Sorrento, Capri, Pompeii

I arrived in Sorrento for an eight-night stay, this was my second visit. I stayed at the amazing Grand Capodimonte hotel located just a five minute walk to the main bustling street of Sorrento. The hotel is on the cliff face with three pools on three levels on the roof of the hotel. The views are amazing and you can see the whole of Sorrento and the ocean. You can see all of this from the sunbeds. The hotel is a four star superior, staff very friendly and couldn't do enough for you, serving you around the pool areas. The hotel has a really nice A La Carte restaurant but we decided to eat out every night. Our main purpose of this visit to Sorrento was for a friend's wedding. The wedding was in the town, a stunning location with the reception back at the hotel after. The standard rooms are a good size, clean but no views. Anything up from the standard rooms have breathtaking views. We stayed in a superior room which had the stunning views but we were hardly in the room so if on a budget the standard room would be decent enough.

I would recommend Sorrento to anyone but it is more up market but not too expensive for food and drink. There are many restaurants and bars in Sorrento on the main street and also off the main street down many of the cobbled side streets so you really have to explore and you will find some very reasonable places to eat and drink. The hotel is only a 20 min walk through the town and down to the port where the marina is. Sorrento doesn’t really have any beaches you have to do the day trips to find the beaches.

There are plenty of trips you can do and this time we done a day trip to Capri. No need to organise this as you can just turn up at the marina and the ferries depart every hour taking around 45 mins. The cost was 35 Euros each return. Once you arrive into Capri you can take the funicular up the hill where you then take a 10 mins bus ride to the chair lifts. The transport is around six euros per person and the chairlift is 10 euros per person. The chairlift will take you to the very top which takes around 15 mins where you can have stunning views of the island and the Amalfi coast. A day trip would be enough and I would advise to go during the week avoiding weekends.

We also did a combined tour of Pompeii and Vusevilo volcano quite close to Naples. This was an organised 10 hour tour where you are taken by coach from your hotel down to the marina and then a boat over to Pompeii where you arrive by boat. You are then escorted by coach to Pompeii ruins. We then had a guided two hour tour of the ruins. You can do the audio tour if you are doing this independently but I advise this exact tour.

After the ruins they provide you a small packed lunch and then you are taken by coach to the edge of the volcano. You then board off road vehicles seating around 20 people on monster truck wheels. It’s then a fast trip up which is was a thrill and then the last part is a 20 min hike to the top. From the top you can walk around one hour and see inside the volcano and also the whole of Naples and the Amalfi coast. This was an amazing day trip costing 59 euros per person. You also have to pay 15 euros per person to enter the ruins and then 10 euros per person to hike up to the top of the volcano. You are then escorted back the same way you came.

Some other trips that would be well worth doing would be a day trip to Positano and Herculean.

I have to say we had an amazing holiday and I would not hesitate to return if I get the opportunity. The wedding itself was also organised through Travel Counsellors and this is something I am able to put together.