What to see and do in Sorrento, Italy!

Whilst there are some places you visit to see or do a particular thing, the joys of Sorrento are in the atmosphere, the shops, and the food. However, there are still some surprises if you go looking for them!

You can easily spend the best part of a day in this beautiful Italian town – especially if you fancy a lazy lunch or a few cocktails overlooking the sea. Sorrento as a town is elevated up from the shoreline, meaning you get stunning views of both the ocean and Mt Vesuvius.

Sorrento is also a great place to stay if you’re wanting to explore the region, as it has a train station and bus and ferry links. I stayed at the Hotel Regina Sorrento, which is less than a ten minute walk to the main part of the town. It has a pool, and at breakfast you get an amazing view of Mt Vesuvius with your morning coffee. 

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Using Sorrento as a hub to see the Amalfi Coast

Before I talk about the town itself, I should mention some of fantastic day trips you can do from Sorrento. I managed to fit most of the below into five days (you can find out how I did it with my full 5-day Amalfi Coast itinerary here):

• The island of Capri: Capri is an absolute must if you are visiting the region. There is lots to see and do, from boat tours of the grottos (including the Blue Grotto if the weather and waves are calm) to the chairlift to the top of Mt Solaro. You can read more about what I got up to on my day-trip to Capri here.
• The ruins of Pompeii and/or Herculaneum: these two separate sites offer different insights into the lives of people before the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79AD. Pompeii is easily accessible via the train from Sorrento (although I would recommend taking a tour so you don’t miss the key sights of this vast area). Herculaneum is also accessible by train but is a bit further away than Pompeii.
• Some of the neighbouring towns worth exploring include Amalfi and the smaller Positano – great if you want to get away from it all and discover some of the little shops and museums. You can read more about my two hours in Amalfi here and two hours in Positano here. 
• Hike around Vesuvius: missing the opportunity to hike around this famous volcano is probably the greatest regret of my trip. Nevertheless, you can visit this volcano on an organised trip or by yourself if you prefer, although the latter isn’t straightforward and needs a change of transport. In order to hike the volcano you also need to purchase a ticket with a timeslot on it. You can find out more information about visiting Vesuvius here.

Anyway, with that all said, back to Sorrento…

 

 

 

 

Shopping in Sorrento

With its decorative tiles and cobbled streets, Sorrento is a lovely place to look around, whether you like to shop or not. It’s a bustling place full of tourists, however it’s easy to find little oases of calm down some of the side streets. 

 

For shoppers, as well as the main shopping street which houses mostly high-end stores, down the side streets are shops selling leather bags, scarves, pottery, limoncello and lemon soap. Sorrento and the surrounding area is known for growing lemons and you will see a LOT of items with lemons on them. Here, you can see what I mean:

 

I treated myself to the lemon ornament.

If you want to buy a fun souvenir, you can buy some limoncello or bring back one of the myriad of tourist flavours that are also on offer, including pistachio, melon and strawberry. Fair warning though – some are better than others, and some are…not great. The melon one was quite nice (if you like sugar and the taste of Dolly Mixtures). None surpass the original limoncello though.

 

See an abandoned sawmill on the valley floor

About five minutes walk from Sorrento train station is an unexpected surprise. If you walk along Viele Enrico Caruso and look down, below is Vallone dei Mulini, a deep valley with an abandoned sawmill at the bottom! Closed in the 1940’s, the sawmill has been semi-reclaimed by nature, giving it a slight apocalyptic feel.

Although Sorrento is quite hilly (like many of the towns along the Amalfi coast) I got quite a shock – the sawmill is very far down, and although I don’t suffer from vertigo, looking down made me feel a bit funny!

 

Eat your way around Sorrento

Get ready to have some seriously great Italian food. There are plenty of restaurants in Sorrento to visit, although it’s worth using google maps to weed out some of the more touristy restaurants if you want a more authentic dining experience. I had some of the best carbonara I’ve ever eaten when I was there. 

You can’t go too far wrong with the gelato in Sorrento either – there are some excellent gelaterias. I tried three different places and the best was probably Fresco Sorrento – their creamy pistachio and chocolate orange flavours were my favourite. (I had also heard great things about Davide’s Gelateria but unfortunately it was closed when I visited).

 

If you’re planning on heading to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, regardless of whether you’re going to have a relaxed break or use your time to visit all the different tourist attractions in the area, I promise that you’re going to have a great time!