Day Trips From Sorrento

Day Trips From Sorrento Along The Amalfi Coast

We spent the last 3 weeks of our 10 week trip to Italy in an apartment high over Sorrento. Our lazy days alternated with day trips from Sorrento.  Day trips were both close to home and a little further out.

We visited the Amalfi Coast twice before. So this was like coming home.

Seafood Lunches in Sant’ Anna

When we kept walking along the water south of Sorrento we hit another cove at Sant’ Anna.  This was one of the easy day trips from Sorrento.

Following the path and stairs down, we arrived at the marina. We read an article or a blog that suggested we eat at Restaurante Bagni Sant’ Anna .  So we bypassed the other half a dozen or more restaurants still open and headed for the pier.  It was the perfect menu  – seafood, seafood and seafood. And of course limoncello! We saw fresh seafood being delivered as we ate!

After we finished lunch and wine at Sant’ Anna, we wandered further out on the pier to the sunbathing area.  While not a beach, this offered a relaxing place to lounge in the sun or under an umbrella. If we got too hot, we could walk down the steps into the water.

For a change of pace, we found we could rent a boat, with or without a captain. We returned to this little cove again a few times.  We were always found a quiet spot with great seafood.

The proprietress (also named Anna) gave us a card for Restaurant Tasso off the main square in Sorrento.  This was owned by her father Franco. Franco welcomed us warmly when we showed up. He helped us with our lunch choices. The food was so good we returned several times during our stay.

The Local Marina in Piano di Sorrento

On the other side of the main port of Sorrento is “Piano di Sorrento”.  The marina sat far below the cliffs. This marina appeared to be the place where pleasure boats were moored and where locals came to the beach.

We lucked out and wandered this way on the last day that the elevator operated. The switchback road to the main level of the town was a much more daunting without a car.

Beach Days in Meta

From our perch high above Sant’ Agnello we saw the beach at Meta below the cliffs.  This was a favourite day trip from Sorrento.

When we asked the locals about the best beach, Meta was where they recommended. We picked up the local A bus at the bottom of the hill (€1.30).  The bus said it went right to the beach at Meta. Could it get any better?

The first time we headed to Meta was a bit of an adventure!  When we got to the first town outside of Sant’ Agnello, David thought we were at the main piazza in Meta.  He decided we should get off in town and walk down to the beach.  The shopping was great and we found the cheese grater we wanted that created very fine grated cheese.  Even with our offline map app we thought it was a short walk to the beach.

Walking along we heard a beep and saw the ever helpful Piña from the Mediterraneo Hotel.  When she heard we were going to the beach she offered us a ride. And quickly explained we were still in Piano di Sorrento and not in Meta.

While there was a beach here she very nicely took us to Meta and left us with a short walk down hill to the beach. We were so glad we found the right beach.  Walking along the beach when we were finished, we easily found the bus stop that took us back home.  We knew where to get off the next time.

Enjoying The Beach Like A Local

When we hit the beach level we saw a wide range of beachfront bagnis to choose from.  But headed to the far north under under the cliffs we saw from our balcony.  We paid our 10€ for two lounge chairs and pointed into the sun.  We had clearly found the locals beach. As the day wore on, the beach became busier and more crowded.  We wondered how wild it was on a weekend rather than on a Monday!

The La Conca restaurant that ran our beach concession offered a full lunch menu including a good house wine. We took our time over lunch, figuring the hour out of the sun would help to cool us down.

With water shoes on, the slightly rocky entry to the water was manageable. I snuck in one step at a time.  But David did his usual dive beside me and urged me to move faster. The water was certainly still swimmable in mid-October.  Especially after we cooked in the sun for a bit.

Many of the locals ignored the comfortable lounge chairs and took up spots on the rock beach or even on the large rocks. When the rocks got fully loaded with people it bore an uncanny resemblance to pictures we took of Harbour Seals in California this past June.  David found his own perch on the rocks.

On the second trip, we made it confidently as locals. It was now a little colder and there were less people at the beach. Some locals were dressed in full autumn clothes (long pants and sweaters) while they lay on the beach chairs. The hardier group of locals lounged in bathing suits and the hard core swimmers (including David) did laps in the bay.

We were not be deterred from getting sun.  So we stripped down and enjoyed the heat.  Our landlords Pietro and Francesco showed up for lunch.  We were sure they were a bit surprised when they found us at their local spot. It was a great way to spend a long day at the end of October. We stayed on the beach until the sun started to set and waved goodbye from the bus.

Day Tripping Down The Amalfi Coast

One day we walked into town and caught the bus to Positano. We knew by the orderly queue that this was a group of tourists waiting (mostly British). We finally squeezed in and accepted that we would stand the whole way.

Gripping the handrail, the bus made its way along the infamous cliff road.  We saw newbies with their mouths agape.  They looked straight down the cliffs.  The crazy scooter people darted in and out, ignoring all traffic signs and polite expectations.

Alighting at the south bus stop (Sponda), we took the less steep road into Positano.  As we walked we stopped like the other tourists and took our pics.

We found a quiet spot for lunch before we continued to wander the small streets to the main church. Debating our options to return to Sorrento, we decided to hop aboard the next ferry to Amalfi. This was not an orderly crowd.  It was not helped when a tour group somehow thought they should be able to board first.  But we put out Italian on and made sure we kept our spot in line.

We got a seat on the prow of the boat and watched as we pulled away from Positano.  But we were smart enough and did not sit right up where the rolling swell would soak us.

Day Trips From Sorrento Along Amalfi Coast By Ferry

It was a nice boat trip down the coast. We watched as Praiano passed by.  We saw the hotel we stayed in another year and the great restaurant in the marina. Ravello was high above us on the cliffs.

David wondered if we would get back to visit the Chestnut Festival in nearby Scala. The caves before Amalfi came into view as we neared the town.

We let the other tourists push their way off and then departed the ferry and walked around Amalfi. Having explored the whole town of Amalfi the previous year, we didn’t need to seek out sights.  But rather we just wandered and relaxed.

Our favourite seafood restaurant was visible down the harbour. The tourist crowd was there.  But we knew it would quiet if we stayed until dinner time.

Other Ways To Explore The Amalfi Coast

After we spent the day in the sun, we opted for an air conditioned bus ride back to Sorrento. We thought the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus might give us some of the history of the Amafi coast towns.  But the bus commentary was brief and missed many of the things we knew should be mentioned (e.g. the mosaic tiles of the church in Praiano).

The second time we explored the Amalfi Coast we decided to be decadent. We rented a boat and headed down the coast. We went as far as Praiano where we stopped at our favourite seafood restaurant for lunch.

While the weather was not great the day we took the boat, we had a blast running our rhib boat on the waves.  It is something we would definitely splurge on again.

Day Tripping For History

We had planned to do both Paestrum and Pompeii on this trip.  But as we dawdled through our 3 weeks in Sorrento, we ran out of time to do both.

We watched the weather and booked a trip to Vesuvius and Pompeii when we thought the peak would be clear.  We had a great tour.  It started with a walk up to the crater on Vesuvius.  And ended with a stroll for a few hours around Pompeii.

This was a trip to “tick the box”.  But we found ourselves much more interested in the massive Pompeii site than we expected to be.  We will definitely plan to visit the archeological museum in Naples on a return visit to see the large collection of artifacts recovered from Pompeii and Herculeum.  We were so glad this was one of our day trips from Sorrento.

So Many Day Trips From Sorrento

There were still lots of day trips from Sorrento that we missed on this trip. We planned to go by boat to go to Iscia for the thermal baths.  But they closed for the season before we got this scheduled. We wanted to go by train or ferry back to Naples.  But decided to leave that for our next trip. The year before we spent a weekend in Capri, so that was not on our agenda this time.

Sorrento made a great base for day tripping!  This was a spot we knew we would re-visit over and over again.

What is your favourite day trips from Sorrento??

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