Eating it up in Sorrento, Italy

Sorrento Harbour

The town of Sorrento is located on the Sorrento Peninsula, on the southern end of the Bay of Naples. It is a popular tourist destination due to the beauty of its location, and its close proximity to Naples, Pompeii, the isle of Capri and the Amalfi Coast. This made it a perfect location to base ourselves while we explored the area.

How to get to Sorrento

You can reach Sorrento from Naples by bus, train or ferry. We travelled by train, getting on the southern Circumvesuviana line in Naples. The journey took around an hour to get to Sorrento – the end of the line. This is the same line that goes past Pompeii which is about half way between Sorrento and Naples. *Update: There is now an express train from Naples to Sorrento. 

Where to stay in Sorrento

Sorrento is well known as more of a luxury destination, but you can travel on a budget if you do a bit of research. We found a 3 star hotel called Hotel del Mare in the Marina Grande area, about 15 minutes walk outside of the main centre of Sorrento. The Marina Grande is a beautiful area with a small beach and marina, along with a few restaurants right on the water. We also found it to be a much quieter and more relaxing place, which is exactly what we needed after a hectic week travelling through Rome. There is a bus service that goes from Marina Grande through Sorrento and ends at the train station, making it very easy to travel around.

Marina Grande

What we did in Sorrento: Mostly eat!

During our time in Sorrento we spent one day exploring Pompeii. The next day we managed to catch a bus to visit Positano on the Amalfi coast – another beautiful location. We also planned to do a day trip to the Isle of Capri, but due to the bad weather the ferries couldn’t run, which meant we couldn’t visit Capri, and the rain prevented us from doing a lot of sightseeing. But one thing we did manage to do a lot of was eat fantastic food!

Risotto and Gnocci

Staying in Marina Grande meant that we could dine out at the beautiful restaurants on the water, where we indulged on some excellent food and wine. The prices varied, however we found some of the restaurants to be quite cheap compared to other restaurants in Sorrento. They also have a beautiful location overlooking the Marina Grande and the Bay of Naples, with Mt Vesuvius in the background. Our favourite restaurant was “Ristorante Bagni Delfino“, which had their own house wine made in vineyards in the Sorrento hills. There is no better way to describe food than with some photos.

House wine

Bruschetta with tomatoes

Eating my delicious ravioli

Veronika thinking she can fit all of her Spaghetti in her mouth at once 😉

All of the restaurants that we ate at gave us a free shot of Sorrento’s famous limoncello at the end of our

meal – a sour lemon liqueur that takes a bit of getting used to. And of course, for desert you can’t go past Italy’s amazing gelato.

Eating gelato with a view of Sorrento harbour, across the Bay of Naples to Mt Vesuvius

Sorrento is definitely somewhere I will return to in Italy, and next time I would like to spend more time exploring more of the Amalfi coast, and hopefully visit the Isle of Capri.