Capri and the Amalfi Coast: What’s Worth It and What to Skip

I’d been to Italy a few times before this trip, always staying on the mainland. Capri kept coming up in conversation the way places do when people want to sound sophisticated about their vacations. I finally went. Here’s what actually matters.

Getting to Capri

You have two options: ferry from Naples or ferry from Sorrento. The Sorrento ferry wins almost every time.

From Naples, the fast ferry (hydrofoil) takes about 45 minutes and costs around €20 each way. It works fine, but Naples Molo Beverello is hectic — you’re navigating a port terminal with luggage, competing with day-trippers, and the area around the dock isn’t pleasant. If you’re already in Naples and starting your trip, it’s fine. Otherwise, take the train to Sorrento first.

Sorrento to Capri is 25 minutes, roughly €15 each way, and the port is far more manageable. Sorrento itself is worth an evening — better restaurants than the tourist trap reputation suggests, and it’s a good base for reaching both Capri and the Amalfi Coast without the price premium of staying in Positano.

Practical note: ferries run frequently in summer (roughly every 30-60 minutes), but book at least a few hours ahead on busy days. Lines close quickly. The last ferry back to Sorrento is typically around 8pm — don’t miss it unless you’re staying overnight.

Capri harbor with boats and colorful buildings rising up the hillside — Arriving into Capri’s Marina Grande — the crowds are real, but it’s still a good first look at the island.

The Blue Grotto: Worth It, But Do It Right

The Blue Grotto line is brutal. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. On a summer morning, you could wait 2-3 hours in a small rowboat under the sun before you get inside. The grotto entrance is 80cm high — you have to lie flat in the boat to enter. The experience inside lasts maybe 5 minutes.

It’s still worth it.

Nothing I’d seen in photos prepared me for the actual color. The light enters through an underwater cavity and refracts through the water — the blue is genuinely otherworldly. Photos don’t capture it. The 5 minutes inside is legitimately one of the better things I’ve seen while traveling.

Small rowboats waiting outside the Blue Grotto entrance at Capri — The queue of rowboats outside the Blue Grotto. Get here early — the wait compounds fast once tour groups arrive.

How to do it right: take the first boat from Marina Grande, typically around 9am. You’ll beat the tour groups that start arriving by 10am. The total cost is about €14 — €4 for the small rowboat entry fee plus the €10 grotto admission. The rowboat operators are paid in cash tips, so bring small bills.

If you arrive mid-morning and see a two-hour line, skip it. Come back the next morning or consider swimming in from the beach — it’s technically allowed when the boats aren’t running (early morning or after 5pm).

The electric blue interior of Capri's Blue Grotto — Inside the Blue Grotto. The bioluminescent blue comes entirely from refracted sunlight — no filters, no enhancement.

Capri Town vs. Anacapri

Capri Town (the main town at the top of the funicular) is elegant and expensive and designed entirely for people who enjoy shopping for things they don’t need. The Piazzetta is beautiful for about 20 minutes before you realize you’re paying €8 for a small espresso. The views from the Garden of Augustus are genuinely good.

Anacapri is better. It’s quieter, less polished, and more interesting. Take the local bus from Capri Town — it costs €2 and the ride along the cliff road is itself memorable. The chairlift up to Monte Solaro takes 13 minutes and costs around €12 round trip. At the top, you’re looking at the whole island, the Amalfi Coast, and on clear days, all the way to Vesuvius. Go up.

The Villa San Michele in Anacapri is worth an hour — it’s a historic villa with a terrace view that rivals anything on the island, and the €7 admission keeps the crowds lighter than the main town sights.

The Amalfi Coast: Positano, Amalfi, Ravello

Terraced vineyards on the Amalfi Coast hillside — The terraced vineyards along the coast — this is what the whole coastline looks like once you get away from the tourist centers.

Positano is beautiful and insanely overpriced. The stacked houses in pastel colors cascading down to the beach are exactly as photogenic as advertised. The beach itself is crowded and the water is unremarkable. You’ll pay €250+ per night for a hotel room that would cost €80 anywhere else in southern Italy. One full day is plenty — stay in Sorrento and take the ferry or SITA bus for the day.

The SITA bus along the Amalfi Coast is an experience in itself. It’s a full-size coach navigating a road barely wide enough for two cars. Locals treat it like a commuter bus. Sit on the sea side (right side going from Sorrento toward Amalfi) for the views. Expect it to be late, expect it to be packed in summer, and expect it to be genuinely thrilling on the cliff sections.

Amalfi (the town) is less photogenic but more lived-in. The cathedral is worth 30 minutes, the paper museum is oddly interesting, and you can walk up into the Valle dei Mulini — the old paper mills — in about 20 minutes from the main piazza. The town has actual grocery stores and hardware shops, which tells you it hasn’t been completely consumed by tourism yet.

Ravello is the one most visitors skip, and it’s a mistake. It’s up on the ridge, not on the water, which means most tour groups bypass it entirely. Villa Cimbrone has gardens with a terrace called the Terrace of Infinity — the name is not an exaggeration. There are almost no crowds. Budget 3-4 hours here.

Practical Tips

Base yourself in Sorrento, not Positano. You save €100-150/night and the ferry/bus connections are just as good.
Buy ferry tickets at the dock, not from street vendors. The vendors outside the port in Naples add a markup and sometimes sell you the wrong company’s tickets.
The cliff road driving is not for the nervous. If you’re renting a scooter on Capri, go slowly — the roads are narrow, and locals have been navigating them their whole lives. You haven’t.
Cash matters more here than most of Italy. Many small boats, beach chair rentals, and market stalls are cash-only. Keep €50-100 in small bills.
Visit in shoulder season if you can. Late May or early October: the water is still warm, the ferries still run, and the main sights have maybe 30% of peak summer crowds. The Blue Grotto wait drops from 2 hours to 20 minutes.
The lemon everything is legitimate. The sfusato amalfitano lemon is a different thing entirely from what you buy at home — bigger, sweeter, less acidic. Get the granita, get the limoncello, get the lemon pasta. It’s not a tourist gimmick.

The Details That Made This Trip Unique

The Blue Grotto on Capri has been a tourist attraction since 1826, when two German tourists “rediscovered” it — the locals had known about it for centuries but avoided it because of superstitions about witches living inside. The effect happens because sunlight enters through an underwater opening and refracts through the water, turning everything an electric blue. But the grotto is only accessible when the sea is calm enough for the small rowboats to duck under the one-meter-high entrance. We got in on our first attempt — something the boatmen told us happens only about 60% of the time in peak season.

The Amalfi Coast road (SS163) was built in the early 1800s and has barely been widened since. The engineering is wild — it clings to cliffs that drop hundreds of meters straight into the sea, and in several places the road passes through natural rock arches that were carved by hand. The SITA buses that run the route use mirrors mounted on cliff faces at blind turns, and the drivers honk before every curve. After a few rides, you realize the honking is a precise communication system, not random chaos.

Positano was a poor fishing village until John Steinbeck wrote about it in Harper’s Bazaar in 1953. His essay, which called it “a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone,” turned it into a celebrity destination almost overnight. The vertical architecture — houses stacked up the cliff — exists because land was scarce and fishermen built upward. It was not designed to be picturesque; it was designed out of necessity, which is probably why it works.

Gear

What I’d bring specifically for this trip:

Amalfi Coast travel guide (Rick Steves) — still the most practical printed guide for this region. Better than trying to navigate review apps on a cliff road.
Osprey Daylite 13L day bag — light enough for all-day walking in heat, enough room for a layer, water, camera, and a market haul.
Waterproof phone case with lanyard — necessary for the Blue Grotto boat ride, and useful for any beach or boat day along the coast.
EltaMD UV Clear sunscreen SPF 46 — the sun on the water reflects hard. This is what I use. It doesn’t leave a white cast.