Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi and Ravello

The coast is beautiful because it is difficult to flatten into an easy itinerary. Sorrento lies 50 km south of Naples, Positano is 14 km farther east, Amalfi is another 18 km along the coast, and Ravello rises 5 km inland and uphill from Amalfi. Those distances look small, but cliff roads, traffic, stairways and ferry timetables can turn a short transfer into most of a day. Choose one main town for a day, keep time for a meal and a viewpoint, and avoid treating the coast as a race.

Plan the four towns as one coastal route

Sorrento is the most convenient base for combining Pompeii, Capri and the western Amalfi Coast. Positano rewards an overnight stay if you want its streets after the day-trippers leave, but the steep lanes and high prices require realistic planning. Amalfi is the coast's main transport hub, with ferries and SITA buses meeting around Piazza Flavio Gioia. Ravello is a separate uphill outing whose views and gardens deserve more than a rushed photo stop.

Transport and seasonal timing

The Circumvesuviana links Naples with Sorrento in about 75 minutes. SITA buses continue from Sorrento towards Positano and Amalfi, and Amalfi buses climb to Ravello in about 20 minutes. From April through October, ferries are usually the easiest way to reach Amalfi from Salerno or Naples, sometimes via Sorrento. Hydrofoils also connect Sorrento and Positano with Naples in the summer months. Check Sita Sud and the ferry operator before travelling, since weather and seasonal timetables can change the plan.

A car is optional and often a burden. The coastal road is narrow and twisting, parking in the resort towns is scarce and expensive, and buses or ferries remove the stress of driving. If you do drive, leave the A3 at Castellammare for Sorrento, follow the Statale 163 Amalfitana from Sorrento or Salerno for the coast, or use the Angri exit for Amalfi and Ravello. A hired car with driver is a sensible alternative for Ravello's uphill road.

Sorrento: the coast's practical balcony

Sorrento winds along a cliff above a small beach and two harbors. A narrow ravine, formed by a former mountain stream, divides the town. The eastern side is lined by grand hotels along busy Via Correale; the western historic quarter is flatter, with stone-paved lanes, balconied buildings and medieval arches. Piazza Tasso, named for the poet born here in 1544, is the traffic-heavy centre. Step away from the coaches and cars and you find craft stalls, workshops, music spots and bars clustered in the side streets.

Getting to Sorrento

From central Naples, take a Circumvesuviana train from Napoli Centrale at Piazza Garibaldi, or a hydrofoil from Molo Beverello. A direct bus runs from Naples airport to Sorrento. By car, take the A3 Napoli-Salerno, leave at Castellammare and follow signs first for Penisola Sorrentina and then for Sorrento. The town's tourist information office, Ufficio Campania Turismo, is at Via L. De Maio 35; phone 081/8074033.

San Francesco, the cloister and the sunset terrace

Near the Villa Comunale gardens, the Chiesa e Chiostro di San Francesco shares a broad view over the Bay of Naples. Its 12th-century cloister combines greenery with Moorish-style pointed arches in tufa rock and octagonal columns. The church interior has 17th-century decoration and an altarpiece showing St. Francis receiving the stigmata. Above the cloister, Galleria Raffaele Celentano displays candid black-and-white photographs of Italian life. A panoramic terrace adds sunset views and a playful installation of a rope swing, a cut-up Fiat 500 and a line of photographs and clothes. The cloisters are free; the gallery costs €5. Address: Piazza S. Francesco, Sorrento. Phone: 081/8781269.

Harbors, museum and historic quarter

Marina Grande is the old fishing harbor near the historic quarter. Outdoor restaurants and cafes now occupy much of the waterfront, but the setting remains especially pleasant in the evening. It is reached by a steep route, so many locals use the town bus. Do not confuse it with Marina Piccola, at the foot of the cliff below Piazza Tasso and the Hotel Excelsior Vittoria: ferries and hydrofoils dock at Marina Piccola. In the historic quarter, the free Sedile Dominova is a 16th-century open loggia in Largo Dominova, with broad arches, balustrades, a green and yellow tiled cupola and trompe-l'oeil frescoes.

Museo Correale di Terranova occupies an 18th-century villa with a garden. Its collection includes Neapolitan paintings, decorative arts, porcelain, 18th- and 19th-century inlaid tables, Capodimonte porcelain, regional Greek and Roman finds, Old Master paintings, 17th-century majolica and Tasso's death mask. Admission is €15, or part of the €31 Sorrento Musei ticket. It is closed Monday. Address: Via Correale 50, Sorrento. Phone: 081/8781846.

The Villa Comunale is Sorrento's largest public park and one of its best free viewpoints. Benches, palms and flowers overlook the Bay of Naples from Capri to Vesuvius, with steps leading down towards Marina Piccola. The historic lanes around Piazza Tasso are also the place to watch local craftspeople work in their stalls and shops. Music venues and bars gather nearby, making the old centre more lively after the sightseeing day ends.

Eating in and around Sorrento

Sorrento's restaurants move from simple harbor seafood to elaborate farm-to-table cooking. Main-course prices below are the published average at dinner, or at lunch where dinner is not served. Seasonal closures are important, especially from November through early spring, and Don Alfonso is reached in Sant'Agata sui Due Golfi rather than in central Sorrento.

Where to stay in Sorrento

Positano: a vertical town above the sea

Positano lies 14 km east of Sorrento and 57 km south of Naples. About 4,000 residents live among pastel buildings, bright bougainvillea and steep stairways on the Monti Lattari. Arcaded, cubist houses climb the mountainside in tiers of rose, peach, purple and ivory. The scenery is the attraction, but it also sets the rules: the town centre is inaccessible to buses from Piazza dei Mulini, and the scalinatelle demand comfortable shoes and strong legs.

Getting there and moving through town

SITA buses leave from the Circumvesuviana station in Sorrento. Services also run from Naples and, in summer, from Rome. Summer hydrofoils connect Positano with Naples, Salerno and Sorrento. The Ufficio del Turismo Luca Vespoli is at Via Regina Giovanna 13; phone 331/2085821.From Piazza dei Mulini, buses cannot continue into the centre. Turn onto boutique-lined Via dei Mulini and walk downhill towards Palazzo Murat, Santa Maria Assunta and Spiaggia Grande, allowing time for stairs and viewpoints.

The Roman villa below the piazza

MAR - Museo Archeologico Romano lies about 30 feet below the piazzetta, beneath the oratory of Santa Maria Assunta. Excavations begun in 2003 reveal part of Positano's large Roman settlement, buried by the eruption of AD 79. The underground route includes newly found villa rooms, an upper crypt with funerary seating, a lower crypt with two naves and marble columns, and vivid frescoes, stucco reliefs and bronzes. Admission is €15. The museum is at Piazza Flavio Gioia 7; phone and WhatsApp 331/2085821.

Palazzo Murat and Santa Maria Assunta

Palazzo Murat has Positano's prettiest garden courtyard, an 18th-century space beside the church and the main beach. The building was chosen as a summer residence by Joachim Murat, who became king of Naples in 1808. The parish church of Santa Maria Assunta stands just south of the palazzo. Its green and yellow majolica dome is topped by a small cupola, and the altar holds a 13th-century Byzantine Madonna and Child, known locally as the Black Virgin. A replica is carried to the beach each August 15 for the Feast of the Assumption. Address: Piazza Flavio Gioia. Phone: 089/875480.

Spiaggia Grande and the walk to Fornillo

Spiaggia Grande is reached from Piazza Flavio Gioia and is framed by the amphitheatre of houses and villas on Monte Comune and Monte Sant'Angelo. It has food and drink, lifeguards, showers, toilets and water sports, and is best for swimming. Before the ferry ticket booths, Via Positanesi d'America follows the cliffs towards Fornillo Beach. The route passes a tiny inlet, an emerald cove and Torre Trasita, one of Positano's three coastal defence towers and a former lookout for pirate raids.

Eating in Positano

Positano's tables range from a family trattoria to a small-plate terrace and an informal beach bar. Average main-course prices below are for dinner, or lunch where dinner is not served. Several restaurants close in winter, and the town's stairways make a reservation location worth noting before you set out.

Where to stay in Positano

Positano after the beach

L'Alternativa is the Tiffany-blue hut beside the ferry ticket office at the far end of Spiaggia Grande. It serves granita and snacks by day, then cocktails and Peroni beer into the evening, with local fishermen and younger visitors sharing the harbor seats. At La Zagara, Via dei Mulini 8, a pianist plays in the evening and summer brings DJ sets to the leafy terrace. Phone: 089/875964.These are informal places, but they offer a more relaxed night than the town's luxury hotels.

Amalfi: a maritime republic in a gorge

Amalfi occupies a green valley between the Lattari Mountains and the Bay of Salerno. In the 11th and 12th centuries it was a naval power and a rival of Genoa and Pisa. Today ferries and blue-and-white fishing boats use the harbor, while the old mountain torrent has become a main street lined with shops and pasticcerie. Lemon terraces, Arab-Sicilian cloisters, covered passages, former convents and paper mills keep the town's maritime history visible. Piazza Flavio Gioia is the main ferry and bus interchange for the coast.

Getting to Amalfi

From April through October, the easiest arrival is usually a ferry from Salerno or Naples, sometimes via Sorrento. Sita Sud buses run from Naples and Sorrento all year. By car, follow the Statale 163 Amalfitana from Sorrento or Salerno, or take the A3 to Angri and cross the mountainous Valico di Chiunsi. The Amalfi Tourist Board is at the Arsenale della Repubblica and Molo Pennello, around Piazza Flavio Gioia and Largo Cesareo Console; phone 089/8736222.

The Arsenale and the maritime republic

Arsenale di Amalfi is a surviving shipyard first recorded in 1059. Its Museo della Bussola e del Ducato Marinaro traces Amalfi's maritime republic from 839 to 1139 through coins, manuscripts, navigation and nautical instruments, costumes, art and religious objects. The building also functions as a cultural and performance space. Admission is €3. Address: Largo Cesario Console 3, Amalfi. Phone: 089/8731293.

Duomo di Sant'Andrea

The Duomo di Sant'Andrea dominates Piazza Duomo with a complex blend of Romanesque, Byzantine, Gothic and Baroque layers, while retaining an Arab-Norman character. The visit begins in the flower-filled cloister, built around 1266 as a burial place for Amalfi's elite. From there, the route continues through the ninth-century basilica and its museum, down to the crypt holding St. Andrew's bones, and up into the later cathedral with polychrome marble and painted coffered ceilings. Admission is €4. It is generally closed in early January and February apart from daily services. Address: Piazza Duomo. Phone: 089/871324.

Paper in the Valle dei Mulini

Uphill in the Valle dei Mulini, Museo della Carta occupies a 15th-century mill and explains the paper trade learned from Arab intermediaries. From the 12th century, former flour mills used water power to make paper from cotton and linen. More than a dozen mills were active here by 1811; the industry later moved towards Naples and other more accessible locations, and flooding in 1954 closed most of the remaining mills. The museum displays paper, tools, machinery and an audiovisual presentation, with a papermaking laboratory available. Admission is €4.50, or €7 with a guided tour and papermaking experience. It is closed on weekdays in January and February, and on Mondays in November and December. Address: Via delle Cartiere 23, Amalfi. Phone: 089/8304561.

Eating and staying in Amalfi

Shopping in Amalfi

Via Lorenzo d'Amalfi leads off Piazza Duomo and is the town's main shopping street. It is crowded during the day, when visitors pass between the cathedral and the waterfront, but an evening walk is calmer and shows the shops, pasticcerie and covered passages at their most atmospheric.

Ravello: gardens above the Bay of Salerno

Ravello stands 5 km northeast of Amalfi and 40 km northeast of Sorrento, high on a mountain buttress above the S163 and the Bay of Salerno. Chestnut and ash woods give way to terraced lemon groves and vineyards. Pastel palazzi, medieval fountains, Romano-Byzantine and Norman-Saracen architecture, and wide blue views give the town a more serene character than the seaside resorts. The summer Ravello Festival brings roughly two months of music to the gardens and the modern auditorium, while other visitors come simply to walk the hillside streets and look out over the sea.

History and the road uphill

Amalfi founded Ravello in the ninth century. Prosperous cotton merchants challenged Amalfi's rule and elected their own doge in the 11th century. With Norman help, Ravello resisted Pisa for a time in the 12th century, and its seafaring trade with Sicily and the eastern Mediterranean brought a peak of wealth in the 13th century, when the town had 13 churches, four cloisters and many villas. Later rivalry and plague reduced the population from more than 30,000 to a few thousand, but the gardens and palazzi continued to attract artists, musicians and travellers.

Buses from Amalfi make the climb in about 20 minutes along a demanding cliff road. From Naples, take the A3 Napoli-Salerno to the Angri exit and follow the signs for Ravello; the trip takes about 75 minutes. Hiring a car and driver avoids the stress of driving the route yourself. The Ravello Infopoint is at Piazza Fontana Moresca 10; phone 089/857096.

Auditorium Oscar Niemeyer and the Duomo

The Auditorium Oscar Niemeyer crowns Via della Repubblica with a curved white roof over a 400-seat concert space. A large eye-shaped window keeps the Bay of Salerno visible during performances. Opened in 2010, it hosts concerts, including Ravello Festival events, and cinema. Address: Via della Repubblica 12. Phone: 089/857096.

Ravello's Duomo was founded in 1086 and dedicated to San Pantaleone. Rebuilt in the 12th and 17th centuries, it retains medieval frescoes, a marble portal, a 13th-century bell tower and a 12th-century bronze door with 54 embossed panels. Ancient columns divide the nave, and the highlights include Roman sarcophagi, paintings by Andrea da Salerno and two medieval pulpits with mosaic work. The crypt houses the Museo del Duomo with 13th-century treasures. Admission is €4. Address: Piazza del Duomo. Phone: 089/858029.

The bishop's garden and the coral museum

Giardini del Vescovo, in the former Villa Episcopio, is a free garden with concerts, exhibitions and an open-air theatre. The former bishop's residence dates at least to the 12th century. Wheelchair access is available through a newer ramp from Via San Giovanni del Toro. Address: Via Richard Wagner and Via dei Episcopio.

Museo del Corallo is entered through the CAMO shop beside the Duomo. The free private museum explains the Italian craft tradition of coral from the Gulfs of Salerno and Naples, including jewellery, cameos, figurines, a 17th-century carved Christ, a cameo-covered tobacco box and a Madonna dating from 1532. It is closed Friday through Sunday. Address: Piazza Duomo 9. Phone: 089/857461.

Villa Cimbrone and Villa Rufolo

Villa Cimbrone is about a 15-minute uphill walk south of the main square along Via San Francesco. Its gardens sit roughly 1,500 feet above the sea and lead along the Avenue of Immensity to the Belvedere of Infinity, a stone parapet framing the Bay of Salerno. Admission is €10. The villa is now a five-star hotel. Address: Via Santa Chiara 26. Phone: 089/857459.

Villa Rufolo stands directly off Piazza del Duomo. Norman and Arab-Sicilian elements surround gardens with terraces over the bay, including the lower Wagner Terrace, which often hosts Ravello Festival concerts. The complex includes a Moorish cloister and the 14th-century Torre Maggiore, also called Klingsor's Tower. Admission is €8, with an additional charge for concerts. Phone: 089/857621.

Mamma Agata offers a morning cooking class followed by lunch and an introduction to the family's organic lemons, zucchini, tomatoes and other garden produce. Pizza-making is also available. Classes must be arranged ahead and are not offered on Wednesday, at weekends, from December through March, at Easter or from August 10 to 25. The class and lunch cost from €250. Address: Piazza San Cosma 9. Phone: 089/857845.

Eating and staying in Ravello

Food and seasonal logistics on the coast

Coastal menus lean towards seafood, handmade scialatielli and paccheri, clams, mussels, octopus, squid and the seasonal catch. The Sorrentine Peninsula and Amalfi Coast are also known for giant lemons, local vegetables, simple cucina povera and village feasts devoted to one local product. Reserve popular restaurants in high season, check whether a restaurant serves lunch or dinner on your chosen day, and ask about seasonal closures before building a route around a single meal.

• ✦Wear supportive shoes for Positano, Ravello and the paths down to the harbors. Beach sandals are not enough for the long stairways and uneven stone.
• ✦Keep an offline copy of ferry and SITA information. The last departure matters more than the distance between towns.
• ✦Use Sorrento for the easiest mix of rail, hydrofoil and bus connections, Amalfi for changing between the coast and Ravello, and Positano or Ravello for a slower overnight atmosphere.
• ✦Ask coastal hotels whether summer meal service requires half board, and confirm if breakfast, parking, luggage help, boat transfers or a shuttle are included.
• ✦Leave a weather buffer. Sea conditions affect ferries and hydrofoils, while cloud can erase the views that make the coast and Ravello worth the climb.