What should I avoid in Sorrento?

Tourist-facing restaurants along Corso Italia and Via San Cesareo print the €3-4 per-person coperto in small type at the bottom of the menu. Worth checking before you order. For gnocchi alla sorrentina, 'O Parrucchiano on Corso Italia serves the dish for €10-12 in a courtyard of century-old lemon trees, the air thick with basil and woodsmoke. The place has been open since 1868. Inn Bufalito on Vico I Fuoro serves buffalo mozzarella pulled that morning from a Paestum dairy, still warm, creamy, almost liquid at the center. A full meal there runs €25-30. For seafood, Trattoria da Emilia on Marina Grande's waterfront does a frittura di paranza for about €12-14. The limoncello tasting rooms along Via San Cesareo sell industrial bottles at €15 after a free-sample pitch. Look for the IGP Limone di Sorrento label at a proper shop instead. An IGP bottle carries the sharp, oily bite of real sfusato peel. The industrial version tastes like lemon candy.

The Circumvesuviana train from Naples takes about an hour for €4.60. July and August carriages fill to standing-room with no air conditioning, thick with the smell of hot metal and sunscreen. Get to the platform 15 minutes early to claim a seat. Taxis from Capodichino airport quote €100-120 for the 50km ride, so confirm the posted tariff before you get in. Sorrento's old center is compact enough to cover on foot in 20 minutes. The SS163 coast road is a single lane in each direction with tour buses on blind corners, so buses and ferries are the practical choice for the Amalfi Coast. SITA buses to Positano leave from outside Sorrento's station every 30-50 minutes for €2.40. The 8:30am departure is the last one with a reasonable chance of a seat in summer. Ferries from Marina Piccola reach Positano in 35 minutes for around €18, and the views from the water beat anything through a bus window. Ferry service runs daily from April through October, then drops to weekends only or stops entirely through winter.

The package boat tours to Capri's Blue Grotto from Marina Piccola charge €55-70 per person. The independent route costs closer to €35-40. Take the Caremar ferry to Capri's Marina Grande for around €20, then a motorboat to the grotto entrance for €14, plus the €4 rowboat admission. The grotto closes when swells pick up, which happens on roughly 30% of days between October and March. If it's shut, Capri still earns the trip. The chairlift from Anacapri to Monte Solaro takes 12 minutes and tops out at 589 meters with views across the Bay of Naples. The Giardini di Augusto on Via Matteotti sit above the Faraglioni rocks, and the €1 entry is one of the better deals on the island. A terrace espresso at Capri town's piazzetta runs €5-7, about 5 times the Naples bar price. Anacapri tends to be quieter and about 30% cheaper for meals.

Hotel rates in Sorrento's center double between June and August, with a standard double room running €150-200 per night on Corso Italia versus €70-100 in May or October. Hotels along Via del Capo sit on the cliff road to Massa Lubrense, where scooters and buses round blind corners from about 6am. Light sleepers might want to ask for a room facing the garden side. Cruise ships dock at Naples and run excursion buses to Sorrento. On peak-season days when 3-4 ships are in port, Piazza Tasso and the streets around the Duomo fill with guided groups from about 10am to 4pm. Early mornings and evenings feel like a different town. The Easter week from Palm Sunday through Sorrento's Venerdì Santo procession draws large crowds to the old center. September and early October tend to bring warm swimming temperatures around 25°C, thinner crowds, and lower hotel rates. That shoulder window is likely the best balance of weather and space.

Marina Grande's free beach section fills shoulder-to-shoulder by 11am in July and August, narrowing to about 10 meters of rough pebbles. Private beach clubs along the coast don't always post their €20-30 sunbed-and-umbrella prices until you've sat down. Bagni della Regina Giovanna, a natural rock pool about 2km west of the center, is the better swim. The 15-minute path down is steep dirt and loose stone, so bring proper shoes. Morning before 9am is the window, when you might have the pool to yourself. The water sits sheltered between Roman-era ruins, clear enough to see the bottom 3-4 meters down. For a longer walk, the Punta del Capo trail continues past the baths along the cliff for another kilometer through wild rosemary and pine. Jellyfish appear in the Bay of Naples from late August through September, mostly the small purple Pelagia noctiluca. Mind you, the sting is more annoying than dangerous, but it's enough to cut a swim short.