7 Best Hotels in Sorrento and the Sorrentine Peninsula, Italy

This luxurious retreat, magnificently set on a bluff high over the Bay of Naples, is one of Italy's most legendary hotels, complete with Art Deco touches throughout; lounges and salons decorated with avant-garde artwork and trompe-l'oeil frescoes; and guest rooms that range from sleekly modern to sumptuously fanciful. Breakfast and dine in style in the Mimmo Iodice room surrounded by gorgeous photography and panoramic vistas over the bay---or under the cliff-top wisteria pergola.

In a clifftop garden overlooking the Bay of Naples, the Cocumella occupies a Baroque monastery, complete with frescoed ceilings, antique reliquaries, and a marble cloister; the lobby and grand suites (with stone fireplaces, Empire-style bureaus, and marble-clad bathrooms) have Italian-Victorian grace, but even the smaller rooms have their 19th-century charms. Added amenities include a vast pool, a beauty-spa and exercise room, a 90-foot-long 19th-century yacht for daily excursions on the bay, and even summer-night chamber-music recitals in the monastery's former church. Although its luster has faded a bit, many conoscenti adore this hotel, once one of the most aristocratic in Italy.

Overlooking the Bay of Naples, this luxurious Belle Époque dream has been in the same family since 1834, which means that public spaces are virtual museums—with elegant Victorian love seats and stile liberty (Art Nouveau) ornamentation—and guest rooms are spacious, with soigné furnishings and balconies and terraces that overlook gardens or the bay. Dine in the open-air seaside Bosquet restaurant or the magnificently grand Vittoria. Grounds lined with arbored promenades, shaded by orange trees, and studded with statues contain a giant pool.

This stylish 1960s hotel, designed by Giò Ponti, is all white walls and blue-glass accents; outside blooms the fabled Parco dei Principi, a lush 19th-century giardino, and paths lead to a romantic, bayside, Rococo villa—a splendiferous setting for the pool area. A shuttle bus connects with downtown Sorrento.

Lush, landscaped gardens surround this large hotel, an oasis of quiet and cool, where an elevator whisks you to and from sea level and a private beach, where the pool area practically leans out over the bay, and where there are both indoor and alfresco dining options.

Combining understated old-world charm and contemporary chic and blessed with a garden with citrus trees, sweeping bay views (ask for a room with a balcony), and beach access, Hotel Mediterraneo seems worlds away from bustling Sorrento, though it's just a 1-km stroll from town. There's dining and quaffing in style with panoramic views from both the Vesuvio restaurant and Vista Sky Bar, plus a pool and the relaxing LePietre spa facilities. 

The lobby might be a glamorous white-on-white extravaganza of Caprese columns, tufted sofas, shimmering crystal chandeliers, silver ecclesiastical objects, and gilded Baroque mirrors, but the charming staff ensure the vibe is elegantly casual, the guest rooms are well equipped and spacious, and the rooftop pool area has magnificent bay and Vesuvius vistas. The garden is also a delight, but that's no surprise, as owner Enzo Manniello also runs Sorrento's famous garden-restaurant O' Parrucchiano.