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Southern Italy tour
My real, unfiltered review
A Southern Italy tour with my parents
While planning our Italy trip,
one of the things I was most excited about was
this Southern Italy tour. Honestly,
the route is long and a little intense,
so I really recommend booking a tour in advance.
You have to take a ferry, and while the Amalfi Coast is unbelievably beautiful,
transportation getting there is limited enough that
it’s actually pretty hard to do on your own.
Without a rental car, trying to cover Pompeii, Positano, and Sorrento
all in one day is not easy at all,
so for this Italy family trip, we added a one-day Southern Italy tour.
And it wasn’t just a bus tour, either.
We also took a ferry from Positano to Salerno,
which meant we got to see the Amalfi Coast all at once from the water,
and that part really stayed with me.
If I had to sum up my honest review,
our early September Southern Italy tour
was hotter than expected and even prettier than expected.
The tour I booked covered
Pompeii – Sorrento – Positano – ferry ride – Salerno.
Ancient ruins, resort towns, the sea, and charming small Italian cities—
it really packed a lot into one day.
Grab the tour discount coupon first
This guide has by far the most reviews—close to 5,000.
To be totally honest, I booked a different one, and I wouldn’t really recommend it… but I saw this guide’s group moving alongside ours, and from what I could tell, he seemed to run the tour much better. Of course, that’s just my personal take.
Meeting point at Rome Termini
We met about five minutes from Roma Termini,
and had to be there by 6:20 a.m.
Since we traveled by large coach bus, it was pretty comfortable.
The air-conditioning was strong, too.
When we booked, we chose the $58 option,
but had to pay an extra €65 per person on site.
If you book the $115 tour instead, the extra charge
isn’t nearly as high.
Once you add it all up, Southern Italy tour prices in Italy—roughly $16 to $123—end up feeling pretty similar anyway.
Before arriving in Pompeii, they stopped at the last rest area,
where we had a simple breakfast of croissants, cappuccino, and espresso.
It was a nice little break.
On the way, the guide also explained how southern, central, and northern Italy
differ in income levels and even coffee-drinking habits,
so I actually learned a lot about Italian culture along the way.
First stop
Pompeii
One place you really can’t skip on a Southern Italy tour is
Pompeii.It’s a must.
And wow—it was way bigger than I expected.
Pompeii was buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted,
and the entire city was preserved under volcanic ash until it was rediscovered.
It was seriously hot,
but as you walk through, you see homes, shops,
roads, and public squares still standing, which feels surreal.
If you’re visiting Pompeii, I highly recommend bringing a parasol or hat,
arm sleeves, water, and sunglasses.
You’ll walk more than you think, so sneakers are a must.
After covering the main ruins, we started getting hungry,
so we headed to
a restaurant called Vesuvio near Pompeii.
It was €15 per person and somehow came with a full four-course meal,
so it felt like a surprisingly good deal.
Second stop
Sorrento viewpoint
Next, we made a quick stop at
the Sorrento viewpoint.
The atmosphere there was absolutely gorgeous.
On the way, we also passed Naples,
often called one of the world’s three great natural harbors.
The guide
played “Torna a Surriento” for us on the drive,
and it made the whole ride feel even more cinematic.
On a sunny day in Southern Italy,
the sea looks unbelievably crisp and blue.
Finally, Positano
The big highlight: Positano
Since large buses can’t enter here,
you have to ride in a winding mini-bus to get in.
Honestly, I probably never would’ve managed that on my own without a tour.
The Amalfi Coast is beautiful, but the transportation is rough.
These little cliffside towns look like they’re
hanging delicately off the edge of the mountains.
I kept looking around thinking,
am I really here right now?
In Positano, you get a pretty generous amount of free time,
so you can shop, swim at the beach,
or even take a boat ride.
My family tracked down
Positano Cafe, one of the rare spots selling iced Americanos,
and took a break with lemon beer while looking out at the beach.
The water is genuinely stunning.
The sea, the cliffs, the stacked houses…
everything about it feels
soaked in Positano’s signature lemony, sun-washed colors.
It really does look exactly like the postcards.
And somehow, everything there—
the clothes, the shoes—
feels like something you could only wear in Positano.
It has that dreamy, romantic resort-town energy
that makes it perfect for a honeymoon, too.
If I could give one Positano tip,
it’s this: don’t just keep walking downhill without thinking about the climb back up.
Because once you’re down there…
you really do have to come back up that cliff.
So if you’re heading uphill,
I’d recommend going all the way to the viewpoint first, then making your way back down.
It was unbelievably hot,
but it was still one of those moments
that made me so glad we came on this Southern Italy tour.
And if you’ve seen scenery like this from land,
it would be a shame not to see it again from the sea, right?
Ferry ride
This wasn’t actually the ferry we boarded,
but there were so many leisure boats floating around Positano.
The one we took was more like a mid-sized sightseeing ferry.
It had air-conditioning, but honestly, it didn’t feel very cool inside, so it was still hot.
The best seats are on the left by the window, so I’d try to grab those.
You can also go up to the second deck.
If you hurry to the back of the boat at the beginning,
you get this incredible view of Positano slowly fading into the distance,
and that was one of the best moments of the day.
I still can’t forget it.
As for motion sickness, I’m actually someone who gets seasick very easily.
After a trip to Tsushima, I swore I’d never get on a boat again,
but this time I was totally fine.
At one point I was so warm I almost dozed off.
As you pass the Amalfi Coast villages along the way,
they feel a little different from Positano.
The buildings here were all bright white.
After passing one or two ferry stops,
you reach the final stop:
Salerno.
Salerno is also a good place to stay overnight
We got off the ferry in Salerno,
and it was a bigger small city than I expected.
It actually felt pretty polished and stylish.
From there, if you take the bus back to Roma Termini, you’ll arrive around 9 to 10 p.m.
If you’re debating where to stay,
it’s also possible to get off near Positano and Seiano Station.
Hotels in Positano and along the Amalfi Coast are usually expensive,
so
a lot of travelers choose to stay in Salerno instead.
I heard prices range from about $40 to $360, compared with around $2,884 at the high end elsewhere.
Is a one-day Southern Italy tour too exhausting?
I think a lot of people wonder about that.
The travel distance is long, and by the end of the day you will definitely feel tired,
but being able to see Pompeii, Southern Italy, and even the Amalfi Coast
in just one day is honestly kind of an amazing setup.
If you can spend 2 to 3 nights or more in Southern Italy, I’d recommend traveling independently.
But if you only want to use 1 or 2 days from your Rome itinerary, I’d absolutely recommend a tour.
(A Rome → Salerno route with one night in Salerno is also a great option.)
Especially for Positano and Pompeii, linking everything together by public transportation
is much more complicated than it looks,
so if it’s your first Southern Italy trip, I’d recommend taking a tour.
If you’ve seen Southern Italy, shouldn’t you see Central Italy too?
A romantic Tuscany winery tour
Positano lemon souvenirs