Capri gets 2 to 3 million visitors a year onto an island of four square miles with about 12,000 residents. In August it’s genuinely difficult to walk down the main street.
It’s also one of the most beautiful places in the Mediterranean, which is why the Romans built villas here and why everyone’s been arguing about it ever since.
So: worth it? Yes, with an enormous asterisk about how and when you go. Here’s the honest breakdown.
The Short Answer
Capri as a day trip from Naples or Sorrento in July, arriving at 11am with 4,000 other people, is a bad day out. That’s the version most people get, and it’s why the island has a reputation for being overrated.
Capri where you stay a night, or arrive on the first boat, or come in May or October, is extraordinary.
The island empties dramatically after about 5pm when the day boats leave. If you can be there in the evening, do it. That’s the single biggest lever you have.
Worth It: The Boat Around the Island
If you do one paid thing on Capri, do this. A small boat circuit takes about two hours, goes through the Faraglioni arch, past the grottoes and around the whole coastline.
The island is essentially a limestone lump dropped into the sea, so the coast is all cliffs, caves and stacks. You cannot see any of that from land.
Boats leave constantly from Marina Grande. The small ones are better than the big ones because they can get into the arch.
Swim stops are usually included and the water is ludicrously clear.
Overrated: The Blue Grotto, Mostly
Here’s the one that generates the most complaints, so let’s be clear about what actually happens.
You queue in a boat. You transfer to a small rowing boat. You pay twice, once for the transfer and once for entry. You lie flat while the rower pulls you through a metre-high entrance. You get about five minutes inside, during which the rower may sing. Then you’re out.
The blue is genuinely remarkable, an electric colour caused by light entering through a submerged opening. But the whole thing takes two to three hours including queueing, for five minutes inside.
It also closes with any swell, frequently, and refunds are a discussion. IMO skip it unless the sea is flat and the queue is short.
▶ Watch This Before You Go
Worth It: Monte Solaro
Take the single-seat chairlift from Anacapri to the top of Monte Solaro, 589 metres, twelve minutes each way with your feet dangling over gardens and vineyards.
The chairlift is a joy in itself. It’s an old-fashioned single chair, no bar, and it moves at walking pace over people’s back gardens.
From the top you can see the whole island, the Amalfi Coast, Vesuvius and on a clear day the mountains of Calabria.
Cheap, quick, and the best view on the island by a distance.
Worth It: Anacapri, the Other Town
Capri has two towns. Capri town is the glossy one with the designer shops. Anacapri, higher up, is where people actually live, and it’s a completely different atmosphere.
Villa San Michele was built by a Swedish doctor, Axel Munthe, on the ruins of a Roman villa, and the terrace with the sphinx looking out over the bay is one of the great views in Italy.
The Church of San Michele has a majolica tiled floor showing the expulsion from Eden, complete with animals, and you walk around the edge on a raised platform to avoid stepping on it.
Prices in Anacapri are noticeably saner. Eat here.
Overrated: The Piazzetta, After 10am
The Piazzetta is the small square in Capri town with four cafes and a clock tower, and it’s the social heart of the island.
It’s also about six euros for a coffee and twenty for a spritz, and in season the tables are full of people looking at each other rather than the view.
Go at 8am when the locals are there, or after 7pm when the day-trippers have gone. In between it’s a very expensive people-watching exercise.
Worth It: Walking, Which Almost Nobody Does
Most visitors stay within 400 metres of a bus stop, which means the walking paths are startlingly quiet.
Via Krupp is a hairpin path cut into the cliff face in 1902 connecting the town to Marina Piccola. It’s a genuinely astonishing piece of engineering and it’s free. It closes periodically for rockfall, so check.
The Sentiero dei Fortini runs along the western coast past Napoleonic forts, about two hours, and you may see nobody.
Villa Jovis, Emperor Tiberius’s palace at the eastern tip, is a 45 minute walk from town, mostly uphill. He ran the Roman Empire from here for a decade. Very few people bother.
What It Actually Costs
Capri is expensive and there’s no way round it. Ferries from Naples or Sorrento, then a funicular or bus, then everything on the island carries an island premium.
Sun loungers at the beach clubs run to serious money for the day. The free beaches exist but are small and pebbly.
The way to do it cheaply: bring lunch, walk instead of taking taxis, eat in Anacapri, and put your money into the boat trip.
When to Go
May, early June, late September and October. Warm enough to swim in September, the crowds are manageable, and the prices drop.
July and August are the peak of everything, including the queues. Winter is very quiet, much is closed, and the ferries cancel with weather.
Whatever month, take the earliest ferry. Being on the island by 9am changes it completely 🙂
Common Questions
Is Capri worth visiting? Yes, if you go early, stay late or overnight, and skip the Blue Grotto queue. As a midday summer day trip, it often isn’t.
Is one day enough for Capri? It’s enough for the boat trip, Monte Solaro and Anacapri. Staying a night is a genuinely different and better experience.
How do you get to Capri? Ferries and hydrofoils from Naples, Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi. Sorrento is the shortest crossing at about twenty minutes.
Can you drive on Capri? Visitors cannot bring cars in high season. You use buses, the funicular, taxis or your feet, and the island is small enough that this is fine.
Capri or Ischia? Capri for drama and scenery, Ischia for thermal spas, bigger beaches and far fewer crowds. Ischia is the better value of the two.
