Capri Island Boat Tour with Blue Grotto Stop from Marina Grande

Marina Grande, Capri's Harbour

Marina Grande is the busy harbour on Capri's north shore and the point where every ferry and hydrofoil lands, so it is the natural start for a Capri boat tour. Pastel houses line the waterfront, fishing boats share the quay with ferries, and the funicular climbs in a few minutes to the Piazzetta in Capri town. If you are wondering how to get to Capri, fast boats from Naples take around 50 minutes and from Sorrento about 25.

The tour leaves from Dock 0, a short walk from the arrival piers, so you can step off a morning ferry and be on the water soon after. Departures run roughly every half hour until early afternoon, and you board the first boat available. Keep an hour or two after the tour for the funicular, Capri town and the gardens above the harbour.

The Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzurra)

The Blue Grotto is the island's most famous sight: a sea cave on the north-west coast whose entrance is barely a metre high, so visitors lie back in small wooden rowboats while the oarsman pulls them through on a chain. Inside, sunlight enters through a large opening below the waterline and turns the water an electric blue. In Roman times the cave held statues, some of which were later recovered from the seabed.

On this tour the boat stops outside the cave and you can buy the rowboat entry on the spot; the visit inside lasts only a few minutes. The cave opens only when the sea is calm, usually from morning to late afternoon, and the light is strongest around midday. Is the Blue Grotto worth visiting? On a calm day, yes: the colour is unlike anything else on the coast.

The Faraglioni Rocks

The Faraglioni are three limestone sea stacks rising from the water off Capri's south-east tip, the island's signature view. Stella is still joined to the shore, Faraglione di Mezzo has a natural tunnel at sea level, and Faraglione di Fuori, the outermost, is the only place in the world where a blue-tinted lizard lives. The tallest stack reaches more than a hundred metres.

This Faraglioni boat tour passes right through the arch of the middle stack when the sea allows, a moment most passengers keep their cameras ready for. Local tradition says couples should share a kiss as the boat goes through. From the water you also see how the cliffs drop straight into the sea, something you cannot appreciate from the viewpoints above.

White Grotto, Arco Naturale and Marina Piccola

Heading east from the harbour, the boat passes the White Grotto, a cave on the east coast whose pale limestone walls and calcite formations stand out against the dark water. Higher up, the Arco Naturale, a natural rock arch left by erosion of an ancient cave, frames the sky above the green slopes. Seen from the sea, both show how Capri's soft limestone has been shaped over thousands of years.

After the Faraglioni, the route reaches Marina Piccola on the south coast, a sheltered bay of pebble beaches, swimming platforms and small fishing boats. It is the island's favourite spot for a swim, reached on land by bus from Capri town. From the boat you get the classic view of the bay with the sea stacks behind, ideal for photos in the morning light.

The Green Grotto and Punta Carena Lighthouse

Along the southern cliffs the boat noses into the Green Grotto, a sea cave where light reflected from the sandy bottom turns the water a clear emerald. The colour changes with the hour and the angle of the sun, and on bright days patches of green light ripple across the rock ceiling. It is one of the moments that make a Capri sea caves tour feel very different from the view from land.

Further west, Punta Carena Lighthouse stands on the south-western tip of the island below Anacapri. Lit in 1867, it still guides ships through the waters between Capri and the mainland. The rocks around it are a well-known swimming and sunset spot. From here the boat turns north along the wild western cliffs towards the Blue Grotto.