Itinerary · for one

Amalfi · the Tyrrhenian week

Eight nights down the Tyrrhenian at the September shoulder · solo · train + ferry + occasional taxi, no rental car (the Amalfi road is too narrow). Two nights in Naples — Pizzeria da Michele (the margherita-marinara duo since 1870), the Cappella Sansevero with Sanmartino”s 1753 Veiled Christ marble, the Naples Archaeological Museum for the Pompeii frescoes + the Farnese marbles, Spaccanapoli Christmas-cribs lane, a half-day at Pompeii under Vesuvius (5,000+ preserved bodies + entire forum + amphitheatre). Two nights in Sorrento — Marina Grande for fisherman lunch, Vico Equense for pizza al metro, a sgroppino lemon sorbet aperitivo with prosecco. Three nights along the Amalfi Coast — Positano”s pastel cliff village (limit one night, then move), Amalfi town for the Duomo of Sant”Andrea, Ravello for Villa Cimbrone”s infinity terrace + Villa Rufolo”s gardens where Wagner wrote part of Parsifal, the 1,200-step Path of the Gods hike between Praiano and Nocelle. One final boat-day to Capri — the Blue Grotto, the chairlift to Monte Solaro, Via Krupp switchback, Anacapri”s Villa San Michele — before the ferry back to Naples and the long flight home.

1 traveler 4 bases 8 nights 10 min read

v1 · May 14, 2026

Sep 11 · Day 1 · the first one

Wheels down at Capodichino. Then the long week of the coast.

Out of Hong Kong on a Friday night, Naples by Saturday morning via Doha — Qatar Airways, fifteen hours. Eight nights ahead along the Tyrrhenian — two in Naples for pizza in the centro storico + a day at Pompeii under Vesuvius, two in Sorrento on the Sorrentine peninsula, three on the Amalfi Coast at Positano + Amalfi + Ravello, one final boat-day on Capri before the flight home. September is the cusp — 26 °C, the water still warm at 24 °C, the high-summer Italian crowds gone home, school back in session and the price of a sea-view hotel finally bearable.

Begin the journey ↓

Sep 11 → Sep 19 · 8 nights · 4 bases · 80 km between bases

Chapter 01 · Sep 11–12 Days 1–2

Naples · the centro storico

Two nights in Naples. The centro storico Spaccanapoli walk on day one, Pompeii under Vesuvius on day two, with the obligatory original-margherita at Pizzeria da Michele between them.

2 nights

Fly Hong Kong (HKG) → Doha → Naples (NAP) on Qatar Airways · ~15 hr · Alibus shuttle to centro · 20 min

Local Naples + Pompeii on the Circumvesuviana train (Naples Garibaldi → Pompei Scavi · 35 min) · Naples-Sorrento on the same line

Things to do

Pompeii Scavi · 5,000+ preserved bodies + entire forum + amphitheatre + Villa of the Mysteries · UNESCO · half-day visit, 4–6 hr
Cappella Sansevero · Sanmartino's 1753 Veiled Christ marble · the most technically virtuosic single sculpture in Italian Baroque
Pizzeria da Michele · the 1870 original-margherita pizzeria · two pizza options on the menu: margherita or marinara · single-room queue out the door
Naples Archaeological Museum (MANN) · the Pompeii frescoes + the Farnese marbles + the Secret Cabinet of erotic Roman art
Spaccanapoli walk · the straight Greek-Roman cardo through the old city · the Christmas-crib lanes at Via San Gregorio Armeno
Cristo Velato side-trip Naples Cathedral · the Treasury of San Gennaro + the relics of the patron saint with the miracle blood that liquifies three times a year
Sfogliatella Mary in the Galleria Umberto · the original Neapolitan riccia (crispy clamshell) vs frolla (smooth) sfogliatella · start with riccia

Stay in centro storico near Piazza Bellini for atmosphere · OR Vomero hill for quieter + Capodimonte access · avoid station-area hotels

Bookings

flight HKG → NAP via Doha · Qatar Airways · Friday departure pending

hotel Naples centro storico · 2 nights · near Piazza Bellini pending

activity Pompeii Scavi entry + audio guide pending

Chapter 01 · the story

Vesuvius sits over breakfast coffee like a second sun — a 1,281-metre reminder that the city is here on borrowed ground. Spaccanapoli runs dead straight through the old town from Sant'Anna dei Lombardi to Forcella, the Greek cardo that Rome never managed to bend.

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The queue outside Pizzeria da Michele starts at 11:30 and is round the corner of Via Cesare Sersale by noon. There are two pizzas on the menu and have been since 1870 — margherita or marinara, no toppings, no compromise — and the man at the door hands you a paper number and points across the street, where you stand against the wall watching scooters thread past at the same width as the alley. The pizza, when it comes, is four euros and is the size of a hubcap and the cornicione is the only part you don’t finish.

The Spaccanapoli runs east from Via Pasquale Scura to Forcella in a single uninterrupted line — the Greek cardo, two and a half thousand years old, paved over in volcanic basalt — and the old city is sliced by it into a north half and a south half like a piece of fish. The Christmas-crib lanes at Via San Gregorio Armeno run perpendicular: figurines of Maradona and the current pope sit on the same shelf as the three Magi. The Cappella Sansevero is two minutes off, holding Sanmartino’s 1753 marble veil so thin you can read the face through the cloth.

Capodimonte is on the hill north of the centro and holds Caravaggio’s late Flagellation in a room with three chairs and almost no one in front of it. The light comes in from the long windows over the gardens, and the painting — finished in Naples in 1607 the year before he died — sits in the half-dark with a small bench. Caravaggio walked these streets. He died on a beach somewhere up the coast at thirty-eight.

What stays after Naples is that Vesuvius sits over the breakfast coffee at every Vomero café with a view, a 1,281-metre cone with its summit cleanly visible, the volcano that buried Pompeii in seventy-nine AD and that will, the geologists say with quiet certainty, do it again. The city eats its pizza and queues at da Michele and lets the figurines of Maradona watch over the nativity all the same.

Chapter 02 · Sep 13–14 Days 3–4

Sorrento · the lemon peninsula

Two nights on the Sorrentine peninsula before the Amalfi switchback. Marina Grande for fisherman lunch on day one, Vico Equense for pizza al metro on day two, with a half-day up to Sant'Agata sui Due Golfi for the dual-bay view (Naples + Salerno).

2 nights

Train Naples Garibaldi → Sorrento · Circumvesuviana 65 min · runs every 30 min · slow regional, no first class · tickets €4.30 at the platform

Local Sorrento is on cliffs · the harbour at Marina Grande is reached by stairs or elevator from the centre

Things to do

Marina Grande fishing village + lunch · the original Sorrento fishing harbour · Ristorante Bagni Delfino on the water · fritto misto + grilled octopus
Sgroppino lemon-sorbet aperitivo · the local invention · vodka + prosecco + lemon sorbet · at any of the Piazza Tasso cafés before dinner
Vico Equense day-trip · 8 km north on the Circumvesuviana · the original pizza al metro at Pizza Ciro a Mezzo Metro (since 1956) · 1m of pizza at a time
Sant'Agata sui Due Golfi · 8 km south of Sorrento · the only point with views of BOTH the Naples + Salerno gulfs · Don Alfonso 1890 hotel-restaurant
Sedile Dominova logge · the only surviving 14th-century open-air seat-of-government building in Italy · the painted dome ceiling
Sorrento centro walk · Via San Cesareo for the lemon-grove ceramic + limoncello shops · I Giardini di Cataldo lemon-grove tour
Marina di Puolo beach swim · 4 km west of Sorrento · the closest sand beach (most are pebble in the peninsula)

Stay in Sorrento centro near Piazza Tasso for restaurants · OR on the western cliff for sea-view · most hotels have rooftop pools

Bookings

train Circumvesuviana Naples Garibaldi → Sorrento · day 3 morning pending

hotel Sorrento centro or western cliff · 2 nights · sea view pending

Chapter 02 · the story

The town sits fifty metres above the water on a cliff of yellow tufa and looks north across the Bay of Naples at Vesuvius. The lemon groves come down off the Lattari hills in narrow terraces two grown trees wide, walled in dry-stone that's older than the Republic.

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The Circumvesuviana arrives at Sorrento at 11:25 and disgorges everyone onto the same platform — backpackers heading for Capri, day-trippers for Pompeii, the locals who do this commute every morning to a desk in Naples — and the line for the elevator down to Marina Grande forms before you reach the street. The other way is the stairs: 198 of them, switchbacking down the tufa face past the lemon trees that grow out of the rock with no soil that you can see.

At Marina Grande the fishing boats are still painted and still fishing, tied to the small concrete pier with the names of dead grandfathers on the bows. Ristorante Bagni Delfino sits on the pier itself at sea level, the tables five metres from the water, and the fritto misto is whatever came in at five that morning — red mullet, anchovy, calamari rings, the small grey shrimp the menu calls gamberetti di Crapolla. The octopus has been poached and grilled and is the size of a fist. The wine is a Falanghina from the next valley over.

The lemon-grove path runs up the hill above the centro at I Giardini di Cataldo — six generations of the same family, the trees grafted onto bitter-orange rootstock, the fruit the size of a small melon and the skin three centimetres thick. The peel is what limoncello is. The juice is what sgroppino is. The town’s entire economy, behind the hotels, is still these terraces. At Sant’Agata sui Due Golfi the road climbs to 391 metres and from the belvedere both gulfs open at once — Naples on the right with Vesuvius, Salerno on the left with the Amalfi cliffs.

The 16:40 ferry to Positano leaves from the Marina Piccola pier on the east side of the headland and the queue is already forming by four. Sorrento is the staging post: the town faces the wrong way for the Amalfi sunset, but the right way for waking up at seven and watching the volcano lit pink across the water.

Chapter 03 · Sep 15–17 Days 5–7

Amalfi Coast · Positano to Ravello

Three nights on the Amalfi Coast switchback. Positano (1N) for the pastel cliff village, Amalfi (1N) for the Duomo + Ravello day-trip with Villa Cimbrone, Praiano (1N) for the Path of the Gods hike to Nocelle.

3 nights

Bus SITA Sud bus Sorrento → Positano → Amalfi → Salerno · the only public option · runs every 30 min, no reservations · sit RIGHT side for sea views

Local The road is narrow and twisty; private rental cars are discouraged · ferries between Positano + Amalfi + Capri are an alternative when seas calm

Things to do

Positano cliff village · the pastel-coloured terraces stacked from the church of Santa Maria Assunta down to the beach · arrive early before bus crowds
Path of the Gods (Sentiero degli Dei) hike · Praiano → Nocelle · 7 km · 4 hr · the ridge trail 600 m above the sea with Capri offshore
Villa Cimbrone in Ravello · the 11th-century villa garden with the Terrace of Infinity · the row of marble busts staring out over the Tyrrhenian
Villa Rufolo in Ravello · the 13th-century garden where Wagner composed part of Parsifal · the Klingsor's magic garden setting · summer concerts
Amalfi Duomo of Sant'Andrea · the 9th-century basilica with the 12th-century bronze doors from Constantinople · the crypt holds St Andrew's relics
Paper Museum in Amalfi (Museo della Carta) · the 13th-century paper mill, the oldest in Italy · Amalfi was Europe's first cotton-paper centre
Ferry Positano → Capri or Positano → Amalfi · the only way to see the coast from the sea · 30–60 min
Conca dei Marini Emerald Grotto (Grotta dello Smeraldo) · the alternate to Capri's Blue Grotto · less crowded, lift down from the road

Pick ONE base — Positano for atmosphere, Amalfi for restaurants, Praiano for quiet. Switching nightly means moving luggage on the SITA bus = misery · book 90+ days for September

Bookings

hotel Positano OR Amalfi OR Praiano · 3 nights · sea view pending

Don't switch bases — too much luggage hassle on the SITA bus

activity Path of the Gods hike · self-guided, no entry fee pending

Chapter 03 · the story

The SS-163 is fifty kilometres of two-lane switchback cut into a vertical limestone face six hundred metres above the Tyrrhenian. The buses come at you on the blind corners and the drivers fold the wing mirrors in with their elbows without looking.

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The SITA Sud bus leaves Sorrento at 09:25 from the stop opposite the Circumvesuviana station and the queue starts forming at quarter to. The right-side window is the side that matters — that is the sea side over the cliff, the one where Positano comes into view at the third hairpin in a sudden pastel cascade two minutes before the bus stops at Chiesa Nuova above the village. The road is the SS-163, built by the Bourbons in 1840, never widened, and the driver takes corners at speeds that would be illegal anywhere not signposted in Italian.

Positano is built vertically. The church of Santa Maria Assunta with the green-and-yellow majolica dome sits halfway down and everything either climbs to it from the beach or falls away from it to the sea. The shopping street, Via dei Mulini, is a stepped alley between bougainvillea-draped walls and ends at the Spiaggia Grande where wooden fishing boats are pulled up on the pebble at the same spot their grandfathers pulled them. The lemon granita at Collina Bakery is two euros and is served in a paper cup with a plastic spoon.

The Sentiero degli Dei begins above Praiano at Bomerano and runs seven kilometres along the ridge at six hundred metres elevation to Nocelle, where 1,500 stone steps drop into Positano. The path is goat-track wide, single-file in places, and the drop to the left is unfenced. Capri sits offshore the entire walk, a flat blue silhouette in the middle distance. The four hours pass in silence broken only by donkey bells from the terraces below.

Ravello is the inland chapter — twelve kilometres up from Amalfi town on the bus that climbs through Scala — and Villa Cimbrone’s Terrace of Infinity is a hundred-metre row of marble busts staring out at the Tyrrhenian from a balustrade with nothing in front of it but air and the Gulf of Salerno six hundred metres below. Wagner finished part of Parsifal next door at Villa Rufolo and called the garden Klingsor’s. He was right.

Chapter 04 · Sep 18 Day 8

Capri · the Blue Grotto

One final boat-day on Capri before the long flight east. Blue Grotto at the morning opening (high water = lower waiting), chairlift up Monte Solaro for the 589-m view, Anacapri's Villa San Michele on the way back to the ferry.

1 night

Ferry Amalfi → Capri · 60 min direct · runs 2–3 times per day in summer · book ahead on Caremar or Alilauro

Tickets Blue Grotto entry sells out by 11am · arrive at Marina Grande by 9am · separate boat to the grotto, separate rowboat inside

Things to do

Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzurra) · the sea-cave with the impossible electric-blue water · only by tiny rowboat through a 1-m opening · sea state-dependent
Monte Solaro chairlift from Anacapri · 12 min to 589 m · the highest point of Capri · panorama north to Naples, east to the Sorrentine peninsula
Villa San Michele in Anacapri · Axel Munthe's 1896 sun-drenched white-walled villa-garden · the Sphinx terrace + the views down to Marina Grande
Via Krupp · the 1902 switchback footpath down the cliff to Marina Piccola · the most photographed footpath in Italy · closed occasionally for rockfall
Capri piazzetta + Funicolare · the funicular up from Marina Grande to the central Piazza Umberto I · the Watch Tower for the Bay of Naples view
Faraglioni rock-stack boat tour · 1 hr round-the-island boat · the three sea stacks off the south end (most photographed sea-stack in the Mediterranean)
Sea swim at Marina Piccola · the south-shore pebble beach with the warmest water (24 °C in September) · last swim of the trip

Capri is a day-trip from Amalfi (no overnight needed for this trip) · OR overnight at La Palma for the experience · most Capri hotels are 4-5 star pricing

Bookings

train Ferry Amalfi → Capri · day 8 morning · Caremar or Alilauro pending

hotel Capri overnight at La Palma · 1 night pending

train Ferry Capri → Naples Beverello · day 9 morning · 50 min pending

flight NAP → HKG via Doha · Qatar Airways · day 9 evening pending

Chapter 04 · the story

Tiberius retired here in twenty-six AD and ruled the empire by courier from a clifftop villa on the east end. Two thousand years later the funicular still climbs the same hundred metres from Marina Grande to the Piazzetta in four minutes flat.

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The ferry from Amalfi arrives at Marina Grande on Capri’s north shore at the same pier the Romans built. The funicular leaves every fifteen minutes from the harbour and climbs the cliff face in four minutes to the Piazzetta — Piazza Umberto I, the central square of the upper town, twenty metres across, four café terraces and a clocktower that has been the front room of the island since the eighteen-sixties. Via Camerelle runs east off the square in a shaded shopping arcade of marble flagstones and Prada windows; the prices are not the prices that anyone on the bus to Praiano was paying.

The Blue Grotto is a different operation. The entry is a one-metre opening in the cliff on the north-west shore, and you transfer from the larger boat to a wooden rowboat at the mouth and lie flat on your back while the rower hauls you in on a rusted chain bolted to the rock. Inside, the cave is fifty metres long and the only light is what enters through the underwater part of the opening, refracting blue off the white sandy floor. The colour is impossible. The rower sings O Sole Mio for the tip. The swim entry — for the brave, after the last boat at five — is from the rocks above on the left side.

Anacapri is the other town, six hundred metres up on the west shoulder. The chairlift from Piazza Vittoria climbs in single plastic-seat chairs over the lemon and olive terraces to the summit of Monte Solaro at 589 metres. The ride takes twelve minutes, the seat sways, and at the top is a small kiosk and a view that runs east to the Sorrentine peninsula, north across the bay to Vesuvius, west to the open Tyrrhenian where the next land is Sardinia.

The 17:00 ferry back to Marina Grande is the last move of the trip. The light is going by the time the funicular drops you to the harbour. Tomorrow morning Qatar Airways flies east out of Capodichino. The lemon and the cliff and the smell of fior di latte already settling into the back of the memory.

Sep 19 · Day 9 · the last one

Last sfogliatella at Sfogliatella Mary. Then the long flight east.

Final morning back in Naples — sfogliatella riccia at the counter of Sfogliatella Mary in the Galleria Umberto, one last espresso at Gambrinus. Train to Naples Capodichino, Qatar east at midnight via Doha. Hong Kong by next-day evening. Eight nights — two through the chaos of Naples, one inside the petrified Pompeii streets, two on the Sorrentine cliffs, three on the Amalfi switchback road, one on the white cliffs of Capri. The smell of fior di latte mozzarella and the lemon of Sorrento sgroppino already half-remembered.

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