Walk it westbound, Bomerano to Nocelle — you lose more height than you gain, the view of Positano and Capri stays ahead of you, and the sun is at your back in the morning.
The trail is marked and needs no guide, but it is exposed, rocky underfoot and almost shadeless, and it can finish with a long staircase down to Positano. It is walked every day by people in their sixties and seventies. With decent shoes, most walkers take two to four hours between Bomerano and Nocelle.
Published guides give figures between 5.5 and 8 kilometres for the same walk. This is not carelessness. It is because they are not measuring the same walk. Four things vary between sources.
Some measure from Piazza Paolo Capasso, the main square of Bomerano. Others start at the official trailhead, roughly half a kilometre further on.
Some stop at Nocelle. Others continue down the staircase to Positano — several kilometres more, and around 1,700 steps.
There is an upper route (CAI 327) and a lower route (CAI 327b). They separate about 1.5 km from Bomerano and rejoin before Nocelle.
GPS traces along a cliff face are unreliable. Published ascents for the Bomerano–Nocelle section range from 150 to 230 metres.
What we can say with confidence: plan for a walk of two to four hours between Bomerano and Nocelle, downhill westbound with short climbs. SorrentoHikes does not publish a GPS distance it has not walked.
This is the hardest part of the day. Bomerano is not near Sorrento — it sits on the ridge above Amalfi, on the other side of the peninsula.
No direct bus. Two legs: SITA Sud along the coast to Amalfi, then the bus from Piazza Flavio Gioia toward Agerola — roughly 35–45 min. Buy tickets at a tabacchi before boarding.
There is free parking near the trailhead, easiest early in the morning. But the trail is one-way: you finish at Nocelle, on the far side of the mountain, and must return for the car.
A local bus runs toward Positano, a taxi can be called, or you take the staircase — about 1,700 steps in 30–45 minutes. Road closures out of Nocelle have been reported.
Verify departure times on the day — SITA timetables change seasonally, and the last useful return leaves earlier than most people expect. More detail on the Getting around page.
From the square at Bomerano, Via Sentiero degli Dei runs to the trailhead through terraces and woodland; the sea is not yet visible. Then the mountain opens on the left, and it stays open for two hours.
The middle section is the reason the trail is famous: a traverse across the face of the limestone several hundred metres above the water, with Positano ahead and Capri offshore. On clear days the Faraglioni are visible, and the Li Galli islands — the Sirens' islands the trail is named for. → The islands of the Sirens
Around 1.5 km in, the trail divides. Unless you know why you want the lower route, take the upper. The path ends at Nocelle — a village of a few houses, a church, a bar, and a lemon granita that tastes better there than anywhere on earth.
Walk westbound. Bomerano sits ~220 m higher than Nocelle, so you lose more than you climb, the view stays ahead, and the sun is behind you.
Eastbound is the same scenery uphill, into the light. The only reason to consider it is logistics if you are based in Positano.
If you carry on from Nocelle down to Positano, the walk ends with a sustained descent of around 1,700 stone steps, 30–45 minutes, and by nearly every account it is harder than the trail. Fragile knees should stop at Nocelle and take the local bus down.
You do not need a guide or a map: the trail is marked with red-and-white CAI blazes and, in season, it is busy.
There is almost no shade on the trail. In summer, start at first light.
Published figures range from 5.5 to 8 km because sources measure different sections — from the square or the trailhead, to Nocelle or on to Positano, by the upper or lower path. Plan for two to four hours between Bomerano and Nocelle.
No, for a walker with steady footing and no fear of heights. The trail is marked and busy, but several sections run beside unprotected drops with no railings. The most common injury is a rolled ankle on the rocky middle section.
Yes, if you start before eight in the morning. There is almost no shade, and the exposed traverse becomes hazardous in the midday heat of July and August.
Children over eight who are used to walking manage it, with close supervision on the exposed sections. They should not be taken on the lower 327b.
Trail runners with grip, yes. Fashion sneakers with smooth soles, no — the middle section is loose rock.
Not the trail: the ≈1,700 steps from Nocelle down to Positano, which take 30–45 minutes and punish the knees. Take the bus if you can.
Opening times, access rules and bus schedules change. Always check the official source before you go — some are in Italian only. Trail data here is cross-checked against independent sources; disputed figures are shown as disputed.