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Route · 7 days · round-tripYacht charter route · Amalfi

Sorrento round-trip.

A 7-day sail from Sorrento round Punta Campanella to Positano and Amalfi, then south into wild Cilento for Agropoli, Acciaroli and Paestum.

The route

Day-by-day route

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Positano
Day 1

Sorrento → Positano

An easy 12-mile first leg from Sorrento around Punta Campanella to Positano, passing the private Li Galli islets on the way in.

Distance

5 NM

Sailing

~1h at 5 kn

At a glance

Route at a glance

Best season

May – mid-October (peak Jun – Sep)

Duration

7 days

Departure

Sorrento

Sailing area

Amalfi

Route summary

Click any day to jump back to the map and see its photos, narrative and mooring tip.

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The full story

Day-by-day journey

Named anchorages, mooring notes and things to do for every leg of the week — the map follows along as you scroll.

Day 1 / 7
Positano
1
Day 1

Sorrento → Positano

Pick up your boat at Marina Piccola and take the morning to sort gear before slipping the lines. The run west and then south is short, but Punta Campanella is a marine reserve where the tide can push hard against the headland, so we usually round it with a bit of throttle in hand. Once you are clear, the coast opens up and Positano climbs the hillside ahead of you. Three miles out sit the Li Galli islets, the old Sirens' rocks, private and worth a slow pass. Positano runs on buoys, not berths. Call the harbour master early to hold one off Spiaggia Grande, and if the field is full, tuck west into Fornillo and drop the hook on sand. Evenings here are for the cliff stairs and a cold lemon delizia.

Things to do

Climb the stairs to Santa Maria Assunta church

Swim off Fornillo beach before the crowds

Cold lemon delizia at a cliff-top bar

Walk a stretch of the Path of the Gods

Mooring tip

Positano is buoys only, roughly €80–150 a night in peak, so phone the harbour master ahead rather than turning up hopeful. Fornillo Bay is the fallback, good holding on sand in 6–8 m, sheltered from the north but open to a southerly libeccio.

Praiano
2
Day 2

Positano → Praiano

Barely six miles today, so there is no rush. We tend to leave late, swim somewhere quiet, and time the arrival at Conca dei Marini for early afternoon when the light is right. The Emerald Grotto sits below the road here, a flooded sea cave where sunlight comes up through an underwater gap and turns the whole chamber green. Take the tender in and go slowly; the entrance is low. Praiano itself has only Marina di Praia, a scrap of a fishing harbour wedged into a cleft, so plan to anchor outside on sand rather than squeeze in. Ashore, the village is all cliff stairs and small belvederes looking back toward Positano. Dinner is easy: Il Monastero does a zucchini-blossom risotto worth the climb up from the water.

Things to do

Tender into the Emerald Grotto sea cave

Snorkel the rocks off Marina di Praia

Zucchini-blossom risotto at Il Monastero

Sunset from a Praiano cliff belvedere

Mooring tip

Drop the hook outside Marina di Praia on sand in 6–8 m; it holds well and shelters you from the north. The buoys at Conca dei Marini are for daytime grotto visits only, not an overnight.

Amalfi
3
Day 3

Conca → Amalfi

Amalfi was a sea republic long before it was a postcard, and it still keeps a small harbour under the cliffs. Book the berth ahead in July and August, because Porto di Amalfi fills fast and there is not much slack. Once you are tied up, the town pulls you straight up the steps to the cathedral of Sant'Andrea, all striped stone and a staircase that earns the view. Behind it, the old paper mill still turns its water wheels; the Museo della Carta shows how the coast made its famous rag paper. If Amalfi is booked out, run two miles on to Maiori, which has a proper marina behind its breakwater and a full kilometre of sand, rare on this shore. Close the day with a lemon granita along the front.

Things to do

Climb to the Cathedral of Sant'Andrea

Tour the Museo della Carta paper mill

Ride the Lemon Trail through sfusato groves

Lemon granita on the Maiori seafront

Mooring tip

Porto di Amalfi is stern-to at around €100–180 in season and needs booking well ahead. Maiori's marina behind the breakwater is the roomier fallback at roughly €70–120, and easier to slip into late.

Vietri sul Mare
4
Day 4

Maiori → Vietri sul Mare

This is where the Amalfi cliffs finally relax and the plain around Salerno opens out. Vietri sul Mare is the ceramics town, and you smell the kilns before you see them; the workshops line the Corso from the water up into the village, painted tiles on every step. Buy a hand-thrown pulcinella from a family studio and watch it get wrapped for the passage home. For the night, most crews carry on to Marina d'Arechi, four miles down at Salerno, the biggest marina in Campania with fuel, water and a proper chandlery. If you would rather stay close and old-fashioned, little Porto Vietri takes a handful of boats at half the price. Eat scialatielli with seafood at Mamma Rosa before turning in.

Things to do

Buy a hand-painted pulcinella from a Vietri studio

Walk the ceramic-tiled steps of the Corso

Scialatielli with seafood at Mamma Rosa

Wander Salerno's Giardino della Minerva

Mooring tip

Marina d'Arechi is full-service stern-to at about €100–160 in peak and the practical overnight before the long jump south. Porto Vietri is smaller and historic at roughly €40–60 if you want to stay under the ceramics town.

Agropoli
5
Day 5

Salerno → Agropoli

Today the scenery changes completely. You leave the vertical Amalfi coast behind and cross the Gulf of Salerno into Cilento, a lower, wilder, greener shore that most charter crews never reach. Twenty miles gets you to Agropoli, an old fishing town with an Aragonese castle standing on the headland above the harbour. Just north lies Trentova Bay, part of a marine reserve, where the water runs over seagrass meadows and the snorkelling is genuinely good. The reason to stop, though, is inland. Grab a taxi eight kilometres to Paestum and stand among three Greek temples that have held their columns since the sixth century before Christ. They put the whole coast in perspective. Back aboard, buy buffalo mozzarella straight from a Cilento farm; it never tastes the same anywhere else.

Things to do

Taxi to the Greek temples of Paestum

Snorkel Trentova Bay's seagrass meadows

Climb to the Aragonese castle

Buffalo mozzarella fresh from a Cilento farm

Mooring tip

Agropoli's town quay is stern-to at roughly €40–70 and well sheltered from the north. If it is busy or blowing, the modern Marina di Agropoli inside the breakwater has more room and more services.

Acciaroli
6
Day 6

Agropoli → Acciaroli

Fifteen more miles down the Cilento shore brings you to Acciaroli, a small working port that still smells of diesel and fish rather than perfume. Hemingway spent the summer of 1952 here, and the locals will tell you he began The Old Man and the Sea looking at this water; whether that is true hardly matters once you have walked the front. Offshore the Sirenuse rocks break the surface in sharp spires, and the anchoring swim around them is the best of the trip. Three miles on sits Pioppi, the quiet village where a visiting scientist first pinned down what we now call the Mediterranean diet. It is a fitting place for dinner: pull in for grilled fish straight off the boats at a quay taverna, and cycle the little seafront trail if there is light left.

Things to do

Swim the Sirenuse rock spires at anchor

Walk the Hemingway waterfront in Acciaroli

Grilled fish at a Pioppi quay taverna

Cycle the Pioppi seafront diet trail

Mooring tip

Acciaroli takes you stern-to in the harbour at around €30–50, sheltered from the north and rarely full. For a swim-and-lunch stop, anchor off Pioppi on sand in 4–6 m instead.

Acciaroli
7
Day 7

Acciaroli → Sorrento

The last day is a proper passage, so it is worth leaving by nine. Thirty-eight miles up the Cilento coast and back across the gulf is a full day under sail if the breeze cooperates, and a steady motor-sail if it does not. Keep an eye on Punta Campanella again as you round it; the current sets through the gap between the mainland and Capri and can knock a knot off your speed. If you are ahead of schedule, drop anchor on the south side of the Li Galli islets for a final swim in deep blue water and a plate of linguine alle vongole in the cockpit. From there it is a short hop into Marina Piccola. Refuel at the fuel berth by the entrance, rinse the salt off, and hand the boat back clean the next morning.

Things to do

Final swim off the Li Galli islets

Linguine alle vongole in the cockpit

Refuel at the Marina Piccola fuel berth

Farewell crew dinner on the Sorrento front

Mooring tip

Marina Piccola di Sorrento is stern-to at about €100–160 in peak; confirm your handover slot 24 hours ahead so the berth is held. Top up fuel at the entrance berth on the way in to save a scramble at handover.

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