Sorrento - stay in town or at beautiful hotel with view?

For Sorrento, I would go for the view and enjoy the walk as a personal "passeggiata". It may give you a sense of temporarily living there.

Is there a local bus that can get you to town?

I think, once again, that Zoe is right. We just got back from Sorrento, having stayed in town at Piazza Tasso, which is because almost every place down near the marina was still closed for the season. Not that we would've stayed there even if they were open, because from what I had seen in season the prices of the rooms and the corresponding restaurants were astronomical to my way of thinking.

But in hindsight, I probably would try getting the best deal down by the water, do your 'passiegiatas' as Zoe says, because there is certainly a therapeutic benefit to waking up and seeing beautiful vistas out the window. In town, you see cars, Vespas, buses, and a lot of old stuff. Maybe there is a certain charm to that, but I didn't see it. In other words, it wasn't Rome.

However, most every restaurant in town--and we hit 4 different ones for dinner while there, one of them twice, are really solid and very reasonably priced. Great food overall. We were tempted to try Il Buco--down towards the water but walkable--on our last night, but why spend 100 Euro a head when we could get a fabulous dinner for no more than 50 Euro for the two of us? I hope that's not perceived as being cheap--if it is, oh well... :)

I didn't inquire, but I believe there is a local bus that runs between the marina and town--I saw it a few times but wasn't sure of its route or schedule. And I know there are taxis. If you say it's a 25 minute walk up to town, remember it's uphill and probably not real pleasant because of that. Oh, yes, we did like being near the bus/train station. It allowed us to make spur-of-the-moment decisions to go to Naples or Positano, while we were doing our decision-making in between the raindrops.

So...in conclusion, stay down near the water, determine a reliable means of transport up to town and to the bus/train station, and enjoy Sorrento!

We were faced with the same choices but based on our purpose for staying in Sorrento, to visit Pompeii and visit some towns on the Amalie coast, we chose a hotel in town closer to the train station and restaurants and the fact that we have a short 3 night stay. If we were staying longer we would probably choose a hotel like you described, far away from town with views. We are doing more of a fast travel style this trip so in town meets our needs.

We stayed close to the hotel you mentioned. The walk into town wasn't that far. It is a little bit of a hike back but we walked slow and enjoyed the view. We stayed at Hotel Settimo Cielo. Looks like the hotel you chose is just a short distance away. I definitely recommend the hotel with the view!

By all means stay overlooking the ocean. So what if you good tired of walking to the train station (you won't) - then hire a taxi and blow 10 euros on the ride and be done with it. What's 10 euros in comparison to a European vacation.

Thank you everyone, for your thoughts. I love this resource!

In my heart I am so keen on the hotel with the view (that is if I end up getting a view, you never can be sure of it)
You are confirming what my inner voice has been telling me all along...
I just needed to hear it from others who have been in the same boat (so to speak) and/or speak from experience.

kind regards ,

Susan from Alberta

Susan, when you book, be sure you request a room with a sea view.

Susan, there is a third alternative. The hotel called Il Nido is outside of town, with a view over the bay from some of the rooms and from the restaurant terrace. They also have a free shuttle that runs from the hotel into the center of town, (and to the train station, if a passenger needs to go there) and then back to the hotel. When I was there in 2014, the shuttle ran every hour or so, in the mornings, and then again from late afternoon through the evenings. It was about a 10-minute drive, as long as there was no traffic congestion. The hotel is very nice, very friendly, the breakfast and restaurants were excellent. The hotel rates were very reasonable, but I would suggest you specifically reserve a room with a balcony and/or view. I chose the most economical room, and that was a little disappointing -- no view from the room, and a somewhat run down wing and room, maybe those have been updated and upgraded since 2014. This hotel has often been recommended on this forum.

We stayed at Hotel Minerva and LOVED having the expansive balcony overlooking the sea and the city. The sidewalk was only a few minutes walk into the main part of town - and you have the views of the bay as you walk ! We had no issues even when we walked back at night.

Enjoy the views and walk !

We stayed at a hotel with great views of the bay. It provided a shuttle service that ran hourly and dropped us off by the train station. When looking at hotels, check whether they will provide shuttle service as well. It took less than 10 mins to get from our hotel to the train station. So worth it for the views!

Having a sea view sounds lovely, but here's why I wouldn't do it.

The train station is a few minutes' walk uphill from the center. After several hours at Pompeii, I'd want to go back to my room for a bit of a rest. With a 30-minute (or more) uphill walk and another 25 minutes back to the center for dinner, that's just adding an hour of walking to a long day on your feet. And you may have to stand on the train to/from Pompeii. It sounds like you'll be there around Easter, so probably lots of tourists.

To get to the ferries, you have to go down from the center to the sea. A climb, though I saw public elevators (closed for the winter) when I was there, costs a couple euros.

I would not relish that extra hour of hiking to/from my room between sightseeing and dinner. If I were going to spend most of my time around the hotel, either enjoying spa/pool vacilities and then going into town late in the day to enjoy the shops and have dinner, or sightseeing (Capri, Amalfi Coast, Pompeii) and then spending a relaxing evening at the hotel, watching the sunset (around 7.30) and dining in, then, it does sound lovely.

So be honest with yourselves. Do you want to relax and do light sightseeing or do you want a more active schedule to see and do more. This is the end of a (presumably) busy (that means exhausting :-) 2 weeks in Italy. If you want to get in as many sights and experiences as possible, then stay in the center. If you want to kick back and veg, go for the view.

I have to disagree with Chani's result. Some days you may not want the walk to your hotel, but you can take an inexpensive taxi if there is no other transportation.

We've stayed at La Tonnarella 3 times, for a week each time, and loved it. There is a town bus that goes from Piazza Tasso up the road to La Tonarella and other hotels, with the bus stop almost in front of La Tonarella. And you can always get the bus from LT back down to Piazza Tasso. Very easy to take the very frequent bus.
The walk down to town or back up never took us 25 min, maybe 15 and is super easy (I have a bad hip, bad back, arthritis... and it was an easy walk) and the view as you walk is amazing.
La Tonnarella has rooms w/large private terraces which we had once, rooms with balconies, rooms w/patios and rooms w/view out your window.
My philosophy is that I went all the way from SF to Sorrento and I would like to stay in a hotel with amazing views of where I traveled so far to see. And, not just the hotel, but if I can afford it, a great view from the room. I spend enough time in the room before and after sightseeing to be important to me.
La Tonnarella also has 2 public terraces, a really good restaurant w/dining on a large outdoor terrace (or inside in bad weather),.. both the terrace and indoor dining room has mind blowing views.
LT also has a private beach (with lounge chairs, an elevator to take you up or down, and LT resto can bring food/drinks to you) that we really enjoyed.
We walked from hotel to train station, both marinas, and all points in between and back to hotel most days and it was never difficult, never a problem.
In fact, it was actually enjoyable and a pleasure.
And, b/c it's not in town, the bonus is it's super quiet at night.

We stayed at Villa Oriana Relais in the hills overlooking the sea (Sant Agnello area). Maria and her staff were happy to sent up tours and get us to the town for dinner and even a day on the road down the Amalfi coast. It is a lovely place with Maria making the different cakes each morning. However you will need a car or use a cab as it is in the hills, which give it the great view. We had no problem getting to/from with a cab as once we parked the car we didn't want to use it again until we left. If you get a chance go to the island of Ischia as it is beautiful (where the Italian go). As to where you want to stay it's a matter of being in the action or coming back to a room with a view after a day out.

I am with Chiani on this (explained it so much better than I did). BUT I also have arthritis in my knees and do not want to be already in pain from the walk to the station or into town before I even get my day started and we don't want to spend extra money on cabs or Ubers. We usually stay central in all cities when we are only there for 2-3 days. We don't really spend that much time in the room to enjoy it and are we really going to be there right at sunset to see the fabulous views? I just don't want to be tied down to those kind of time restraints. We are up early and out and about. When I stay at a fabulous property we usually hang out at the property, eat, take advantage of the pool etc... and that is just not what we do in Italy. At one point I would love to be at the stage where we go to Sorrento and stay at a nice property and hang out for a week.