The Sorrento Peninsula from above: Sorrento, Massa Lubrense and Vico Equense

The Bellevue Syrene sits on the cliff at the edge of old Sorrento. Il Costiera Bar opens onto a terrace that the hotel itself calls the finest view of the Gulf of Sorrento; La Pergola is the restaurant, and breakfast is laid on the Terrazza Pompeiana, facing the sea. The same house is home to La Torre del Saracino. Ask the hotel how non-residents can book.

Gennaro Esposito's restaurant presents itself as a two-Michelin-star table suspended between the sky and the sea of Sorrento, on the cliff above the Gulf of Naples. It occupies the Sala Iodice and the rooms of the Villa Pompeiana, at the address of the Bellevue Syrene, and has its own cellar. Tasting menus, booking through the restaurant; opening days are not on the site.

On the fifth floor of the Hotel Continental, Terrazza Vittoria is both a restaurant and a bar. The hotel describes it as a corner of paradise from which to admire the Sorrento coast and the Bay of Naples. Downstairs the house also has Il Terrazzino, the Blue Restaurant and the American Bar Caruso. Call ahead: the site does not say when the terrace takes outside guests.

The Excelsior Vittoria is the grand hotel on the cliff in the centre of Sorrento. Terrazza Bosquet is its Michelin-starred restaurant: refined Mediterranean cooking and, in the hotel's words, panoramic terraces above the Bay of Naples. For one evening of the trip, the formal one.

Peppe Aversa's restaurant calls itself the historic Michelin-starred table in the heart of Sorrento. The main room is living stone and tufa under one large vault; upstairs there is a lounge with an open kitchen, and outside the small terraces line an old path that linked the town to the port, each table wrapped in greenery. No sea view here: you come for the cooking and the cellar.

The Lorelei Londres is a small hotel on the cliff of Sorrento, a short walk east of Piazza Tasso. La Colonna Sunset Bar & Cucina is the place for the hour before dinner; the Lorelei Restaurant, in the hotel's words, merges traditional flavours with a modern style. Below there is a beach club. The site does not say which tables are open to outside guests: write first.

The Hotel Mediterraneo, in Sant'Agnello, claims the first rooftop bar in Sorrento. Vista Sky Bar & Dining draws hotel guests and locals alike for the golden-hour aperitivo, with sunset DJ sets, mixology and Mediterranean plates to share. The whole gulf is in front: Vesuvius, Naples in the distance, the islands.

The Cocumella was born as a Jesuit residence in 1637 and has taken in travellers since 1777: Goethe, Mary Shelley, Andersen and Freud are on the hotel's list. It stands in a century-old park sheer above the sea. Scintilla is the Mediterranean bistrot with a gourmet kitchen, L'Agrumeto a pause in the shade of the orange trees, Coku a robata grill and cocktail bar.

In Sant'Agata sui Due Golfi, on the ridge above Sorrento, Don Alfonso 1890 is a restaurant with an intimate boutique hotel around it. The house states its philosophy plainly: to innovate while respecting the food culture of the Sorrento peninsula and the Amalfi coast. Oil and lemons come from its own organic farm, Le Peracciole; there is also a cooking school for hotel guests.

Near Termini, where the peninsula ends, Relais Blu is a four-star boutique hotel with a gourmet restaurant. The site speaks of a romantic terrace overlooking Capri and of views that reach out to the island, and describes the kitchen as Michelin-starred. There is a cocktail bar too. It is the place on this list to watch the sun go down behind Capri; book the table in advance.

Villa Fiorella, a few kilometres past Sorrento, calls itself a true gallery of contemporary art, with works by international artists in every space. Cielo Sky Lounge is for the aperitivo before dinner or a cocktail under the stars; Terrazza Fiorella is the restaurant, a tasting route lost in the horizon as the hotel puts it; Scirocco is the pool bar beside the infinity pool.

Conca del Sogno is a beach club with a seafood restaurant and a few rooms in the bay of Nerano, which the house describes as emerald sea, white pebbles and green-tinted rock. The sea is our speciality, says the site: fish and shellfish, eaten on terraces just over the water, with sunbeds between lunch and the swim. A summer table that people plan the day around; reserve.

Tommaso De Simone opened Lo Scoglio in 1958 in the middle of Marina del Cantone; the third generation of the family runs it now, with a hotel whose terraces overlook the sea and a private beach a few metres away. The kitchen serves traditional local dishes, in the house's words, in a refined and unique way: the press it quotes singles out the spaghetti with yellow tomatoes and garlic.

At Seiano, the first stretch of the peninsula coming from Naples, the Grand Hotel Angiolieri looks across the Gulf of Naples. L'Accanto is its restaurant: contemporary Campanian cuisine by chef Fabrizio De Simone, in the dining room or on a terrace over the sea. L'A Bar is where, the hotel says, the view runs to infinity. The house also has Lucilla and a pizzeria, Saporì.