Positano, Sorrento and Pompeii by Mercedes Van

Seaside towns, mountain roads and an ancient city frozen in time all fit into this day by Mercedes van, a dream journey through one of Italy’s most enchanting corners.

Your local driver takes the wheel, so you can simply sit back as the coast unfolds. The first stop is Positano, a town of Roman origin with whitewashed houses and narrow lanes. Its boutiques are renowned for the thousands of cotton, silk and linen garments they produce each summer, always original, colorful and full of creativity. For a full day devoted to the coast’s best-known towns, Amalfi and Ravello included, see our private Amalfi Coast day tour.

From Positano the route climbs over the mountains on narrow, winding roads, pausing whenever the scenery deserves a photograph, until you reach Sorrento. Travelers have been drawn here since Roman times: the town sits on cliffs above the sea, with a busy harbor, pretty bays and wide views of the Amalfi Coast and nearby hills. Explore at leisure, see the main sights and sit down for lunch in a traditional restaurant, where local specialties such as mozzarella and spaghetti with tomato are on the menu, followed by a glass of limoncello, among the finest liqueurs of the coast, made with Sorrento lemons.

The final stop is Pompeii, where you learn how a violent eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79 AD buried the whole town and its people under ash and pumice. Walking its streets, you discover what daily life was like in the Imperial Age and can picture the fear of the inhabitants in the moments before disaster struck. A guide is available as an add-on for €165 total; to request one, simply mention it in your booking notes. For an even deeper look at the buried cities, the guided visit to Pompeii and Herculaneum is the perfect complement.