What are the best day trips from Sorrento?

Capri sits 17 km south by sea, and the hydrofoil from Marina Piccola runs every 30-40 minutes for about €22 one way on the Caremar or NLG lines, with a 20-25 minute crossing. This is Sorrento's strongest couples day trip. The Blue Grotto costs €18 to enter by rowboat, but the queue between 10am and 2pm can stretch to 90 minutes of bobbing in a small motorboat line. Go early on the 8:15 departure or skip it entirely and walk the 2.4 km trail from Anacapri to the Punta Carena lighthouse, where you'll find flat rocks for swimming and a bar selling Aperol spritzes at €8. The split-interest move is simple. One of you takes the chairlift to Monte Solaro (€12 round trip, 12 minutes) for the full-island view while the other browses the perfume shops on Via Camerelle. Meet for lunch at Ristorante Aurora on Via Fuorlovado, where the insalata caprese uses local buffalo mozzarella and costs about €14.

Pompeii (founded 600 BC, 27 km north-east) is the bigger draw, but Herculaneum is the better half-day for two people who disagree on pace. The Circumvesuviana train from Sorrento to Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri takes 30 minutes and costs €2.80. Pompeii needs 3-4 hours minimum to cover the Forum, the Villa of the Mysteries, and the plaster casts in the Granary. Herculaneum, farther along the same line at Ercolano Scavi (€3.60, 45 minutes from Sorrento), is a quarter of the size but far better preserved. The wooden furniture, mosaic floors, and carbonized bread at the Villa of the Papyri still look warm to the touch. If one of you wants 4 hours in ancient streets and the other hits a wall after 90 minutes, pick Herculaneum. It takes 90 minutes to see properly, leaving time for a long lunch in Ercolano before the afternoon train back. Don't try both in a single day. You'll spend 6 hours on your feet in September's 28°C heat and resent each other by dinner.

Positano is 16 km west along the SS163, and the SITA bus from Sorrento takes 40 minutes when it's not stuck behind a tour coach. Between 10am and 4pm from June through September, it will be. The ferry (€18, 35 minutes from Marina Piccola) is worth the extra cost because you arrive by sea and see the pastel houses from the water, not from a bus window. Positano fills 2-3 hours. Walk down to Spiaggia Grande, split a €15 lemon granita at Buca di Bacco while the salt air sticks to your skin, and take the next ferry onward. Amalfi is another 25 minutes by ferry (€10), where the 9th-century cathedral and a gelato from Andrea Pansa on Piazza Duomo fill an afternoon. Ravello sits 350 meters above Amalfi, reachable by a 25-minute SITA bus (€1.30). Villa Rufolo's gardens look out over the coast, and the Ravello Concert Society programs chamber music on the terrace through September. That combination fills 9-10 hours. Pick Positano plus one, not all three.

Naples is 50 km north on the Circumvesuviana (70 minutes, €4.10 to Napoli Garibaldi). Go for the pizza and the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, in that order. Split a margherita at L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele on Via Cesare Sersale (€5, cash only, the line moves fast before noon) and walk 15 minutes to Via Toledo for sfogliatella from Pintauro at €2.50. The shell cracks when you bite it and sends ricotta-scented flakes down your shirt. The Museo holds frescoes excavated from the ancient sites along with the Farnese collection. Plan 2 hours inside. Castel dell'Ovo on the Borgo Marinari waterfront is free to enter and gives you a quiet spot to sit together watching Vesuvius across the bay. On a separate day, take the same Circumvesuviana to Ercolano and catch the EAV bus to the 1,000-meter car park (€3.40 round trip, crater walk €10). Vesuvius National Park, established 1991, keeps the summit trail to a 30-minute loop. The sulphur smell at the rim is sharp and the ground feels warm underfoot.