Capri is small, ten square kilometres, but it is vertical: from the port to the town you climb, from Capri to Anacapri you climb again. In one day you can see a lot, as long as you do not try to see everything. This is the order that works if you land in the morning and leave in the late afternoon.
How much time you need
With five or six hours on the island you can do Capri and Anacapri without rushing, or one of the two plus the boat trip around the island. With three or four you have to choose: the Piazzetta and the Gardens of Augustus, or Anacapri and Monte Solaro. In summer, allow for the queue at the funicular and the buses.
Capri: the Piazzetta and the Gardens of Augustus
From Marina Grande the funicular takes you up to the Piazzetta, the island’s living room, in a few minutes. From there, on foot along via Camerelle and via Tragara, you reach the viewpoint over the Faraglioni. The Gardens of Augustus, ten minutes from the Piazzetta, have the best view of the Faraglioni and of via Krupp, the hairpin path cut into the rock: they cost a few euros and are worth the stop. If you have time, walk down to the Certosa di San Giacomo next door.
Anacapri and Monte Solaro
You reach Anacapri by bus from Capri or straight from Marina Grande. It is the other half of the island, quieter. The two things to do are Villa San Michele, the house of the Swedish doctor Axel Munthe with its garden hanging over the Gulf, and the chairlift up Monte Solaro, the island’s highest point: twelve minutes sitting in the chair, and from the top you see everything, from the Faraglioni to Ischia.
The island from the sea
The grottoes, the cliffs and the Faraglioni up close can only be seen by boat. The boat trip around the island leaves from Marina Grande, lasts about an hour and costs from € 25: you pass under the Natural Arch, in front of the White Grotto and the Green Grotto, and between the Faraglioni. It is the part of the day people remember most, and it works both at the start, straight off the ferry, and at the end, before the boat back. In summer there is also a version with a swim stop.
The Blue Grotto
You visit it by boat, with the entrance paid separately in a rowing boat, and only when the sea is calm. The tour with a Blue Grotto stop combines the island loop and the stop outside the grotto. Hours, prices and how to get in are in the Blue Grotto guide.
What to leave out
You cannot do everything in a day: Villa Jovis, Tiberius’s villa on the top of the island, is a three-quarter-hour walk from Capri; the Punta Carena lighthouse and Marina Piccola beach each want half a day. Better to leave them than to rush. If you would rather organise nothing, the guided tours of Capri and Anacapri put crossing, buses on the island, guide and boat trip into one booking.
