Isle of Capri from Sorrento

Mondo Guides
www.sharedtours.com

Don’t bother with Blue Grotto

Do NOT go to Capri for the day. Find a nice hotel and stay a night or two. And, yes, avoid The Blue Grotto.

For our Capri trip in 2004 (yes, quite a while ago), we took the ferry from Naples, spent a week on Capri. During that week, we did a day trip from Capri to Sorrento, then the train to Pompeii and back. Yes, that was a long day. We did the boat ride around the island and hiked the cliffside path on the west side of the island (Fortini Coastal Path). We did not do the Blue Grotto. The waves were too high the day we would have done it. We visited Villa San Michelle and Gardens of Augustus. We also hiked up and over Monte Solaro (there is also a cable car or driving the road around to Anacapri).

You can ask your hotel in Sorrento or also search for best day tour of Capri from Sorrento on TripAdvisor.. there are several companies offering what your are looking for.
I liked the Grotta Azzurra (blue grotto) and a full day is enough to see the island, if that is all you have.

It's an easy day trip to Capri from Sorrento, we've done that a few times. There are ferries running all day long. When you arrive at Marina Grande in Capri, either take the funicular up to Piazzetta di Capri, or take a taxi (last year in May the lines at the funicular were very long, so we split the 25 Euro taxi ride with another couple waiting in the taxi line at the ferry landing). You can also take a taxi up to Anacapri and visit Villa San Michele there.

Disagree to skip the Blue Grotto, I thought it was well worth visiting. Our boatman sang "O sola Mia" inside and it was great.

I'm not at all saying you can't do it, but note that Capri is very big, hilly, and highly pedestrianized. We went independently, so I can't suggest a commercial tour. But I'd want to know what they are going to take me to see, and how much is walking. I'm saying that even if you hired a Capri taxi for a day, you could not "ride everywhere." How far can you both walk in a day? The Blue Grotto is famous as a time-sucker, and requires a mid-water transfer to a tiny boat to actually enter the grotto. We skipped it, and were not sorry. (In fairness, we'd been to a blue grotto in Croatia on another trip.)

With 8 days in Sorrento, it is essential to visit Capri for a day. It is possible that the ferries will be fewer, and the sea rougher in October.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-2-weeks-of-day-trips-from-sorrento

You may wish to peruse some of the links in this unrelated discussion:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/6-night-amalfi-coast-itinerary

Our main tour doesn't cover the Isle of Capri so we will have to do it
on our own.

Bruce, could you give us a little more information about this "main tour"? What does it cover? Will it include escorted group tours? Private guides? What other sites will it be exploring in the region? Is your hotel in Sorrento part of the tour package? What time of year will you be going?

I guess i'm asking as, with 8 nights, I might suggest spending a night or two on Capri versus try to day-trip it but, well, it would help to have a more complete picture about your "tour". Yes, the best way to see the island is going to be on foot but you do not have to walk quickly, if exploring on your own, and not ALL of it is hilly. As well, I know folks pushing 80 who are pretty spry on their feet, and others, not so much so the more you can tell us about yourself, the better we can help you. :O)

I'll go along with the others advising a skip of the Blue Grotto. Reviews were just negative enough to persuade us to avoid that one; no regrets.

Thanks for your comments. We are on a 16-day main tour with a 4-day extension on our own in Milan. We are flying into Naples and transferring to Sorrento for 8 nights. We will be taking trips to Naples, Amaffi coast, Pompeii, and a farm and winery tour. I don't know why they didn't include the Isle of Capri. After 8 days based in Sorrento, we head north with a base stay in Montecatini. which is near Lucca and Pisa and an hour out Florence. We will be in Montecatini for 7 nights and then we will be on our own in Milan for 4 nights. I like that this tour is based in two towns for a week at each which is unusual for tours. We do fly back home from Milan so we though 4 nights would be nice. Lake Como is only 45 minutes away by train which we will visit for a day.

Thank You

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Some people here who are advising you to skip the blue grotto, but did not go actually go themselves, they advise you to skip it because they also skipped it based on what they heard or read. Others advised you to skip it because maybe they went and didn’t care for it. I would advise you NOT TO SKIP it. To me, advising people going to Capri not to see the Blue Grotto is like telling a person going to Pisa not to see the leaning tower (I don’t care for it, and even climbed on it many years ago and did not care for it, but still I wouldn’t advise to skip it to people going to Pisa).. The Blue Grotto is the main attraction of the island, and maybe after seeing it you indeed won’t be impressed, but never let others decide your feelings or impressions on your behalf.

PS: It’s “O Sole Mio”, which means “o my (beautiful) sun”. O sola mia means “o my (beautiful) shoe sole”.

Some people here who are advising you to skip the blue grotto, but did
not go actually go themselves, they advise you to skip it because they
also skipped it based on what they heard or read

LOL, guilty as charged, Roberto. :O)

You are absolutely right that it should be a personal decision. Yours Truly has a weak stomach, and the reports of visitors with similar stomachs getting very seasick from bobbing around in the boats was one of the deciding factors. Tends to ruin a day, ya know? 🤢Not that everyone has that issue, of course, A couple other reasons were wait times compared to the time spent in the thing, the reports of being hassled for tips, and that it's not exactly a place to avoid the masses.

So, weighed against some other activities on the island with greater personal appeal, we choose some of those other options. Those other options may not be up your particular alley, and it is your trip. So, if the grotto is on the wish list, by all means give it a look-see. Obviously some visitors have enjoyed it, and I'll hope the same for you.

While we would have loved to stay on Capri, with a month in Italy and lots to see, we simply didn't have the time.

We took the ferry from Sorrento, where we stayed for a week, and had a magnificent day on Capri. No tour was required, we caught a bus, walked a lot and finished with a wonderfui open topped taxi ride back down from Anacapri. It was one of the best days of our trip.