Sorrento – a beautiful coastal town on the Amalfi coast, with it’s harbour presenting stunning displays of Mount Vesuvius. The first thing that stood out for me was the quite breathtaking views on the road from Naples airport to our hotel, Hotel Il Faro (Lighthouse Hotel), in the heart of Sorrento Harbour. While most people go to Sorrento to hop on a ferry to Capri, it is a worthy destination in itself. The town reminded me of medieval French towns, like Sommières in the south, that I have visited before. The town is very proud of it’s local produce, especially the Limoncello, sporting many different novelty bottles and numerous claims of “the best in town!” There were many stalls in the pedestrian streets, selling all sorts of souvenirs, clothing, tea towels and more. Churches opened their doors for tourists to enjoy the art and a few exhibitions too. Bunting lined the streets and it created a very festive vibe across the whole town.

From the main town, it is a short 10 minute walk to the harbour, including walking down some steps that appear to have been carved in to a cliff. Down on the harbour there are two small beaches which have the distinctive black sand from the ash and lava rock. A gelato stall is the ideal compliment to a seafront cafe which serves a perfect latte for the coffee lovers out there.

The harbour has a light buzz, but remains peaceful into the evening, where bars and restaurants are open but there aren’t heaps of people spilling into the streets. Up on the cliffs there are some hotels with pretty impressive views. While our hotel was at the bottom of the cliffs, some of the rooms on the top floor had some beautiful views out to sea, especially in the morning haze where the view is particularly peaceful.

At dinner on the Tuesday, we were surprised by some pumping tunes coming from the harbour front (we could hear from the restaurant at our hotel!) so we headed out to find out what was going on. To our surprise, a mobile spin class had set up, along with disco lights and sound system! They were all gone by the morning.

At around 8:30pm we experienced some of the most stunning sunsets. One evening the sky went a deep blood-red, perfectly silhouetting some small islands off shore. If you are on the Amalfi coast and looking for peaceful, perhaps romantic evening, Sorrento Harbour is a wonderful spot for this.