Grotta Azzurra - The Blue Grotto Capri

Is it worth visiting the Blue Grotto of Capri?

Every traveller love seeing Capri from the water and a the visit of the island cannot be considered complete without a stop at the Blue Grotto.
Capri is a beautiful island, with white rocky cliffs plunging into the aquamarine water of the ocean. The island has several attractions and many of them are the grottos: white, green, and blue! Between them the Blue Grotto is by far the most impressive, but the others are worth a quick peek. Therefore, if you have time, do a private boat tour around the island to see all the caves.

Inside the Blue Grotto

The Blue Grotto is a natural sea cave in the side of the mountain, 60 meters long and 25 meters wide, and can only be reached by squeezing through a narrow mouth, two meters wide, at water level. So when is your turn, be prepared to board small wooden rowboat, which transport a maximum of four passengers, to enter the cave, duck your heads below the level of the rowboat and lay back, while the captain pulled you into the grotto using metal chains attached to the rocky walls.
Once inside you will see at the first sight how different it is in there. From the chaos of boats waiting for entry into the grotto to the calm, peaceful and very azure blue of the water. The water is illuminated from the sunlight outside of the grotto, a very great effect.
The duration of the visit is about 5 minutes.

Thing to know about the Blue Grotto

Getting to Capri from Amalfi Coast

Wherever you stay in the Amalfi Coast, to get to the Blue Grotto in Capri you can take a ferry, with many daily runs during the period from April to October, from the ports of Positano, Amalfi or Salerno. The ride from Amalfi or Positano takes about an hour and the cost per person for a one-way ride is 25€. Obviously if you are staying in one of the other villages on the coast, such as Praiano, Maiori, Minori or Cetara, you can use ferry connections or buses to reach one of the cities mentioned above.
See the following page for updated schedules and prices: Amalfi Coast ferry timetable

Getting to Capri from Sorrento

In order to get from Sorrento to the island of Capri you can take a highspeed hydrofoil, that takes a 20 minute ride. The cost per person for a one-way ride is 20€ and the tickets can be comfortably booked online or at Sorrento´s marina the same morning of the trip out to Capri. See the following page for updated schedules and prices: Capri ferry timetable

Getting to Capri with a private boat tour

If you are visiting Capri island with your own private boat from the Amalfi Coast, Salerno or Sorrento and want to experience the Blue Grotto, you can ask your skipper to anchor at the buoys near the cave and signal to one of the waiting rowboats to be picked up. Boarding the rowboat is a bit tricky, you have to to scramble over the side of your boat, then step into the rowboat, all while the rowboat skipper hold the two boats together. The tickets can be purchased from the floating ticket office.

Getting to the Blue Grotto from Capri

Once on the island of Capri, you can get to the Blue Grotto by boat or by bus.

1. Getting to the Blue Grotto by boat

Many companies offer round trip excursions to the Blue Grotto from Marina Grande or a tour of the entire island of Capri with a stop at the Blue Grotto.
To go from Marina Grande directly to the Blue Grotto and back to the Marina Grande, budget an hour of your time or even more during peak season, July and August, and expect to pay about 15€. If you prefer a tour that circles the entire island with a stop at the Blue Grotto, consider a couple of hours of your time and expect to pay 18€. Once at the Blue Grotto, you will have to pay an additional fee of €15 to enter the grotto (this fee is not included in the tour boat’s fee).

2. Getting to the Blue Grotto by bus from Anacapri

From Anacapri, take the bus at Piazza Cimitero towards the Blue Grotto. Once at the last stop, take the stairs down to the entrance of the Blue Grotto. There is a queue here for rowboats into the grotto.

The fee to enter the Blue Grotto

In addition to the cost of getting to the Blue Grotto via boat or bus, there is an additional fee to board the rowboat that takes you into the grotto. Since the Blue Grotto is comparable to cultural site, the entrance fees are equivalent to those of a museum, so the cost is €15 per person and the tickets can be purchased at the moment on site. Furthermore children entrance under 6 years old is free and EU citizens under 18 pay 10€ for the rowboat transport. Tipping your rowboat skipper is at your discretion.

Is the Blue Grotto always open?

The Blue Grotto is open all year round, weather permitting, though it is often closed during winter months, generally from November to March. If are you planning to visit it in winter, we suggest you to check first either at the ticket offices of Laser Capri (Molo 21) and Motoscafisti di Capri (Molo 0) in Marina Grande if the grotto is open. Normally if the ticket offices are closed, the grotto is closed, as well, and if the seas are rough the Blue Grotto will not be open. Every morning at 9 am, skippers arrive at the mouth of the grotto to check if it is safe to enter.

When is the best time of the day to visit the Blue Grotto?

It is best to visit the Blue Grotto on a sunny day between the hours of noon to 2 pm, during this period thanks to the most intense sunlight, the most intense color comes and it illuminates the interior of the grotto the best. On a cloudy day, you will miss the experience of seeing the brilliant blue color that makes this grotto so famous.