Need Advice on Day Trip from Sorrento to Amalfi Coast

Very difficult to do it all in one day espec to include the hike.
U can take the public bus and decide which town u wish to visit along the route. Get back on another bus up to Ravello (all about the view and concerts if scheduled) from Amalfi (gd lunch spot). See Ravello take bus down (very curvy narrow rd) to Amalfi and if boats are running take a ferryboat back to sorrento. It is amazing to see the coast from the sea but it only runs in calm seas.
The bus stop for Positano is on the main coastal rd. You must walk steeply down then up again to catch bus.

The Amalfi Coast is indeed beautiful and can be done in a (long) day trip. The hike? Maybe not so much. Look into taking the boat from Sorrento to Amalfi town. You can catch a bus their on to Ravello. After Ravello and Amalfi town, take a bus (much easier to get a good seat on the driver's side) back to Positano. Positano is vertical, that might be enough walking for you! It is beautiful and should not be too crowded at that time of the year. Take the bus from Positano back to Sorrento, again sitting behind the driver for the best views.

The bus depot in Amalfi is right at the water's edge. As is the boat dock (such as it is). Couldn't bee much easier to deal with! The bus stops twice, if memory serves, in Positano. Both are pretty much at the top of the town - it's a long way down and a long way back up. Long, vertical and beautiful.

Why the boat? The coastline is truly breathtaking. The bus ride is beautiful too but kinda like an amusement park ride. There is one boat my friends and I took several years ago that stopped off of Capri to allow everyone to jump into the sea for a swim. Can't do that from the bus! Honestly, I don't know the web address but it shouldn't be difficult to track them down. 5 years later we're still talking about it.

I think you'll be surprised how little logistical work you'll have to do to make this trip. And it certainly can be the "highlight of" your trip.

We've taken the SITA bus in March from the Sorrento bus/train station to Positano. Not very scenic while it goes across the peninsula, but once you get to the coast, oh boy! Great vistas. We actually got off two stops too early, and walked down and around to Positano-town. It had just rained, there was fog and it was great. An unexpected highlight of our trip.

We've also taken the bus from Salerno to Amalfi, also in March but on a different trip. That was like an amusement park ride, as an above poster has stated. Up & down & around, and we got to Amalfi-town in 50 minutes. Great ride for 4 Euro apiece, I think.

Neither of these options will be as enjoyable beginning of June, when there are maybe 10x more tourists than I experienced in March. For that reason, I would research a private driver and split the cost between you four people. It will be pricey, but you'll get to do exactly what you want. And the logistics in high season can make getting around absolutely horrendous.

Enjoy your planning!

A day trip to Ravello is just doable if you got an early start. That extra bus up and back from there sounds short on paper, but you will likely have to wait for the bus both ways. Things like that there’s just no planning for. It takes time. You may not get as much time to explore as you think.

Path of the Gods is a non-starter. You do not have time. I could list a dozen other reasons for not trying. Just take my word for it, it’s not worth the effort. If it was called “Trailhead A” it would not get the attention it does.

I loved Ravello, but that was an enjoyable day trip from Amalfi, not all the way from Sorrento. I would advise you to scale back. Take the ferry to Amalfi, check out the town while you wait for the next ferry back to Positano. I wasn’t a huge fan on the place, but it’s lovely pulling into the harbor and the views on the way are worth the ride. Head back towards Positano, and spend the rest of your day there. Have lunch, relax, and wander the town. It’s lovely. Take the last ferry back to Sorrento (buy tickets when you get there to guarantee a seat).

Whatever you do, I can’t emphasize enough that you should take advantage of the ferries. You get all of the views from the sea (and fresh air). The busses get packed and hot in a hurry. You’ll be happy to get a seat, much less be able to choose which side you get to sit on. Also, you’ll be among thousands of other day trippers, and you’ll all be fighting over the same busses early in the morning and especially later in the day. You can very easily wait for an hour at a bus stop as full busses pass you by.

Thank you all very much for your very valuable information. So if I understand correctly from you these are your suggestions.

1. Hiking is not really worth it and not doable for a day trip. So we will not consider hiking any more for this trip.
2. Boat tour is enjoyable and has different view.

So my current thinking for this day trip is we will just visit three towns: Amalfi, Ravello, and Positano.

Here are the two transportation options I am considering:

Option A - Mondo Guide shared minibus
They have 8 seat or 19 seat shared minibus for $50/pp. It is 8-9 hour tour starting from Sorrento at 9 AM. It will stop at the above 3 towns for 1-2 hour each. This is probably the easiest and most reliable way to do the day trip. The only concern that I have is the view from the minibus. I am not sure if you get as good view as the higher Red Bus or open view from the boat. But they will have photo stops.

Option B - Boat + Bus Options
Take ferry from Sorrento to Amalfi (the first one leaves at 10:30 am which is kind of late, the ferry may not run if the sea condition is rough). If ferry is not running we can take red bus from Sorrento to Amalfi, visit the town. Take SITA bus to Ravello for a short visit. Then take the SITA bus back to Amalfi. The problem here is that the SITA bus runs very infrequently on this route. Timing the visit and make the connection may be tricky. On the way back from Amalfi take Red Bus again and stop at Positano for a visit. Then take the red bus back to Sorrento (hope we can get seat on the bus here in late afternoon). The cost for this option is similar to the option A above if we take the boat ride. The connection is much more unreliable.

In your opinion which option is better for us with our situation and interest.

Thank you again for the help!

The Mondo tour sounds like a good deal, and is probably the best way to see everything you want to see. A couple hours at each stop is enough. I think you’ll see plenty and fine from the bus. I suspect they’ll take you overland to Ravello first, then along the coast to Positano and back the same way.

We did a day trip of the Amalfi Coast all the way from Naples using Rome in Limo https://www.romeinlimo.com/ We did Positano, Revello and Amalfi. It was an amazing day!! The driver was awesome and we had plenty of time in each town. I cannot say enough about this company. We used them in Rome too. Check them out. It's a private car for 2-8 people and you can customize what you want to do and where you want to stop.

This May we plan on renting a car and driving the coast from Sorrento ourselves. It is a windy drive but doable in our opinion on our own.

You will LOVE the Amalfi! It could be crowded that time of year. Particularly the SITA buses. Since this is a day trip, the hired driver would be my choice if it fits into your budget. When we were there in 2015, Salerno was our base of operations since it had so many modes of transportation. We used the ferries exclusively to get up and down the coastal villages, and avoided the crowds on the buses. Ravello was our favorite. The views, the gardens of the Villa Rufolo and the lovely outdoor cafes still stay in my mind.If my mind serves me right, it wasn't a SITA bus that took us from Amalfi up to Ravello. It was a local, but we had to get on at the same bus stop where the SITA buses were. We had to ask to make sure we got on the right one. The only downside to a driver will be missing the view of Positano as you approach the harbor from the water. Nonetheless, it will be a wonderful day of seeing the Amalfi Coast. Enjoy!!

Do the Mondo Tour, you'll have much less time on the road and more in the towns. Do Ravello first. The views of the Coast are amazing as you travel to Ravello.

With three days, you should have time to do the Path of the Gods. Just start as early in the morning as possible.

In the long run, ferrys will save you time. Just because a bus is scheduled, does not mean there will be room. If it's full it doesn't stop.

Keep in mind the red bus cannot go any faster then the traffic in front of it. You might have better views, but lots of dust and fumes from the vehicles in front of you. I'm not sure this bus runs to Amalfi anymore.