Eurotrip: Sorrento & the Amalfi Coast

I had no idea what to expect from our days spent in Sorrento and the Amalfi coast – there were no major sights I planned on seeing or anything.

But that was what I enjoyed so much about this Contiki tour: you’d be in a place you never thought about visiting and have a great time that you never would have otherwise had.

Once we arrived in the adorable Sorrento city centre, the first thing that everyone noticed was that January was almost over, but the entire square and surrounding streets were decked out in Christmas lights. Every palm tree, every building, every lamp post. It only got more beautiful as the sun started to set.

Christmas in Sorrento

Everyone’s first stop was a gelato place (as was standard for every Italian destination on this trip), but once my friends and I reached the counter, I noticed they had these desserts my Nonna used to make us years ago – this crispy, flakey pastry covered in icing sugar.

The nostalgia factor hit hard, so I bought two of them and was happy as a clam wandering around Sorrento with a piece of home with me.

Nostalgic Crostoli in Sorrento

A few of us wandered the town together, grabbed some cappuccinos and enjoyed the extravagant Christmas lights. At 6:00 p.m. there was actually a light show and That Mariah Carey Song blared through the square as the lights on the Christmas tree danced. It seemed so excessively Christmas for it being nearly February, but it was still kind of awesome.

After a couple of hours of free time, we met the rest of our Contiki group for a dinner of all-you-can-eat margherita pizza. Which was incredible. Fresh pizzas that just kept being cooked and passed around until all of us were about ready to be rolled back to the bus so we could get comfy in the hotel for the night.

Gorgeous views on our drive down the Amalfi coast

The next morning we got into a shuttle bus and headed down the coast to Amalfi for the afternoon. We stopped on our way into town to grab this gorgeous photo and continued the journey.

Our first stop for the day was a tour of a lemon farm – because everything in Amalfi is about the lemons. Our Lemon Experience tour guide encouraged us all to try a slice of lemon, including the rind, which was actually really good and refreshing.

At the end of the tour we all got to try fresh lemonade, lemon cake and take a shot of lemoncello. I’m kind of a lightweight and all of this Contiki drinking culture was starting to take its toll on me, but lemoncello from a lemon farm in Amalfi was pretty cool.

Tour of Amalfi’s Lemon Experience

After the tour, we had some free time to wander the town, so a group of us got some lunch (and then of course another gelato) and sat by the water for a bit to watch the ocean.

It was kind of a dark and cloudy day, but it was still fun to just sit and soak it in. A couple hours later we were on the shuttles back to Sorrento.

Drawing on the beach in Amalfi

When we got back to Christmastown, we had some time to walk around and grab our own dinner before heading back to the hotel.

Our tour manager recommended trying Sorrento gnocchi, so after yet another cappuccino, my friend and I found a decent gnocchi restaurant.

A few friends ended up joining us as we enjoyed a relaxing dinner with delicious Italian food. I don’t think I ever tired of eating pasta.

Sorrento gnocchi

Once we arrived back at the hotel, I was pretty excited because I’d been texting back and forth with a friend who had left our tour group at the Barcelona stop.

She joined an Italian Contiki group and would be in the same Sorrento hotel as us that night, so we were planning on reuniting our group one last time.

Our tour manager told our group not to have room parties – an obvious thing when you’re in a hotel and other people in other rooms are trying to sleep.

But she encouraged “room soirées” – quieter and equally fun. So we hung out in one of our rooms with our wine and cheese, playing drinking games, sipping on our lemoncello.

Contiki fam room soirée

It was a great night of friends, wine, card games, and lots of laughs.

As nice as it was to see one friend who had already left our group, I was also very aware that my time with other friends was coming to an end.

A couple of my closest friends on this trip would be leaving at Rome – our next stop. That’s when I became super grateful I’d taken it easy the last couple of days, because I was going to spend our last few nights on this leg of the trip appreciating all the time I could with them.

Next stop Rome!

Map from Contiki.com