If laidback and local suits your holidaying style, then Sorrento, a stunner on the Italian coast, is the ideal hangout for you. And when it comes to much-needed, post-sightseeing pick-me-ups or leisurely mornings, its café culture well and truly delivers. From rich roasts to milky lattes, the coffee selections are plentiful, and we can’t help but wax lyrical about the pastries. Then when the evenings roll in, the drinking dynamic changes and the cocktail menus fly out...

“Un espresso, per favore”

Caffeine fans will be bowled over by the variety of blissful brews these cafés specialise in here. Between a classic cuppa and long, froth-topped coffee is the crème de la crème of perky Italian hot drinks: the humble espresso. It’s short, deliciously bitter and done so well, qualifying it as the best coffee in Sorrento. Embrace standing and mingling at the bar with the locals, drinking from a little thick-rimmed mug, or take it away in a small glass bottle with a plastic cup for when you’re ready to drink. Better yet, you can quite often order one for just over a euro! That’s a winner for the wallet if ever we saw one.

Whatever you go for, a side order of a very chilled, unhurried atmosphere is assured. There’s no rush to pay – you can do so when ordering or after your drink. It’s whatever works. And if you’d rather not stand, you can pull up a pew at a table and soak up the al fresco way of life instead. Buono!

La dolce vita

We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but we’re always tempted by elevenses... aren’t you? So, what to eat in Sorrento? Well, you could swing into a bakery – known as a pasticceria – or a coffee shop and expect wall-to-wall sweet treats. Egg-washed croissants bigger than your face, chocolate twists, rum-soaked sponges, bomboloni (doughnuts), ricotta-filled sfogliatella, crispy cannoli and even more will reel you in from behind the counter. Decisions, decisions...

You can usually get hold of these throughout the day and well into the evening too, so if you need more than one sugar hit, you’re covered. Decadence awaits!

Aperitivo hour and beyond...

And speaking of later on, once the sun’s slipped beneath the horizon and the stars are on their way out, you’re sure to be charmed by more than just the night sky. These same coffee vendors are quite often open around the clock, and they double as bars after dinner – martini, anyone?

Aperol, Campari, prosecco... you’ll spy the bottles all gleaming behind the bar. So make like the Italians and enjoy a good tipple or two. It’s a whole new take on the holiday spirit.

If you like what you hear, then set your sights and suitcases on Sorrento and let the flavours flow!