Handpicked experience · Naples
Naples, Italy
A day round the island by sea, where the caves, the pierced stack, the cobalt lizards and the road-less red house are — none of which you can see from the town.
A full day afloat circling the island, with swim stops along the way
Time ashore to wander, browse or sit still
A minibus link from Naples down to the port at Piano di Sorrento
Snacks, bottled water and alcoholic drinks provided on board
A professional English-speaking skipper
Eleven hours from Naples, spent going round Capri by sea rather than walking about on it. The island's finest material — the sea caves, the pierced rock stack, a scarlet house standing on a cliff with no road to it — faces the water and can only be seen from a boat. This day is built around exactly that.
A minibus runs you down the peninsula to the harbour at Piano di Sorrento, a little over an hour. Your skipper crosses to Capri and works around the island, pulling into coves so you can swim and slowing at the caves and stacks along the way. There is free time ashore, then the return crossing and the drive back, arriving in the evening. Snacks, water and drinks are served on board throughout.
The Blue Grotto is entered by transferring into a small rowing boat at its mouth, which is a different excursion with its own timing and ticket. This one takes you along the coastline it sits in and past the rest of the island's caves — the green one and the white one among them — which are larger, quieter and reached without a queue.
The three stacks off the south-east corner are the emblem of Capri, and the middle one is pierced by an opening wide enough for a boat to pass under. It is the photograph of the day. Tradition says couples kiss as the mast clears the rock, and most oblige.
The outermost stack has stood separate from the island long enough for its wall lizards to evolve alone, and they came out a vivid cobalt rather than the green-brown of every other lizard in the region. They live on that rock and nowhere else on earth. Landing is forbidden, which is why they are still there.
On a headland on the eastern shore stands a long, low, blood-red house with a staircase that widens across the whole roof like an inverted pyramid. A writer built it in the early 1940s and called it a portrait of himself. No road reaches it, and it became famous through a French film of the sixties. The sea gives you the view it was designed around.
This coast has almost no shelving beach. You go in from the boat into water that is several metres deep at once, wonderfully clear, and come back up a ladder that moves with the swell. Strong swimmers get the best of the day here. Anyone happier watching has a deck, shade and a drink.
Wear your swimwear under your clothes, bring a towel and put sun cream on before boarding, since reflection off the water burns faster than the beach does. Snorkelling gear is not carried, so bring a mask if you want one. Cancellation is free up to a day ahead.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
No. Entering it needs a transfer into a small rowing boat under a separate arrangement, and it is not listed here. You pass the stretch of coast where it lies, but you do not go in.
The middle of the three stacks off the south-east corner is pierced by a natural opening large enough for a boat, so the tour sails through it. Custom says couples kiss as they pass under.
Yes. Wall lizards on the outermost stack have been isolated long enough to evolve a cobalt colouring found nowhere else on earth. Landing there is prohibited, which is why the population survives.
A long, low house built in the early 1940s by a writer who called it a portrait of himself, with a staircase widening across the whole roof. It has no road access and is best seen from the water, which is how it was designed to be seen.
Straight off the boat into water several metres deep, with a ladder that moves in the swell. There is almost no shelving beach on this coast, so confident swimmers enjoy it and others should stay aboard.
It is provided freely, and sun, salt and a moving deck make its effects arrive faster than on land. Bottled water is included too, and a road transfer follows at the end of the day.
A little over an hour by minibus in each direction between Naples and the port, plus the crossing to the island, within an eleven-hour day.