Sorrento or Positano

For those of you who have visited these towns, I need your opinions. Which of the two is more interesting and where I will probably want to spend more time? Is the 35 minutes it takes on the local bus to go from Sorrento to Positano worth it? We will be there toward the end of October this year. Also, any advice on what to see in these towns would be appreciated. Thanks for your help.

Sorry, no answers -- but may I piggyback onto your question? I am also curious about towns on the Amalfi coast. I'll be there in November.

I've gone to Capri and Pompeii on a previous cruise, and while I could easily just spend my day in Capri again, my husband wants to go somewhere new. So from Naples, we plan to take the ferry to Sorrento and then see the Amalfi Coast somehow. Which towns have the most to offer - Positano, Amalfi, Ravello, and/or points in between? We want to do some scenic hiking. Any particular not-to-miss places? I'm also concerned about the weather (rainfall) in November and transportation from Amalfi area back to the ship by day's end.

I’m not sure if this will help or not, but the Amalfi coast is stunningly beautiful. We hired AP Tours for the day, and after 2 hours at Pompeii, we did the coast. First Ravello, then Amalfi, followed by Positiano (lunch) and finally Sorrento. Lots of photo and scenery stops along the way. It’s truly exquisite! At days end, our AP driver (Alberto) saw us to the ferry dock in Sorrento, helped us buy the tickets and made sure we boarded the right hydrofoil back to Naples. We saved about 30 minutes that way (very bad traffic on that road in July), and they reduced the cost of our tour by about the cost of the ferry tickets.

Amalfi was one of the highlights of our trip. :)

Sorrrento is larger, with the feel of a proper town. Most of the town and the station up the top of the hill, and some cafes, shops and a market down by the harbour. There is a wide selection of shops, cafes and restaurants, and a large pedestrianised area with mostly tourist shops. However, Sorrento lacks a proper beach.

Postano is smaller, much more of the feel of a a seaside holiday resort, and IMHO more picturesque/photogenic, with winding but hilly lanes, lots of tourist shops, a proper beach and also beachside cafes and restaurants. It is mostly pedestrianised, with the main road, buses, etc. at the top of the hill.

Both are worth a visit, but if there is time only for one then my preference is for Positano. Both places can be reached by hydrofoil. I have not taken the bus, but have driven from Sorrento to Amalfi via Positano, and the views are amazing.

Paul S

We stayed at Sorrento this past April. It is a wonderful town with easy train access to Pompeii and Naples.

While there, we took the bus to Positano and Amalfi. Great scenery, especially since I didn't have to drive. Both towns are smaller than Sorrento and very similar in apprearance.

All of the towns on the Amalfi coast are serviced by ferries. You can find the schedules on Google. If the weather and the seas are nice, it is a great trip.

Any of these towns are worth the visit. It depends on how much time you have and when you leave and return to Naples. Our favorite is Sorrento, but that is because we got to stay there in a hotel WAY ABOVE TOWN with stunning views every morning and evening of Capri, Vesusivius and the bay of Naples.

Hope your enjoy your trip.

Do you know if the ferries and hydrofoils run between Sorrento and Positano at the end of October?

Here is a link to the ferry schedule out of Naples

http://www.metrodelmare.com/

my preference is Positano it's a delightful town with great views.

We're going to Pompeii in the morning and want to go to Sorrento afterwards for lunch, drinks and a view. Do they have good places to eat and people watch there?

We don't want to do too much in one day because we have an intense port itinerary and probably will be exhausted from it. Also my SO is extremely afraid of driving or being driven on cliffs. :rolleyes:

If I am reading the screen correctly for the www.metrodelmare website, I think the schedule stops at Oct.14. We will be there on Oct. 22 and I am trying to figure out if the boats still run that late between Sorrento and Positano.

Be aware that in rough seas the hydrofoils stop running.

I stayed near Sorrento September last year, and on a couple of occasions when we wanted to use the hydrofoils they had been cancelled, even though from shore the seas didn't look rough.

Especially if the weather is not good, you will need to have a contingency plan to get back to the ship.

Paul S

We just returned from a land tour of Italy. We stayed our last 3 nights in Sorrento and took an all day private driving tour to Amalfi Coast with http://www.aptours.it. It was fabulous! The views are splendid and the drive was comfortable in our Mercedes van that seats 8 but we had 6 people. AP Tours has English speaking drivers who will pick you up and take you where ever you choose. We had lunch in Ravello at a family run restaurant with food to die for!

On a previous cruise, we booked a private tour that took us to Amalfi in the morning than to Pompeii in the afternoon. We had a licensed guide who took us through the Pompeii site, as drivers are not allowed to take people into any antiquity site anywhere in Italy.

We did Amalfi twice with private drivers, and we like AP Tours the best and they are more reasonable than the other companies. The reason we did Amalfi twice is because we were with people who had never been there AND it's so beautiful we didn't mind doing it again.

Lari

For those of you who wonder what the drive from Sorrento to Positano might be like, I found this on youtube.

All I can say is no way am I going on a SITA bus (whatever that is) :eek:

We did the trip that is shown on the youtube video in a 42 passenger tour bus and had to back up at one point with the rear of the bus hanging slightly over the edge of the cliff. I think that was the most terrifying drive of my life. The smaller buses make the turns just fine but the road wasn't built for bigger ones. Have been back to stay in Sorrento several times but we take the hydrofoils to Positano, Amalfi and Capri.

Hydrofoil alternative:

We're going in late November and will use train as a back up to return from Sorrento to Naples if the hydrofoils aren't running.

Also, I think I've seen a different hydrofoil company schedule that did appear to be operating that late but I can't say that definitively.

Tough call. Can't go wrong with either, but would hate to miss either one. We took a private tour from Naples (6 people total and we met the other 4 on CC Roll Calls) and saw both towns. Ran out of time because we also went to Pompeii, so we didn't get to go on to Ravello. Pompeii was very interesting, but the Amalfi Coast is breathtaking. Would have loved to have seen Ravello too......

We have a decent digital camera and have framed several pics from Positano near our bed, so we see them first thing every morning as we wake up. (One is poster sized, the others only 16 X 20). I wouldn't miss Positano if I were you, unless you plan another trip in the near future, and can see it then.

We took several private tours and it worked out to be less $ than if you took the ship's tour, and you got to see much more, and you didn't have to take the bus like that one on you tube. We booked with "Drive Sorrento" through Nello. If you choose this route, I highly recommend this group. It was about 80 euro pp, and the tour is tailor custom fitted to what you want to do. Our driver was from Sorrento, so, as you can imagine, we truly saw the "Best of Sorrento"

Regardless, be prepared to be swept off of your feet if you've never been there...........like I said, it is breathtaking.

positano, positano, positano, what a beautiful place, we fell in love with this wonderful little town. the whole amafi is beautiful but this is the jewel that you don't want to miss. sorrento is nice, much larger and very much like us city. we left positano after 5 days to go to capri for 5 nights and wished we had never left positano. you can ferry from positanno to capri which we felt was too touristy and overcrowded.

Dedem ;

Thank You for the link, you dont know how much I enjoyed it.Soooo much beauty, I was able to go back to my facvorite place on earth one more time. Dont focus on the road let the driver do it and enjoy the most amazing view. I have done it two times in a mini van(private tour). Both times sitting at the front ,never fear not a bit I dont know if it was because I have the same excellent driver both times. Love it.The Sita bus you have to remember this drivers do this every day many times soo they know what they are doing.

DedeM -

Thanks for the link to the video. Having done this in April, I will confirm that this video is really representative of the road and the skill of the SITA drivers. As another poster said, these guys do this several times a day in all weather and traffic conditions. It is not a drive I would care to do. However, each to his own.

Thanks for the link to the video. I wanted to see it so bad we arre going on a 8 passenger van. I am really glad about that. We will see Pompeii, Sorrento, the Amalfi coast, Positano, and maybe Ravello. The scenery looks beautiful.

Delores

Both are great places to visit, but Positano and the drive on the Amalfi coast is breathtaking. We were there several weeks ago on Galaxy cruise. We hired a private tour company, Drive Amalfi, with three other couples we met on Cruise Critic board. We had an amazing day with our guide, Roberto, first driving down the Amalfi coast through Positano and Ravello. Stopped off at a charming restaurant for an outstanding lunch and spent some time walking around the town of Positano. They filmed "Under the Tuscan Sun" there and I would love to go back. We then stopped off in Pompeii where they had arranged for a private guide. All in all it was a fantastic day and Drive Amalfi was outstanding.

We are cruising on Oceania Insignia, April, 2008 and will have a day in Sorrento and 1/2 day at Positano. We would like to go to Pompeii and Sorrento is the closest we get on our itinerary. Can we do it from there and if so how? Should we book a private tour and driver or see if Oceania is offering a tour there? There have been no excursions posted for our cruise by Oceania--we are assuming there will be. Thanks for all the great advice we are learning from this board.

Hezzy,

I recommend taking the train from Sorrento to Pompeii. It is the fastest way to get there because the road is often jammed. The trip takes about 30 minutes, and the train stops right outside the ruins. You can pick up a guide at the ticket booth or rent the audio sets. Be prepared to walk a lot over very uneven ground. The ruins are very large. Also, there are not rest rooms in the ruins - they are at the entrance and exits. Enjoy!

Hi Bobthek-

We're planning on taking the train to Pompei Scavi; but, also stopping at Hercalaneum Scavi. Do you know if that's a "stop"? Don't see it on Circumvesuviana or Raileurope?

Thanks,

Mike

Hi Mike,

The train stop for Herculeum is "Ercolano Scavi" on the Circumvesuviana train. I think this stop is between Naples and Pompeii Scavi.

I have not been able to get a train schedule on the internet. Most links don't seem to work. Maybe someone else can help.