12 nights in Italy Jul/Aug 2023 - trip report part 2: Sorrento

Continued…

At 5pm our guide met us and we learned, once again, we were the only 2 on the tour - another private tour at a group price! Off we went for a short walk to the van, then a short drive out of the city center where we parked and began the bike tour of the coast between Sorrento and Massa Lubrense.
Our guide, Peter, took us to various stops and gave us information about the region, the villages and many photo opportunities including the most amazing views of Capri from the closest point to the island from the mainland, I think he said it was about 5 miles away.

Our final stop was at “Il Convento”, a farmhouse/agriturismo and producers of limoncello. Here we learned about the process of limoncello production from start to finish and because we were the only on the tour we were given samples of various different items, including two marmalades; all were amazing. If we can get our lemon tree at home to produce we will have to try to make our own limoncello!

When we returned to the city center a storm was brewing and so we sat down for dinner a few doors from our hotel. While we were seated outside under cover the rain began. It was quite refreshing to finally have a drop in temperature to end our first full day in Sorrento.

The next day we had a tour planned for Naples (also via Guru walk), but we decided to cancel for a few reasons: (1) Considering our walking tour the day before was cancelled, we were worried if this was to be canceled at the last minute as well, we may lose $$ and time in taking the train and 1 hour 10 minutes each way.
(2) Given a story told to us by our bartender at the hotel how her hubby was taken by a pickpocket…granted it was a matter of situational awareness where the guy distracted him, then slashed his bag and got off with a lot of $$.
(3) Given a friend whose family lives in Italy and an acquaintance both recommended staying away

We were not brave enough to take on Naples for the first time on our own.

Second full day in Sorrento

Since we had cancelled our tour of Naples, we slept in and woke up to a beautiful, clear, cooler morning after the rain. We enjoyed breakfast at our hotel and then decided to go for a stroll while it was cool. Although the weather read as high 70s, it felt like high 80s with the humidity; it was still a welcome drop in temperature.

With the possibility of light rain, we opted to stay in the city center for a relaxing day - it took us 6 days to finally really embrace the Italian way of il dolce far niente. We walked down the main drag taking in the vibe of the city on a weekend morning. Continuing on we walked nearly to marina grande for a few photos and then back up for an apertivo on one of the back streets. Wow, it was a refreshing generous sized limoncello spritz for €6, I’ll take this any day of the week over a $15 drink at home. Over the course of our stay we returned multiple times: Antica Gelateria Sorrentina

With great timing we were nearly back to our hotel when the rain rolled through again; although it was supposed to be minimal, it hit hard to begin, so we quickly changed into sneakers and warmer clothes as the rain brought a quick drop in temperature. We picked up an umbrella and back down through the city we went. Now, and for the first time in clothing appropriate for church, we popped into a church for a picture and had the pleasure of seeing the most beautiful bride posing for pictures in front of the church.
..To be continued..

Continued…

For dinner we opted for one of three restaurants we had been eyeing and could not have made a better choice, we may have been the only tourists there: Chantecler’s Trattoria (address Via Santa Maria della Pieta 38).

The wait staff was so welcoming and the service excellent. Here we enjoyed a leisurely 2+ hour dinner where each course was timed perfectly to be brought out only after each course was finished. Our meal consisted of: Bruschetta, our first on this trip; a shared primi of tagliatelle with pesto (even my hubby - who is not usually a fan of pesto - loved it and had two servings!); and a secondi of steak for the hubby, and chicken breast with Sorrento lemon for me.
Earlier in the day a waiter at another stop for an apertivo had taught the hubby the appropriate way to request the check ‘posso avere il conto per favore’ and he was able to do so after dinner, finally understanding my nervousness in attempting to speak Italian to the locals. He asked me to thank them for the amazing dinner, so I stopped the server as she passed by to say for him ‘questo ero il mio favorito in italia’ I think I got it somewhat correct but probably should have said ‘that’ instead of ‘this’; she knew what I meant and was beaming at the complement. Another server then brought over our check, and complementary limoncellos.

What a fantastic second day with another free day ahead.

Last full day in Sorrento

Awoke the next morning with no head ache and no hangover, which was surprising given I had enjoyed a 1/2 liter of wine on my own with dinner the previous evening; I think the key may be the wine, as I can always count on a headache the morning following a single glass at home.

Although I had hoped we would make a day trip to Capri during our stay, we had not yet hit the beach in Sorrento, so after breakfast we decided to head down to marina piccola. Lessons learned this trip - plan better in the future to: (1) avoid the weekend when day trippers come in; and (2) maybe more so important to consider in the summer month of August when the locals go on holiday.

In any case, we made our way down the stairs from Piazza Tasso in lieu of taking the €1,10 per person, per direction elevator (pinching pennies adds up!) it was a quick and easy walk and quite a treat to see the ocean come into view on the walk.

We made our way to inquire at two of the private beaches where beach chairs and umbrellas are available for rent starting at €10 and up; the first beach was “full”, the second had a long line that did not appear to be moving and may have only been doing so as patrons left. There remained the options to scout out more private beaches for openings or try to locate the only small public beach in the immediate vicinity. We opted to instead take the free route of sitting on the wall overlooking the rocks at the marina that reminded us of the Dana Point jetty back home, sans walking over the rocks. It was cool, not packed and a satisfying alternative; the water very well may have been too cold anyways. After enjoying for some time, we found our way back up the cliff through another route nearer to the elevator by foot, this time instead mostly a paved inclining path of switchbacks with some of the route weaving in and out of the cliffs; not a difficult hike back up and worth it for the many stops it allowed for photos. This may have been my only real “hike” of the trip since we did not end up making the hike up to Piazzale Michelangelo in Firenze.

As we headed through Villa Comunale toward our hotel we happened upon an artist at work painting - these are our favorite lucky finds! We decided to come back later to pick up a piece for our collection at home.

…To be continued…

Continued…

In the early afternoon we returned to the same bar as the day before for another limoncello spritz, and given they did not offer any savory bites, stopped back into another bar near the hotel for a light lunch of a sandwich and a fried bucatini pasta with béchamel; the fried bucatini seemed odd to me but the hubby loved it.

After returning to purchase some artwork from the artist we stopped along the main drag for gelato at a spot I’d been eyeing since our first day, Raki (address: Corso Italia 96). We lucked out there was nearly no line and so I had my final gelato in Sorrento. It was as good as the reviews I had read said.

Before retreating for a break to relax our final evening we stopped for our last apertivo (did I mention this was primarily a food trip ? haha!).

I can’t believe how quickly our time in Sorrento passed even though we, for the most part, just wandered around. This little town really enchanted us. I’m sorry Roma, but I may have found a new love. The hubby has officially confirmed he prefers Sorrento to Firenze.

Departure from Sorrento

The morning of departure the streets were busy with what appeared to be mostly Italians making their way down to the beach. We packed up and stored our luggage with our hotel so we could make one more walk through the city. We stopped in for pictures at another church, then decided to stop for one last limoncello spritz since we had opted to take the later CE. On this last visit to the same location (name provided earlier) for one more spritz, they tried to overcharge us; my hubby was not happy and corrected them.

Our departure from Sorrento via Campania Express was smooth and easy. In waiting for departure we both needed to find the toilet after the limoncello spritz…there was of course a toilet at the station but no TP…good thing I took note in advance (thanks to the advice from this forum) to bring some in that event! Also to note for those planning to use the campania express, we went upstairs at the Sorrento train station (had purchased on my phone the morning of) and inquired with a worker manning the exit gates. He informed us to wait there outside of the gates for entry about 10 minutes until departure.

The transfer in Napoli was great this time with no delays. With another stop for pizza to go, we found our train platform and this train arrived as scheduled, however for some reason this freccia wanted registration to use the wifi?? Very odd. Instead I relied on my data plan to attempt to catch up on some work and the spotty, slow service that came with it. More to come on our arrival in Roma with my trip report part 3

Summary of Sorrento -
Where we stayed: Hotel Sorrento City (Corso Italy 221)
Final notes/observations for this leg of the trip:
-Loved the hotel and it’s location.
-hotel has an elevator, very good A/C, decent wifi and the staff were all very welcoming and helpful.
-The breakfast was decent with a large spread.
-The rooftop terrace was nice and the drinks were reasonably priced. There was shade, plenty of seating and it was open until 11pm in the evening. The bartender, Rosie, was great. We enjoyed talking to her on two evenings.
-Easy 2-3 min walk to/from the Sorrento train station
-highly recommend Rosy Laundry for self service.
-highly recommend Chantecler’s Trattoria.
-highly recommend a bike tour with Enjoy Bike Sorrento, this was the highlight of our stay in Sorrento

A great read for my second cup of coffee! I enjoy your trip reports. I think you made the right choice in making separate posts for each destination. It lets you give a lot of detail without creating an intimidatingly long post for readers to work their way through (please forgive ending a sentence with a preposition).

It looks like you made a great hotel choice. The rooftop breakfast space looks like a great place to start the day. How did you find that hotel?

I wrote down the il doce far niente phrase -- I like it! I tend to overpack my trips with things to do. A friend in Amsterdam told me I need to take a vacation where I just go to the beach for a week and relax.

Wonderful trip report Crystal! I've bookmarked it for our next trip. Agree, that hotel looks like a small gem, and appreciate the aperitif suggestions. AH yes, southern Italy is famous for 'Dolce far niente", and it's indeed nice to have trip reports by city, easier to look up later. Thanks again, keep them coming!

Nice detail, thank you.
This is the kind of trip that I like to do….slow wandering while happening randomly upon something interesting.

Very enjoyable, thanks for the read!

Thanks @Dave!

With regard to the rooftop terrace - just to clarify - the breakfast room in our hotel in Firenze was on the rooftop level, where we could eat outside on the terrace, but at the risk of fighting off pigeons.

In Sorrento, breakfast was in the breakfast room downstairs, while the rooftop terrace we visited in the evenings. I am unsure if they allow taking breakfast from the breakfast room to the terrace to eat there, they might. The rooftop terrace was a very nice place to relax. No ocean view but still a nice view looking over corso italia. They do have some rooms with balconies facing corso italia, which we considered asking to be moved to, but it may have been loud being on the busy street. Also to note should you consider this hotel, you cannot bring your own food/beverage purchased offsite to consume on the rooftop terrace. I recall seeing a review on tripadvisor complaining about that.

I don’t recall exactly how I found this hotel, but my research was a combination of searching this forum as well as trip advisor, filtering by our preferred amenities: A/C, elevator, private bathroom, rooftop terrace, under $250/night, and I read extensively through reviews and considered location.

We have always tended to pack our trips full too so this was a different experience for us for sure and a welcome one for me although definitely took away some lessons learned in trying to do some things on our own vs relying on tours to take us from beginning to end.

So happy to hear everyone enjoyed reading, as much as I tried to condense it - and a lot was left out - these are some of the moments that stuck with me. I’m not sure when I will have the Roma part ready but hoping soon 🙂

Thanks for the wonderful write-up! My wife and I are looking at that area for a trip next April.

Thx Crystal - great trip report - we are looking at a trip to the region next ~june/july ... would you recall your guide's name on the bike trip ? we would love to do this , and if you have a guide that you really liked, we like requesting a known /referenced option!

Ig.

@ gryhndgrl23 our guides name on the bike tour was Peter - he was great! Made us feel comfortable and safe riding. Would definitely recommend him! I think they have other tours too. We opted for the evening tour and I remember him saying they usually have more people sign up for a morning tour. Please report back if you do end up going and doing a bike tour.

Not asking to be critical, just curious. Why didn't you just take the Circumvesuviana train that runs every half hour instead of waiting 3 hours for the next Campania Express?

We spent 11 days in Sorrento in April and in my Trip Report I mentioned that in my opinion the Campania was overrated and the Circumvesuviana was underrated. To me, the Circumvesuviana is a victim of fear mongering on message boards that is unwarranted.

@allan - fair question - tbh, there were a couple of reasons - wasn't sure how packed it would be/if we would get seats, preferred the option with air conditioning and for ease of mind/less likely to have to deal with pick pockets on board.

Next trip we will be more likely to do the commuter train for back and forth if we go to Naples or the surrounding area, but our first trip we generally prefer to try an option that gives us a little more guidance until we can feel an area out and with luggage felt better doing the CE.

PS I read your trip report and it was great!