Offbeat Naples and Campania: 4 Days

Four days based in Naples adds the Amalfi Coast to the archaeological core and a Capri day, all without a rental car. Pompeii and Herculaneum-Vesuvius fill the first two days, Capri takes the third, and Sorrento plus a slice of the Amalfi Coast rounds out day four, with the SITA bus reality laid out plainly below. Want a slower coast day with an overnight instead of a rush? See the 5 day version, or the 3 day cut without the coast at all.

Book these before you go

Day Focus Distance/train time from Naples
1 Pompeii, the full site Circumvesuviana, about 30-40 min
2 Herculaneum plus Vesuvius crater Circumvesuviana, about 20-25 min, then a connecting shuttle bus
3 Capri by ferry Molo Beverello, roughly 45 min to 1h15 by ferry
4 Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast Circumvesuviana/Campania Express, about 1h to Sorrento, then SITA bus onward

Day 1: Pompeii, properly

Take the Circumvesuviana to the Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri stop, roughly 30-40 minutes from Naples. Standard entry is EUR 20, Pompeii+ is EUR 25, and the 3-day All Sites pass is EUR 30, with a EUR 2 reduced rate for EU citizens 18-25. Budget 2-4 hours minimum across the site’s 44 shadeless hectares, and buy tickets only through the official VivaTicket channel, never from a station tout.

Day 2: Herculaneum, then the volcano

Ride the Circumvesuviana one stop further to Ercolano Scavi, about 20-25 minutes out. Herculaneum’s EUR 16 entry buys a smaller, better-preserved site than Pompeii, since mud rather than ash buried it, and a half-day covers it. The connecting shuttle bus to Piazzale Quota 1000 reaches the Vesuvius Gran Cono crater trail, a nominative, timed, online-only ticket at EUR 10 full or EUR 8 reduced face value, roughly EUR 11.68 and EUR 9.55 with the booking fee, for a 30-40 minute hike each way.

Day 3: Capri, the island day

Ferries from Molo Beverello take roughly 45 minutes to just over an hour, around EUR 20-25 one-way. The Blue Grotto is a separate cash-only EUR 18 charge that closes without warning in rough seas, so treat it as a bonus, not the day’s anchor. Confirm the last return sailing before you leave Naples; missing it means an unplanned overnight.

Day 4: Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, in one rushed day

Sorrento is about an hour from Naples by Circumvesuviana or Campania Express, and it’s the gateway, not a stop to rush past. From there, the SITA bus runs Sorrento-Positano-Amalfi for roughly EUR 2.50-4 a leg, or EUR 10 for a 24-hour COSTIERASITA pass, on SITA Sud’s official network . Tickets sell only at a tabaccheria, never on board, and summer buses are frequently full by mid-morning; go early, 7:30-8am, or expect standing room.

Can the Amalfi Coast really be done as a single day trip from Naples? Yes, but barely, and only if you accept that transit and queues eat most of the daylight hours you’d rather spend in Positano or Amalfi itself. A rushed day still beats skipping it, but book the earliest realistic departure and don’t plan a second stop after Positano unless the bus genuinely cooperates.

Would an overnight on the coast work better than this rushed fourth day? For most travelers, yes: staying in a smaller, quieter village like Atrani or Cetara instead of pushing straight back to Naples buys an entire evening of coastline that a same-day round trip never reaches. That’s the shape the 5 day itinerary takes instead.

Buy your SITA bus ticket at the Sorrento tabaccheria the moment you step off the train, before you do anything else that morning; the ticket line, not the bus itself, is what actually strands people on the Amalfi Coast day.