Sorrento is the busiest departure point for the Amalfi Coast and it is not on the coast at all. These are the ten trips that leave the town and spend the day on the coast proper, with what the crossing adds to each of them.
Meets on Piazza Tasso, behind the statue and next to Bar Fauno. Ninety minutes in Positano, two hours in Amalfi and time in Ravello, with a guide all day. The middle leg is by boat from April to October.
From $109 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
An air-conditioned minivan from Hotel Antiche Mura, a block inland from Piazza Tasso, with an hour each in three towns. Nine travellers or more get a guide as well as a driver. Six are needed before it runs.
From $110 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Private collection from your Sorrento address in a wheelchair-accessible minivan for eight. Positano, the grotto, Amalfi and both Ravello villas, every one of them swappable. Gate admissions are paid on the spot.
From $337 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Hotel or port pickup, then eight hours by boat round the peninsula. Twelve passengers, a swim stop at Li Galli, and long stops ashore in Amalfi and Positano. Snorkel gear is paid for in cash.
From $182 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Hotel pickup in Sorrento and a window you choose, covering Pompeii and the coast in one private vehicle. Two hours at the ruins, then Positano, Amalfi and Villa Rufolo. Admission is an add-on.
From $473 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Hotel pickup and a gozzo that carries five and nobody else. Ieranto, Li Galli and long stops in Positano and Amalfi. Drinks, snacks, towels and a restroom aboard; fuel is charged separately.
From $562 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Departs Marina Piccola, with Capri or the coast settled that morning and the boat size settled at checkout. Snacks, drinks, snorkelling gear and a shower are aboard. Fuel and the landing charge are extra.
From $769 per group, up to 6
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Eight seats, an English-speaking driver and a 7:45am start from the Fauno Bar. An hour in Positano, an hour in Amalfi and two full hours in Ravello. Cruise and ferry arrivals cannot be carried.
From $112 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Nine hours from your hotel in a minivan sized for the tighter corners, with an hour each in Positano, Ravello and Amalfi. Taxes, local fees and fuel are inside the fare. The shape of the day is yours.
From $331 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Sails from Via Marina Grande with swim stops and calls at Amalfi and Positano. Lunch aboard is organic and plant-based, with a gluten-free version if you flag it. A €10 docking fee is collected on board.
From $147 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Start with the fact that shapes all sixteen departures from here: Sorrento is not on the Amalfi Coast. It sits on the north side of the Sorrentine Peninsula facing the Bay of Naples, while the coast is the south side facing the Gulf of Salerno. Every trip below therefore begins by crossing the ridge or rounding the point.
That crossing costs forty minutes to an hour at each end of the day. It is not wasted — the road over the peninsula is a good drive and the boats pass Li Galli on the way — but it is time that a trip leaving Positano or Amalfi does not spend, and it is worth knowing before you compare an eight-hour day here with an eight-hour day from the coast itself.
The Circumvesuviana train reaches Sorrento from Naples in about seventy minutes and a direct coach runs from the airport in about seventy-five. Nowhere on the coast itself has either.
Most of the trips we list meet in Sorrento, covering road days, boat days, private cars, private charters, Pompeii and the cooking classes. No other town on or near this coast offers that range.
Piazza Tasso for three of them; Hotel Antiche Mura, one block inland, for another; Via Marina Grande and Marina Piccola for the boats; Via Correale for the farm trip. All of them are within fifteen minutes of the station on foot.
Sorrento is closer to Pompeii than any town on the coast, and the ferries to Capri leave from Marina Piccola. If your trip is the region rather than the coast alone, this is the base that covers all of it.
The trade is transport against proximity, and it is a real one.
| Based in Sorrento | Based on the coast | |
|---|---|---|
| Getting there | Train from Naples, coach from the airport | Ferry in season, or road |
| Choice of tours | The widest anywhere | Fewer, but no crossing |
| Crossing to the coast | 40–60 minutes each way | None |
| Evenings | A busy town with everything open | Quiet, and beautiful |
| Winter | Open and working | Half of it closed |
| Best for | One or two days, plus Pompeii and Capri | Three days or more |
If you are still deciding where to sleep, the visiting page works through the five bases and what each buys.
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before you go, on all of them.
Check AvailabilityIn the fare, typically: the vehicle or the boat and its driver or skipper; a licensed guide on the shared road days over seven travellers; drinks and snacks on the boats; hotel or port pickup on eight of the ten trips above.
Not in the fare: lunch on the road days. Admission at Ravello's two villas and at the Grotta dello Smeraldo. A €10 docking fee on one boat and a €10 destination fee plus €5 snorkel hire on another. A €15 optional 45-minute coast excursion at Amalfi on one guided day. Fuel on one private charter.
Leave early. Departures run from 07:45 to 08:30, and the earliest of them reaches Positano before the coaches. That hour is the single biggest difference between a good day and a crowded one.
Check the minimum. One shared road day needs six travellers before it runs and may cancel after confirmation if that is not met, offering an alternative date or a refund.
Check the cruise rule. Two of the shared trips here will not carry cruise passengers or ferry arrivals into Sorrento, because the timings do not work. The private days will.
Do not plan the evening. The coast road decides what time you get back, not the itinerary. The Amalfi Drive has the leg-by-leg times.
If you are already staying on the coast — in Positano, Praiano, Amalfi or Maiori — do not travel to Sorrento to join a tour. Boats leave from your own beach and the road tours pass your door. The boat tours page lists what departs from each pier.
If you are arriving at Salerno, the same applies in reverse: the ferry puts you in Amalfi in twenty-five minutes and several trips board there. And if you want the coast without the crossing at all, a day based in Amalfi will give you an hour more ashore than the same money spent from here. Everything is compared on Amalfi Coast Italy Tours.
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead on every trip listed here.
Check Availability