Southern Italy With Kids - Sorrento & Positano Guide
So we just got home from twelve days in Southern Italy — planes, trains, automobiles, and more ferries than I can count — and I've had approximately four hundred people ask me the same three questions: Where did you stay? What did you do? How did the boys do?
So here it is. The whole trip, day by day. The hotels, the finding-our-name story, the stuff nobody tells you, the stairs (oh, the stairs), and yes, the gelato. This is the Sorrento & Positano guide I wish someone had handed me before we went.
A quick honest note before we start: this was not a lie-by-the-pool situation. It was hills and heat and steps and early ferries, and my boys did every bit of it with barely a complaint. Todd found the way, like he always does. And somehow I got to stop steering for once and just be in it with them. Ten out of ten. Would haul my two young gents across the Bay of Naples again in a heartbeat.
Where We Stayed
Sorrento (Days 1–8) — our anchor. We rented an apartment for the week, and for our family it was the right call, no question. We don't love eating out every single meal — so having a kitchen meant we could do dinner out some nights and dinner in on others, preparing meals with the freshest produce, every amazing pasta shape you can think of, and DIY caprese with the freshest-of-fresh mozzarella and tomatoes. Breakfast especially was the hardest meal to find out in town and the easiest to just make at home, so that alone was worth it.
And the location was everything: a block from the train station, a block from the supermercato, and two blocks from Piazza Tasso and the heart of the city — and, as it happened, right on top of Pizzeria Da Franco, the most delicious pizzeria in all of Sorrento (more on that below). (Living above that smell for a week was a test of willpower we failed daily, happily.) For a week, we got to live like locals, right in the middle of it all — walk to the ferries, stroll to dinner, hop the train for day trips, never once needing a car. My biggest tip here isn't a specific place, it's the strategy: rent an apartment, stay as central as you can — near the station and Piazza Tasso — and you'll have the whole town at your feet.
Positano (Days 8–11) — Hotel Eden Roc, 3 nights.
This is where we splurged, and oh, it delivered. Pool with views straight over Positano's stacked, colorful hillside, a terrace made for doing absolutely nothing, Pool with views straight over Positano's stacked, colorful hillside, a terrace made for doing absolutely nothing — the kind of perch where you could people-watch the whole town from above for hours and never get bored. And the hospitality?T he Italian hospitality here was phenomenal — warm, gracious, anticipating everything before you even asked. After a week of go-go-go, a few days of nowhere to be, in the prettiest town on earth, was exactly what we needed.
The Trip, Day by Day
Day 1 — Sorrento & "Find Our Name"
First, the getting-there reality: from Naples airport we took the Circumvesuviana train to Sorrento (~70 min, no reservation), and it's the least glamorous leg of the trip — no AC, windows open, tight and crowded, and we had to stand more than once in the July heat. Totally doable, just don't expect luxury.
Once you've arrived, though — no agenda, just us and the city. We wandered the historic center, let the jet lag melt off, and played a family game we called Find Our Name — Gargiulo is my mother's maiden name, and her family hailed from Sorrento. So spotting it around town, on shops and signs and doorways, became our own little treasure hunt through the streets our family came from. A pretty magical way to arrive.
Day 2 — Capri & Anacapri
Early ferry over — go early, July crowds are no joke — and straight up to Anacapri via a small, tight tram. The Monte Solaro chairlift (from Anacapri to it's hightest peak, Monte Solaro) was the runaway favorite: a single open chairlift floating up the mountain to a 360° view of the whole island. The boys were obsessed. I was petrified. After that we just wandered — strolled the streets, popped in and out of shops, saw the beautiful Villa San Michele — then took the tram back down to Capri town. There's so much to explore here; you really can't go wrong just letting the day unfold.
Day 3 — Sorrento, No Agenda
Rest, recharge, gelato, repeat. Some of our best days had zero plan — and after Capri, everyone needed one. Build these in. They end up being the days you remember.
Day 4 — Gargiulo Olive Oil Farm
And then the name came full circle. We spent a morning at the Gargiulo olive oil farm out in the groves above town. One honest heads-up: you cannot walk here. It's about two miles out on a busy road with no sidewalks, so you'll need a taxi — and ours was not cheap. Worth knowing so it's not a surprise.
We skipped the full tour and did the olive oil tasting with the boys instead, then retreated up to the upper veranda — where we tasted the chef's specials, sampled even more olive oil, and just soaked in the scenery. One of those slow, golden, no-rush days you plan a whole trip around. Simply amazing. All. Of. It.
Day 5 — Marameo Beach Club
Our proper beach day. We set up at Marameo Beach Club — rented chairs, towels, and an umbrella out on the deck above the water — and spent the whole day swimming in the Gulf of Naples and lunching right there. Easy, sunny, exactly what a middle-of-the-trip day should be.
Day 6 — Pompeii
Thirty-five minutes on the Circumvesuviana, get off at the Pompeii Scavi stop. We booked the earliest morning slot to beat the heat. We toured Pompeii ourselves — no guide — and for us that was the right call. In that July heat, I wanted the freedom to wander where we wanted and linger where we felt like it, not get marched around on someone else's route. And really, we came for Brooks: he'd read I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, 79 A.D., so getting to walk the actual streets he'd read about was the whole point. Watching it click for him was worth the entire trip. With kids, a couple of hours is plenty to get your fill. Wear real shoes — it's all cobblestones and it's enormous.
Day 7 — Sorrento, One Last Slow Day
Our last full day at our anchor before the move to Positano. A slow one on purpose — a long lunch, a final wander through the streets that had started to feel like ours, and a stop at a caffè for Todd, forever chasing the perfect cup. (He never quite found it — but when you've owned an Italian coffee shop yourself, as we once did, nothing quite measures up.) Soak up the town you've settled into before you pack it all up."
Day 8 — Travel Day to Positano
Checkout Monday morning, then the ferry from Sorrento to Positano, arriving by sea — a core memory, not just a way to get there. A porter meets you at the pier (cash, absolutely worth it — Positano is vertical and you do not want to drag suitcases up that mountain with two kids in tow). Arrange it through your hotel 24 hours in advance — just send them your arrival time and they'll have someone waiting. Then we checked in at Eden Roc, dropped everything, and did gloriously nothing for the rest of the day.
Day 9 — Positano, a.k.a. Leg Day
Swimming, shopping, and 349 stairs. Yes, I counted. Straight up, no switchbacks, all in the name of a view — because this whole trip was my belated 50th, and when you're celebrating five decades on the planet you get to make the entire family climb a staircase into the sky for a photo. Buns of steel: included. Send water.
Day 10 — Exploring Positano
Another full day just soaking it in — Spiaggia Grande, the boutiques, the winding streets, a long lazy lunch, that famous view. In Positano, "exploring" and "everything else" are the same thing, and honestly that's the best way to do it. No plan, all Positano.
Day 11 — The Last of Everything
Our final day, and we spent it going back to all our faves one more time. We ate our last sammies at Vini e Panini — the little spot we'd become deeply loyal regulars at (three visits in three days, no shame). One last loop of everything we loved, then the ferry to Naples for our final night before the flight home.
Day 12 — Fly Home
One last Italian morning, then the long journey home. (Which turned out to be 23 hours — but that's a story for the reel.)
Where We Ate: Sorrento
We cooked in some — that's half the magic of having an apartment — but when we went out, we went out well. Our Sorrento hit list:
La Cantinaccia del Popolo — the dinner we're still talking about, and the best meal we had in all of Italy. One catch: get there early, like 4–5pm, because the line gets genuinely crazy. Worth every minute you'd otherwise spend waiting.
Pizzeria Da Franco & Frankie's Pizza Bar — the two best pizzas of the trip. (Da Franco is the one that happened to sit right under our apartment — either a blessing or a daily test of willpower, you decide.)
Fresca Sorrento & (THIS IS) PALATO — our two gelato favorites, extensively and very seriously researched.
Misaki — and when you need a break from Italian (it happens, even in Italy), the best sushi in town.
Where We Ate: Positano
Vini e Panini — a tiny grocery store in the heart of Positano since 1890, making the best sammies around. We went back three times in three days, which tells you everything.
La Zagara — a lovely terrace among the lemon groves serving delish pizza, plus lemon sorbet in actual little lemon cups.
Capricci — a great spot just off Marina Grande beach for fresh Amalfi Coast seafood pasta and pizza.
The Gelato Situation
Sorrento is lemon everything — granita, gelato, candy, that lemon-scented air — and I will not apologize for how much of it we consumed. Fresca and PALATO were our two favorites (above), but we sampled far more than two in the name of science. I ranked the whole lineup over on the reels — a very serious, very scientific process — so head there for the official standings.
That's the whole trip, laid bare. Twelve days, my whole world carrying their captain through every mile of it, and a country we're already plotting our way back to.
Ciao + smiles + SONshine,
-SeaChelleB
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