Hello all, was originally going to book our hotel's shuttle until finding out the price, am currently seeking more affordable options to get from airport to hotel in the afternoon in the middle of this week, not planning on renting a car, hoping for something less than 85 Euro that doesn't take 3.5 hours.. suggestions greatly welcome, thank you!

Less expensive means using public transport in this case. Take the Alibus from the airport into Naples Centrale station and then the Circumvesuviana train to Sorrento. Follow the signs downstairs to the line. Then you could take the SITA bus along the coast, or a taxi to Praiano from Sorrento. The SITA bus passes through Praiano.

It would be hard to cut down on the travel time to much less than 3.5 hours unless you hire a taxi or private transfer. The bus from the Naples Airport to Sorrento doesn't have frequent departures in the afternoons, so you might have to wait more than an hour. A lot depend on what day of the week you're arriving... and how lucky you are with the taxi-train-bus connections.

Taxi to Napoli Centrale train station... 20-30 minutes depending on traffic, day of the week
Time spent waiting for next Circumvesuviana train... could be 1:00+ hour depending on the day of the week
Train to Sorrento... 1:10 hours
Time spent waiting for next SITA bus... could be 30 minutes depending on day of the week
Bus to Praiano... 1:00+ hour

https://www.sorrentoinsider.com/en/n...train-schedule

https://www.positano.com/en/bus-schedule

Thank you for your reply. There is a shuttle, £54, was so happy to have found & booked. 6 hours later I got an email, sorry no such time available. Looks like it will be a bus for me.

(I’m very surprised at the lack of (shared) shuttles available though).

I think the shared shuttle is more an American thing. We used them on most of our trips to the USA. Here in Australia, they exist but few people use them. I can't really remember ever using a shared shuttle in Europe.