4 Days in Naples: Your Day Trip Base

Four days from a Naples base covers Pompeii, Herculaneum, Vesuvius, and a full Amalfi Coast day, the core of what makes Campania worth the trip, with every leg run by train, shuttle bus, or ferry. Shorter trip? Drop back to our 2-day version , which covers just Pompeii and Capri. More time? Move up to 5 , 6 , or 7 days to add Procida, Paestum, and Ischia.

Book these before you go

Day Focus Distance/train time from Naples
Day 1 Pompeii ~30-40 min, Circumvesuviana to Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri
Day 2 Capri ~45 min-1h15, ferry from Molo Beverello
Day 3 Herculaneum and Vesuvius ~20-25 min to Ercolano Scavi, plus a shuttle to the trailhead
Day 4 Amalfi Coast (Sorrento, Positano) ~1h to Sorrento, then SITA bus onward

Day 1: Pompeii

  • Morning: Circumvesuviana from Napoli Centrale to Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri, 30-40 minutes. Standard entry is EUR 20, book through VivaTicket ahead of time, ignore the touts selling “skip the line” vouchers outside the gates
  • Midday: 44 hectares of ruins with almost no shade, budget 3-4 hours, prioritize the Forum, the amphitheater, and the plaster casts of the victims if your legs give out first
  • Evening: Back to Naples, dinner near the Centro Storico, this is still the birthplace of pizza and it shows

Day 2: Capri

  • Morning: Ferry from Molo Beverello, roughly EUR 22-30 one-way, 45 minutes to just over an hour. Take the earliest sailing you can manage, the island fills up fast in season
  • Afternoon: Marina Piccola for a swim, the funicular up to Capri town, then the Faraglioni viewpoint. The Blue Grotto is a cash-only EUR 18 add-on and closes in rough seas, don’t build the day around it
  • Evening: Last ferry back, confirm the return sailing before you leave the port that morning

Day 3: Herculaneum and Vesuvius

  • Morning: Circumvesuviana to Ercolano Scavi, 20-25 minutes, then a short downhill walk to Herculaneum. Entry is EUR 16. It’s a fraction of Pompeii’s footprint but buried in mud rather than ash, so wood, food, and furniture survived intact, a half day covers it properly
  • Afternoon: A connecting shuttle bus from Ercolano Scavi runs to Piazzale Quota 1000, the Vesuvius trailhead, then a 30-40 minute hike up Trail 5 to the crater rim. Tickets are nominative, timed, and online-only, EUR 10/11.68 with the booking fee, don’t show up without one already in hand
  • Evening: Back to Naples, the crater itself is a wide, hazy bowl, the payoff is the bay view and knowing you stood on the thing that buried both sites you saw that day

Can you do Herculaneum and Vesuvius in the same day? Yes, and it’s the single best pairing in this whole itinerary. Both share the Ercolano Scavi Circumvesuviana stop, Herculaneum needs a half day at most, and the Vesuvius shuttle bus leaves from right outside the same station, so there’s no backtracking or wasted transit between the two.

Day 4: Amalfi Coast (Sorrento and Positano)

  • Morning: Circumvesuviana or Campania Express to Sorrento, about an hour, then the SITA bus onward toward Positano, buy the ticket at a tabaccheria before boarding, never on the bus itself
  • Afternoon: Positano’s steep lanes, beach clubs, and the view from the Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta’s tiled dome. Buses fill by mid-morning in summer, an early 7:30-8:00am departure from Sorrento beats an afternoon scramble
  • Evening: Return bus or seasonal ferry (only running roughly late March/April through October) back to Sorrento, then the train back to Naples

Is 4 days enough for Naples, Pompeii, Capri, and the Amalfi Coast? Enough to see all four properly, tight for the Amalfi Coast specifically. A single day trip from Naples to Positano and back eats several hours in transit alone, so you’ll see Positano and maybe a slice of Sorrento, not the full coast. Treat this day as a taste, not the definitive Amalfi trip.

Getting around

Circumvesuviana fares run roughly EUR 2.60-4.40, bought at station machines or the GoEAV app , never online in advance. Capri and the Amalfi ferries run from Molo Beverello and Sorrento respectively, no bridge or rail line reaches either.

Tips and essentials

  • Book Vesuvius and Pompeii tickets before you leave home, both sell out same-day walk-up options entirely or nearly entirely
  • Wear real shoes on all four days, Pompeii’s stones, Vesuvius’s ash trail, and Positano’s steps all punish sandals
  • Keep bags zipped on the Circumvesuviana and around Napoli Centrale
  • An overnight in Sorrento or Positano genuinely beats this rushed Amalfi day if your schedule allows swapping a Naples night for a coastal one

If four days is your ceiling, this order, Pompeii, Capri, Herculaneum-Vesuvius, Amalfi, front-loads the two sites that punish crowds and heat the most, saving the more forgiving coastal day for last.