Sorrento is a base, and the best day trips from it are the ones the train, the ferry and the bus make easy: Pompeii by train in about 35 minutes, Capri by ferry in 20–30, Positano by bus in 40–50. Here is the whole menu, with honest travel times and whether each is worth the day.
Times are door-to-trailhead estimates and shift with the season. Fares change too — we do not publish a price we have not re-checked.
Thirty minutes on the Circumvesuviana, and you stand in a street that stopped in AD 79. Go early — by eleven the site is full and there is no shade. Wear proper shoes: the Roman paving is uneven and the site is far larger than photographs suggest, and you can walk five kilometres inside it without trying. Buy tickets online in advance; the queue at the gate is the worst part of the day.
→ Sorrento to Pompeii by train: tickets and timesTwenty-five minutes by ferry from Marina Piccola. In April or October it is one of the loveliest places in Italy. In August it is a queue with a view. In high season, take the first boat of the morning and leave by mid-afternoon, when the day-trippers reverse the flow. Skip the Blue Grotto unless the sea is completely flat: boats only go in when the swell allows, and the visit itself is short.
→ Sorrento to Capri: ferry, cost, Blue GrottoThe most famous walk on the Amalfi Coast, and the longest day out on this list — not because the walking is hard, but because the trailhead is on the far side of the peninsula, above Amalfi. Expect two hours to reach Bomerano by bus, two to four hours of walking to Nocelle, and a return through Positano. It fills a day completely. It is worth it — with proper shoes, water, and an early start, because the trail has almost no shade.
→ Complete guide to the Path of the GodsForty minutes by car, over the ridge and down the other side of the peninsula, and the coaches do not follow you. Nerano is a fishing village with a shingle beach, a handful of restaurants, and a plate of pasta that is famous in New York and Tokyo. Marina del Cantone, just below it, is where Neapolitans have been swimming for a hundred years. No queues, no ticket offices, nothing much to see. That is the point.
The tip of the peninsula, where the Greeks built a temple to Athena and the Angevins later built a watchtower. Capri sits five kilometres offshore, close enough to feel unreasonable. You drive to Termini and walk the last stretch. It is not difficult, but there is no shade and no water, and in July the stone radiates heat like an oven.
→ Punta CampanellaBeautiful, vertical, and smaller than you expect. An hour is enough to see it; a day is enough to resent it, if you have come in August and spent most of that day in traffic. Go by boat if you can. The bus along the Amalfi Drive is spectacular and slow, and in summer the return is a lottery.
→ Sorrento to Positano: bus, ferry or tourSorrento is the last stop of the Circumvesuviana, the local line that runs along the bay to Pompei Scavi, Ercolano and Naples. It is cheap, frequent and unglamorous, and it is the reason you do not need a car for the two great Roman sites.
Everything on this page except Nerano and Punta Campanella is reachable without a car — but you switch between three networks, and none of them shares a ticket.
Sorrento to Pompeii, Herculaneum and Naples. Cheap, frequent, unglamorous.
The coast road toward Positano and Amalfi, and the mountain villages. Buy tickets before boarding, at a tabacchi. Buses fill early.
Capri, Positano, Amalfi, Naples. Faster, more pleasant, weather-dependent. Check the last departure before you leave.
Confirm departure times on the day — ferry and SITA timetables change seasonally, and the last useful return leaves earlier than most people expect. More on the Plan pages.
SITA bus tickets must be bought before boarding — from a tabacchi or bar, not the driver — and buses fill early. Ferries are weather-dependent, so always check the last departure before you set off. From 2 November 2026 the last SITA bus from Positano back to Sorrento leaves at about 19:40.
April, May, September and October. Warm enough to swim by September, cool enough to walk in May, and the ferries still run.
July and August are hot, crowded and expensive, and the trails are punishing. If you must come then, do everything before ten in the morning.
The quiet side of the peninsula: the beach of Nerano, restaurants over the water, and how to get there by SITA bus, boat or car.
→ Marina del CantoneThe trailhead of the Path of the Gods, on the far side of the peninsula: the longest day out on this list, and the best walk.
→ Path of the GodsThe hill villages between two gulfs, twenty minutes from Sorrento: a 4 km walk from Colli di Fontanelle to Sant’Agata, and dinner at Don Alfonso 1890.
→ Sant’Agata sui Due GolfiPompeii, for its scale and strangeness. Capri, if the weather is settled and it is not August. The Path of the Gods, if you like walking.
You can. You should not. Both deserve a full day, and combining them means seeing neither.
No, and parking is difficult. Trains, buses and ferries reach everything on this page except Nerano and Punta Campanella, which are easier by car.
About 25 minutes by fast ferry from Marina Piccola.
Yes, but a full one. The trailhead at Bomerano is around two hours away by bus, on the far side of the peninsula.
Nerano, Marina del Cantone, and the beaches of Massa Lubrense. Not Positano.
Yes: Pompeii (about 35 minutes) and Herculaneum (about 50) on the Circumvesuviana, and Naples in about an hour. Capri, Positano and Amalfi are not on the train — they need the ferry or the SITA bus.
Pompeii: the site ticket is €20 plus a short train fare. Capri: the NLG ferry is from €22 each way per adult, plus an island landing contribution of €2.50 (November–March) or €5 (April–October), before you pay for anything on the island. Checked 2 November 2026.
Not for the train or the bus. Pompeii tickets are issued in your name and can be bought online or at the gates. For Capri in high season, booking the ferry ahead is wise.
Yes, with fewer ferries: check the operator’s winter timetable the week you go. The train and the SITA bus run all year, but from 2 November 2026 the last SITA bus from Positano back to Sorrento leaves at about 19:40.
Times checked on 2 November 2026; they change every season, so this page says where to read them, not what they will say on your day. Ticket prices are published only where we read them on the operator's own page. We have no commercial agreement with any operator.