Where is it?
This truly stunning area with miles of breathtaking coastline can be found in the home of pizza and pasta – yes, that boot shape that we more commonly know as Italy.
Where should I be heading?
There’s no doubt about it the area is vast. With picture postcard towns nestling in cliff faces and overlooking the shimmering azure waters of the Bay of Naples, it’s hard to know where to start to pack everything in. If you are able to travel around then you want to establish a base and then work your way from town to town. 
Entry requirements:
Passport acceptable for UK and EU visitors.
Health:
If you are travelling through parts of Italy to get to your destination, you may come across spa towns like Chianciano and Montecatini. You can’t drink the water there so make sure you stock up with bottles from the local “supermercato”. I would advise you take bottled water any way and sunscreen to keep yourself healthy during the summer months.
Top 5 things to do:
1. Awaken your senses with a shot of limoncello before you leave. With a stable climate pretty much all year round, vegetation thrives and you will come across trees and bushes abundant with fruit along virtually every roadside. Sorrento boasts a lemon grove in the middle of the town where you are able to sample anything from limoncello, liquoricecello, orangecello even fennelcello! It’s strong stuff though – so make sure you have some support home!
2. Pompeii – the city that was buried by volcanic ash is a popular tourist attraction. It’s just amazing to take in the magnitude of the situation, when Vesuvius lies so quietly in your line of vision in the distance. They’re still excavating today since its complete burial in 79AD. The most haunting sights were the casts of people they recovered, in their last moments of life – very moving.
3. Capri – originally home to the Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius, this island, which can be reached by ferry from Sorrento is now largely funded by tourism alone. Minuscule buses will drive you along the Via Krupp, the most famous long winding road, to the top to Anacapri for some wondrous views. Capri itself is bustling and with the main square adorned by coffee shops and restaurants, it’s easy to see why it’s become a popular meeting place for film directors and those that can afford to shop in the Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton shops there!
4. The Amalfi Drive – this is highly recommended. You haven’t seen Amalfi if you haven’t driven along the coastline and stopped there, along with Ravello and Positano. If you look in any travel book you will see the most photographed places there – and to view them in the full glorious light of a sunny afternoon is better than any image can portray.
5. Stop for a gelato. Italian ice-cream beats British any day! Opposite the lemon grove in Sorrento they have a small shop where you can purchase home-made ice cream really cheaply.
Is it expensive?
Some parts can be but it also depends what you wish to purchase. There are plenty of shops in Sorrento that are very reasonable if it’s bags that you’re after. Souvenirs are quite cheap and you can pick up unusually shaped bottles of fruit liqueurs too starting at about 1€ 50.
What's the food like?
The Italians have definitely been discussing portion sizes with my Polish ancestors – they feed you up like you’ve just left a famine torn country! After finishing a whopping great bowl of ravioli one night, we were served up another huge plate of food – apparently the ravioli was just the starter…just the starter?! One thing for sure, they’re not afraid to mix their carbohydrates – mother, please forgive me! By the end I was quite sick of pizza though and wanted some leafy veg but I’ll have to give top marks to their range of pasta – multi coloured and even phallus shaped! (Why didn’t you bring us back some? – Ed) Seriously, jokes aside, the phallus was a common sight in Pompeii – the concrete variety, on walls of buildings that is – what were you thinking??
What are the toilets like?
Start putting some Euro coins aside because you have to tip pretty much everywhere unless you are stopping in a café. What I find so silly though is that they don’t have a set fee.  There’s always some downtrodden looking old woman hovering around a table at the doorway, looking expectantly at a plate with a variety of different denominations flung on. I wouldn’t mind tipping if only she stopped staring at the plate and got on with the cleaning!  It has to be said that I don’t really rate Italian toilets on the whole. Virtually every one I went into, paid for or not, the floors were dangerously wet and the stench was enough to rival a medieval cesspit! Also the Italians don’t seem to believe in hooks on the doors for your bags – so you have to shuffle around like a packhorse whilst trying to stay upright and not soak your trouser legs on the floor. I never thought I’d say it but thank god for coach toilets – you may find yourself flung about a bit whilst they negotiate hairpin bends, but at least they’re clean!
What to wear:
You can always rely on the Mediterranean for a good temperature even into early autumn. I was there at the end of September/beginning of October and by day it was pleasant enough to wear short sleeves. The evenings tended to cool off a bit so I would say be prepared for any weather. Take an umbrella and some dry clothes too as it can rain a bit.
Best time to visit:
Italy is extremely popular in the summer with tourists, so I would avoid high season especially if you are queuing to get into the Vatican in Rome and don’t have the whole day to spare. Autumn tends to be less hectic and still warm enough to wear shorts, so you can still pretend it’s still summer.
Don't miss:
The views. It’s imperative that if you go on a coach trip, you sit on the right side to appreciate the landscape and the sheer drop. When you see Mount Vesuvius on the horizon it’s just amazing – to think that such a beautiful mountain wiped out a whole civilisation, puts everything into perspective really.
Most overrated thing:
Transport. I had this romantic notion that the older generations went about on bicycles, whilst the young and carefree rode around on Vespas! In reality, the trains are so disgustingly covered with graffiti that you can’t often see out of the windows. It’s make British graffiti artists look almost saintly in comparison. The large problem is that the trains terminate in Naples, which is notorious for its high crime levels…and we thought we had problems.
(4/5)

Photos: Mojo