Fifty-four kilometres separate Naples airport from Sorrento, and there are four normal ways to cover them. None of them is the right answer for everybody. What follows is how we would choose, said plainly, including the cases where you do not need us.
The shared shuttle
A coach service runs between the airport and the Sorrento peninsula. You buy a seat, not a vehicle, and it leaves when the timetable says so, not when you land. It is the cheapest thing that goes directly, and it works well if you travel light and your flight lands in the middle of the day.
Where it stops working: a delayed flight, a late arrival, three suitcases and a pushchair, or a hotel that is not on the main road. The coach drops you at a square, and the last part is yours.
The bus and train combination
From the airport you reach Naples central station, and from there the Circumvesuviana line runs down the coast to Sorrento. It is the least expensive route and it is genuinely fine if you are two people with hand luggage and no hurry.
It is also the route with the most steps: a bus, a station, a platform, a regional train that is often crowded, and stairs at both ends. With large cases it stops being cheap and starts being a bad afternoon.
The taxi
Available on arrival, no booking, and the fastest thing to organise. The price on this route is set by a fixed tariff rather than by the meter, so ask the driver to confirm it before you get in. You will be sharing the queue with every other flight that landed in the last twenty minutes.
The private transfer
A vehicle booked for you, a driver who knows the arrival hall, and a price agreed in writing before you travel. It costs more than a seat on a coach and less than most people expect once you divide it by four passengers, because you are paying per vehicle and not per person.
It is the option that makes sense when at least one of these is true: you are more than two, you have real luggage, you are travelling with children or with someone who does not walk easily, you land late, or your flight has a history of being late.
How we would choose
Two people, hand luggage, daytime arrival, no rush: the train is fine, and we will say so if you ask us.
Four people with four cases, or a late landing, or a hotel above the town: take a vehicle. The difference in money is smaller than the difference in how the day ends.
Schedules and fares for the public services change. Check them with the operator on the day you travel rather than trusting an article, this one included.
If you want the private option, our prices per route are on the transfers page, and the request takes about two minutes.
