Capri is a few miles off the coast, but there is only one way to get there: by boat. The two questions are which port to leave from and whether to take a ferry or a tour with the crossing included. The answer depends on where you sleep.
Departure ports
Boats to Capri leave from Naples, from Sorrento, from the ports on the Vesuvius coast (Torre del Greco and Portici) and from the Sorrento peninsula (Seiano and Piano di Sorrento). In season there are also services from Positano, Amalfi and Ischia, run by other companies. You always land at Marina Grande, the island’s only port.
From Naples
Hydrofoils run by the scheduled ferry companies leave from Molo Beverello: about 50 minutes. Slower ferries leave from Calata Porta di Massa, about 80 minutes, and they are the only ones that carry cars (which non-residents cannot use on Capri for most of the year anyway). The port of Naples is handy if you arrive by train, less so if you have a car: city traffic and parking are the real cost of the day.
If you would rather not organise the crossing and the island trip separately, there is our Capri boat tour from Naples: city pick-up at 7:00, boat, a loop around the island from the sea and free time, back in the evening.
From Sorrento and the peninsula
From Sorrento the crossing is the shortest, about half an hour. HP Travel runs the Sorrento–Capri round-trip ferry, bookable online, and from Piano di Sorrento and Seiano (Vico Equense) the lines from Piano di Sorrento and from Seiano. If you are staying on the peninsula you skip the trip down to Naples.
From Torre del Greco and Portici
This is our speciality: the direct lines from Torre del Greco and from Portici take people who live or stay around Vesuvius, between Ercolano, Pompeii and Torre Annunziata, to Capri without going through the port of Naples. You leave in the morning, reach Marina Grande in under an hour and come back in the afternoon. There are residents’ fares and, at Torre del Greco, an agreement with the Vesuvian Villas.
Arriving at Marina Grande
From the port you go up to town on the funicular, which reaches the Piazzetta in a few minutes, or by bus and taxi. Marina Grande is also where the boat trips around the island leave from, one hour and up, and the buses to Anacapri. To plan the day, see our guide to what to see in Capri in one day.
From Rome
Train to Naples, then boat: the times are in the guide on how to get to Capri from Rome, together with the tour that includes train, crossing and guided visit.
