feel like checking out Positano really after you hike the Path of the Gods. So consider whether that matters to you or not. A few hints. There is a small store on left as you come off the path that you can buy bus tickets to Positano from. Then there is a bench a little ways down where you can wait. It is a lot of steps down to Positano and your legs will thank you, especially if you have already walked down from Ravello.

I also would recommend the ferry to Amalfi over the bus. You have to walk down to the waterfront from the bus stop. It is really lovely to see the coast from the water.

As far as what to see in Amalfi, there is a cathedral and after that mostly atmosphere. You could see everything with three nights. We, however, did another walk from near the paper mill that was quite nice and ended up in another town. It was a Sunday though and nothing was open and we ended up walking back down a lot of steps. We had intended to take the bus.

You also might want to visit positano a different day than when you hike the Path of the Gods.

We also hiked to the top of Mt. Vesuvius on a different day than we went to Pompeii so that might be an option you would enjoy.

Hi Meghan and welcome to the forum.

There's much more to the Amalfi Coast, although Amalfi and Positano seem to be everyone's favorites these are all very interesting little towns and villages.

https://travelaway.me/beautiful-places-amalfi-coast/

Most are easily reachable by ferry from Amalfi.

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

You have some extra time, why not explore?

For hikes around Sorrento, look at these.

http://www.sorrentotourism.com/en/hiking-trails.php

The tourist office in town usually have maps.

I’m not saying you must do Capri, but it’s much more interesting than Sorrento, and you easily can do four miles of hilly, paved walking. More if desired. Interesting that you are going all this way but disturbed by a one-hour ferry ride price. I liked Capri better than Amalfi. (Slept five nights in Sorrento, purely for transportation.)

Plan your departure day timing now.

We liked amalfi better than both Sorrento and Capri but we were there in July and Capri was ridiculously crowded. I thought Sorrento was a bit Disneyesque after Naples. I have a colleague who was on Capri about the same time as you could be and he thought he had died and gone to heaven.

We went from Positano to Capri and I don’t recall it being that expensive. We went for the day and stored our luggage upon arrival. We then bought tickets to Naples from where we were going to fly home the next day. You could take a ferry from Capri to Sorrento.

Sorrento is really only worthwhile if you plan on seeing Pompeii/Herculaneum/Naples or Capri. There’s nothing special about the place when compared to an Amalfi Coast town. It’s a good base for those sights, but otherwise it’s kind of where people stay when they can’t swing staying on the AC. Based on your stated interests, why not stay the whole week in Amalfi? That way you could do both hikes, and/or see any number of Coast towns. Maybe even just relax on the beach. Capri is as expensive and touristy as you want it to be. So long as you’re not buying a Cartier watch there, it’s no more expensive than Amalfi (which is admittedly not exactly cheap.)

Make sure you take the bus from Nocelle down to Positano at the end of PotG. Do NOT try to hike down to Positano from there, it’s lunacy.

Be sure to check out the two books on hiking in the area (Sunflower and Cicerone)--there are hikes all over the peninsula, so that might help you decide if more time is warranted in Sorrento. Otherwise, I'd keep the balance of time in Amalfi. If you can swing visiting Pompeii en route (depends on your total schedule), then you could stay all six nights in Amalfi.

Thank you everyone for the wonderful advice!

It seems like there is general agreement on sticking with our itinerary as is and going with 4 nights Amalfi and 2 nights in Sorrento.
I really appreciate all the good info on hikes and resources for the area.

Visiting Pompeii enroute to Rome also sounds like it could be a good idea. Especially if we feel like we want a day to explore the region around Sorrento.

Thank you all again for your valuable input!

Cheers,
Meghan