Someone once said the best part about Naples is driving through it to get to Sorrento, and while my experience of Naples was short and brief, consisting of one sleep in the very lovely La Controra Hostel and risking the Moped crazy roads for a pizza, I think I can vouch for the that.

Our journey began by arriving in Pompeii – a short train journey from Naples and a must see for any first time visitor. Pompeii is of course the famous story of the ancient city that was obliterated by the ash eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79AD. Larger than life statues set the mood in this surprisingly well preserved archaeological site. After spending a few hours here, we grabbed our luggage and got back on the train toward Sorrento.

We actually stayed one stop back from Sorrento on the train line at Seven Hostel, in St. Agnello where the wake-up view was absolutely amazing! An oversight with our flight schedule meant we could only spend one night here which was a bummer as it was obvious there was a lot more to see on nearby day trips. The island of Capri is just a ferry ride away from Sorrento, and even St. Agnellos vineyard views had me wanting to wander another day or two here.

For our full day in the Sorrento area, we decided to make our way to Positano. I’m not usually a fan of bus rides, but it was hard not to enjoy this journey overlooking the the magnificent blue. Numerous near vertical cliff side towns had us fooled along the way, and when we finally arrived at the Positano bus stop we thought we’d gotten off in the wrong place because the beach was nowhere to be seen! Fortunately it was just a wonderful windy downhill walk away.

Positano is one of those places that actually lives up to the hype. The natural beauty of the dramatic cliff front beach more than makes up for the touristy souvenir shops and is the perfect place to spend a day sipping Limoncello on the beach.