Europe > Italy > Campania > Sorrento
Sorrento sits on top of a cliff at the northern end of the peninsula that separates the Bay of Naples from the Gulf of Salerno. It is a proper town rather than a resort — it had a life before tourism and still has one — but it has been attracting foreign visitors since the 18th century Grand Tour and it knows what it's doing.
The location is its great advantage. Sorrento is 45 minutes from Naples by the Circumvesuviana train, which also stops at Pompeii and Herculaneum. Ferries connect to Capri (20 minutes), Ischia, Positano, and Amalfi. The SITA bus runs the Amalfi Coast road east to Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello. Almost anywhere in the region can be done as a day trip from here, which makes Sorrento the natural base for exploring Campania — more convenient than Naples, cheaper than Positano.
The town itself rewards a morning's walk. The historic centre is a grid of narrow streets with churches, good gelato shops, and delis selling local ceramics and limoncello. The Marina Grande, the old fishing quarter below the cliffs, is quieter and more local than the centre; it is a 15-minute walk down steps from the main piazza.
Views of Vesuvius across the bay are best at dusk. The clifftop gardens along Via del Capo offer a good vantage point.