Hello.
First, thank you in advance for your help and suggestions. My family and I will be in Sorrento for 5 days in July. For those that have been there, what would you suggest as the best places to visit?
This is my tentative list.
The resorts concierge has other ideas for us but wanted to see what others would recommend.
Thank you again for your help.
If you’re interested in Pompeii, also consider Herculaneum, another, but different ancient site buried by the same Vesuvius eruption.
There’s also the Archaeological Museum in Naples, where most of the treasures recovered from Pompeii are displayed. Naples itself makes a good daytrip from Sorrento. We took an entire day, and got back to Sorrento at night, after dinner in Naples. It is the birthplace of pizza.
If you don't want to overload your brain with the extensive site of Pompeii, Herculaneum is a good option as shared previously. It was covered in ash instead of lava that Pompeii was, and it looks different, as different things were preserved. It was easier for me to picture how things were when I visited. It is easy to do in a few hours without walking A LOT as you would do in Pompeii to visit the entire site.
Tim posted a link to my Trip report above. We were there last April and our primary focus was Pompeii and the other Vesuvius related sites. It depends on your level of interest but the typical 2 hour tour that gets recommended on a lot of sites would have barely scratched the surface of the history of the region. We took a deep dive and spent about 12 hours over two days at Pompeii, plus another two hours at the Villa of Oplontis which is one train stop north of Pompeii. I highly recommend that if you have time. We also spent a day at Herculaneum and several hours of another day at the Archeological Museum in Naples to tie it all altogether.
Naples is also worth a full day and not just for the museum. It is a city unlike any other I've ever been to. It's dirty, grimy, crowded, but a gem to experience.
We enjoyed Capri considerably more than the Amalfi Coast and aside from looking at Positano from above and then from below it is unimpressive and we were ready to move on. Capri is easy and quick to get to by ferry and has views just as spectacular as anything you'll see on the Amalfi Coast. People complain about how crowded Capri is but I suspect there are some who don't plan and go straight to the main street in Capri Town and venture no further. The Rick Steves guide about tackling Capri is very beneficial to beating the crowds.
We did spent two days doing day trips on the Amalfi Coast. Be warned that transportation is chaotic, confusing and unreliable and you'll spent much of your time getting from place to place. We did a 9 hour tour through Mondo Tours and 4.5 of those hours were in a vehicle.
