Spiaggia della Tartaruga is a small cove below Sant'Agnello, the town bordering Sorrento to the east. You reach it down a long stairway from the panoramic road, and precisely because of that it stays far quieter than the beaches served from the centre.
What it is like
Rock, shingle and a few strips of gravel. Like almost all of this coast, it is not a sandy beach: the Sorrento peninsula is tufa and limestone dropping sheer into the sea, and stretches of sand simply do not exist around here.
The water is clean and deep close in. The cove is set between rock walls, which means little wind and an almost always calm sea.
The real advantage is the head-on view of Vesuvius: you look straight across the bay at the volcano, and in the morning, with the light coming from the east, it is one of the most photogenic spots on the coast.
The stairway
This is the thing to know before you come. The descent from the road to the beach is long and steep, all steps.
Going down is easy and takes a few minutes. Coming back up is another matter: after a day in the sun, with bags and a parasol, the climb tells. There is no lift, no vehicle access to the bottom, and no way around it.
If you have knee or breathing problems, or you are travelling with very small children, this is not the right beach: pick one with easier access, such as Marina di Puolo.
Getting there from the B&B
About fifteen minutes on foot to the top of the stairway, walking across towards Sant'Agnello, then the descent.
It is one of the few beaches reachable from the B&B without any transport at all, and that is its main virtue: no car, no parking, no bus timetable.
What to bring
Rock shoes, a thick towel or a mat — shingle is uncomfortable through a thin towel — water and something to eat. Travel light, because everything that goes down has to come back up.
There is little shade: in the middle of the day you either bring a parasol or you sit in the sun.
When to go
Morning is best, both for the light on Vesuvius and because doing the climb back in midday heat is the worst part of the day.
June to September for swimming. In the shoulder seasons the cove is still a fine place to sit, even just for an hour in the sun without going in.
Our advice
This is the beach for days when you do not want to organise anything: walk out of the B&B, fifteen minutes, down the steps, into the water.
Go early, stay through the middle of the day and climb back before the sun hits the stairway. Or do the opposite: go down at five, stay for the sunset, and come back up in the cool.