Wanderlust-driven travelers seeking a more grounded yet luxurious Amalfi Coast getaway will find Sorrento a superb base camp. As Sorrento is a small city, it is easy to navigate and feels less crowded in high season than many of its flashier counterparts. In addition to superb management, great locations, and ambiance to spare, Hotel Mediterraneo Resort & Spa is tailored for modern luxury travelers while embodying what makes the Amalfi Coast a timeless destination. The Ara Maris Hotel, meanwhile, is a triumph of reinvention. The former 1980s-era business hotel was transformed for its 2024 opening by Milan-based Spagnulo & Partners into a stylish yet comfortable home-away-from-home.

Through recent remodels, both properties live up to the Amalfi Coast’s carefree upscale reputation. The culinary teams behind their restaurants are fiercely loyal to local purveyors and farms, and skillfully infuse modern culinary twists into their respective menus. Both have bright, cheerful pool areas and rooftop bars with inventive cocktails, and also offer exclusive access to private beach clubs. The service is astute but relaxed, with incredibly savvy concierges and managers who cheerfully steer guests toward less crowded options such as the Archaeological Park of Pompeii in Naples, which has an impressive collection of historically significant treasures. The staff at both properties are proud to live along the Amalfi coast and understand that good suggestions will shape how guests remember the place.

The Hotel Mediterraneo, originally built in 1912 as a family villa, was expanded and transformed into a luxury hotel following World War II. Five generations of the Maresca-Monti family provided visitors a sense of consistency. However, remodels between 2020 and 2024 led by Manuela Mannino, founder and creative director of London- and Milan-based architectural firm THDP, make it perfectly suited for 21^st-century travelers seeking the kind of elegant seaside escape that has defined the region for decades.

The Mediterraneo’s furnishings, lighting, and accents harmonize with the original architecture, while a contemporary color scheme of dark and light teals, burgundy, and white echoes the palette of the natural landscape. Each of its 61 rooms is sophisticated and cozy, harmonizing with the public areas. The expansive outdoor pool area and adjoining Aqua Pool Lounge are outfitted with beachy aesthetics and whimsical touches, such as a 1960s turquoise 2CV auto that makes the space look like a vintage travel poster come to life. The Oltremare Lounge Bar stretches from the front entrance to the back entrance. It multitasks as a glamorous meet-up spot for cocktails, champagne, and bar snacks right after arrival or before a night out in Sorrento, which comes alive with fashionable restaurants, including Michelin-star Ristorante Il Buco.

The most enchanted space inside the main building is the Lepietre Spa. Unlike larger hotel spas with an elegant but clinical feel, a reservation is required to fully enjoy the water features, saunas, and relaxation areas lit only with fairy lights above and beyond treatments and massages. The hotel pool is surrounded by manicured landscaping and citrus trees, along with a hidden beach club open exclusively to hotel guests, accessed through an elevator. As the location is just outside of downtown, the hotel offers guests complimentary shuttle service to the city center’s entry point.

 

Hotel Mediterraneo’s dining venues provide an impressively well-rounded microcosm of Sorrento’s food scene. Its kitchens turn out local fish, pastas, tomatoes, seasonal vegetables, and plenty of opportunities to taste the many ways the Amalfi Coast’s ubiquitous fresh-picked lemons can be used in a variety of dishes and cocktails beyond limoncello spritzes. While the floor housing Vesuvio is a divine place for breakfast, at night it transforms into an evocative dining space with arty multi-course dining by Executive Chef Giuseppe Saccone and Chef de Cuisine Nicola Celentano.

In contrast to many hotel pool dining outlets offering familiar staples, the Aqua Pool Lounge boasts a menu with simple, home-style plates that can be ordered individually or as a mix-and-match dining experience that may include classic caprese salad with locally cultivated tomatoes and mozzarella, “l’Otro a Mare,” with green beans, yellow cherry tomatoes, and seared tuna, and “Insalata di Baccala,” with cooked cod, chickpeas, celery, and cherry tomatoes.

The Vista Sky Bar Sorrento is distinguished not only by its exceptional views and partnership with Moët & Chandon but also by a menu dedicated to ten mixology competition winners’ creations crafted exclusively for the bar. The most ambitious dining effort operated by the hotel, however, is Terraza Mediterraneo Italian Bistrot, established as a free-standing restaurant welcoming both neighborhood residents and hotel guests. The menu serves as a showcase for some of Italy’s most beloved pasta, cheese, spirits, wine, coffee, and olive oil producers.

 

While some hardy souls will take on the challenge of planning their own itinerary and navigating the death-defying roads, Hotel Mediterraneo’s concierge can arrange a private eight-hour tour for up to three people along the Amalfi Coast. Led by an English-speaking driver who knows the ins and outs of Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello and other points in between, €570 buys the freedom to sit back, enjoy the ride, and get immersed in a conversation that puts the region’s geology and history into context. Guests seeking out a true “Italian Riviera” yacht experience to and around Capri can book either an eight-hour tour aboard its 14-meter “Valerie” yacht for €2,500 or a new traditional Gozzo 35 for €1,800 for up to four people. However, these too can be customized as the “Valerie” yacht can accommodate up to 10 guests, and the Gozzo 35 can accommodate up to seven.

Location is one of Ara Maris’ biggest selling points, at the edge of Sorrento’s city center and across the street from docks where Naples, Capri, and coastline tour ferries arrive and depart. Inside, the rich royal blue and burgundy color scheme and art-gallery-like layout tie together the lobby, the outdoor patio, rooms and suites, and Cora Bistrot. The restaurant specializes in Mediterranean lunch and dinner fare as well as a breakfast buffet with an impressive table of breads and pastries. While Chef Alfonso Pepe’s plates for Cora stem from classic recipes, he throws in a few unexpected curves when devising tapas for the rooftop Lumi Sky Lounge. Gin cocktails, meanwhile, prevail at Lumi Sky Lounge, with many such as the signature “Lumi” and “Blooming Air” concoctions using local lemon and locally sourced botanicals.

Other fun hallmarks include a golf cart that brings guests traveling light from the train station to the front door, logoed water bottles that can be filled at a water station in the lobby, and the compact but nicely appointed Thala Spa and adjoining fitness space. Gianluca Iaccarino, Sales & Reservations Manager, also cites environmentally-conscious elements that make guests feel good about their stay, such as photovoltaic panels that produce roughly 20% of the electricity required to run daily operations, and a poolside garden that’s a cornerstone of the hotel’s conservation program. 

“We want to be the kind of hotel that is alive 24 hours a day,” says Iaccarino. “During the summer, we organize a range of complementary activities to keep our guests at the hotel for something that adds to the overall experience of Sorrento. They include morning yoga classes and a limoncello-making class in our kitchen, because limoncello is such a huge tradition here. We also have an exclusive partnership with two premium beach clubs, Maya Beach Club and Leonelli Beach, giving guests privileged access and bespoke services at these locations, which can be arranged through the hotel concierge.”

Both of these hotels take different approaches to moving the Amalfi Coast’s legacy forward, yet make their guests feel grounded and elevated at the same time thanks to an appreciation for regional dishes, decorative approaches, and the personal touch of the owners and managers.