Prior to this trip, I hadn’t done much research when it came to the Amalfi Coast. The photos are what drew me to visit! Upon doing research, I realized we had a lot of options when it came to how we wanted to build our Amalfi Coast itinerary. There are so many places you can stay when visiting the Amalfi Coast, but here are some reasons to make Sorrento your home base!
1. Sorrento is easily accessible from Naples
The most common way to get to the Amalfi Coast is to fly in to Naples. Naples is essentially the gateway to the Amalfi Coast. From Naples, you can:
– Easily hop on the Circumvesuviana train and it will take you all the way to Sorrento in about 40 minutes. This option costs only about 6 Euro, which is by far the cheaper route. We took this from Sorrento to Napoli after our Airbnb host told us that it would take us right to the train station vs. taking the ferry and needing a taxi to the train station.
– Take the ferry from the Porto de Napoli. If the weather is nice, this can be a cool way to see the Amalfi Coast from the water. It cost us about 20 Euro per person, which is the more expensive option, but we enjoyed our initial arrival into Sorrento this way and even enjoyed some birra (beer)
2. Ferries make it easy to connect to surrounding islands and towns
From Sorrento, there are 6 places you can get to by ferry:
- Amalfi
- Capri
- Ischia
- Napoli
- Positano
- Procida
All have multiple departure times each day. Due to our timing, we only used the ferry between Amalfi and Positano, and our only mode of transportation between Capri and Sorrento. During the summer months, you can sit on the top deck and get some amazing views of the Amalfi Coast! We absolutely enjoyed traveling this way and highly recommend staying off the roads between Sorrento and Ravello if you can help it. From each of the ports listed, more options become available if you want to continue ferry hopping up the coast. Here are some of the amazing views we got on the ferry from Capri and to Positano.
3. Can’t find a ferry that works with your schedule? Try the SITA bus
Taking the SITA bus from Sorrento up the Amalfi coast is definitely an experience you HAVE to have. Why? Well, take a look at this video! The bus is the size of a small charter bus driving along a two lane narrow road with no railings in most part. If you ride on the right side of the bus, you can look down and see what your death would be like. It seems like I am being dramatic, but no. It is that scary. The bus does a warning honk around almost every bend in the road. You will also see the bus come within INCHES from hitting cars and humans. It is the craziest thing. We wanted to get all the way to Amalfi town and the earliest boat from Sorrento didn’t leave until 10:30AM, so we opted to take the 7:40AM SITA bus to arrive in Amalfi at 9:15AM.
The cost for a bus ticket one way from Sorrento to Amalfi was only 5 Euro. It is super affordable and leaves from the Circumvesuviana train station.
4. If you are short on time, you can easily get to Pompeii
We had about 2.5 days total on the Amalfi Coast. It made it tricky when ultimately planning out what was high on our priority list. Luckily, because we were staying in Sorrento, we were able to check into our Airbnb and hop on the Circumvesuviana train, which took only about 25 minutes and dropped us RIGHT outside the entrance to Pompei. The trip cost us 3 Euro each way.
5. Sorrento has some amazing gems
You can’t forget about Sorrento when visiting the Amalfi Coast. From the limoncello, charming streets, alley restaurants you seem to just stumble upon, and the ruins of Old Sorrento right beneath you, Sorrento should absolutely be a place you spend some time.
6. Everything is within walking distance
We chose an Airbnb that was large enough for us. We were traveling with another couple and wanted a 2 bedroom place. It ended up being only a 2 minute walk to the train (which is where I recommend staying near) and only a 12 minute walk down to the port where we took the ferry to and from Capri and in from Naples. The main Sorrento city center was only about 8 minutes from our place. Everything was very convenient and besides getting down to the port, there weren’t a ton of giant hills to walk up and down.
I don’t regret making Sorrento our home base. It was one more city we were able to experience on our trip.
Have you stayed in Sorrento? What was your highlight?
Pin for Later
#new #blogpost #travelblog #sorrentoitaly #italy #sorrento #amalficoast
