Capri is one of the most beautiful islands in Italy. It’s a great day trip, as you can see a lot of the island in a day. Here’s my guide to exploring Capri Island as a day trip from Sorrento.
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Sorrento is the perfect base for a day trip to Capri. There are regular ferries from Sorrento to Capri. And once you’re on Capri island, you can see the main sights on the island in a day. You won’t need a car on Capri as the public transport is really good. Exploring Capri Island as a day trip from Sorrento is a perfect day trip for your holiday.
You can organise a day trip to Capri from Sorrento by yourself, using the public transport available in this part of Italy. Organising the trip yourself will give you the maximum amount of freedom, to spend as long as you want in each place on Capri. However, doing the day trip by public transport can be a bit challenging to organise the logistics. There can be long queues, and your day will need a lot of planning.
If you’d rather not deal with busy public transport in a foreign language, you can take a day tour from Sorrento to Capri. I recommend this day trip to Capri through Get Your Guide (affiliate). Or there’s a similar day trip to Capri on Viator here (affiliate). But if you’re looking for more luxury and the ability to customise your day trip, this private trip to Capri from Sorrento (affiliate) is the perfect option.
Going to Capri on one of these day tours will mean you get to see the top sights in Capri, without having to deal with ferries and buses. It’s definitely the easiest and most time-efficient way of seeing Capri. But, if you want to organise the trip from Sorrento to Capri by yourself, keep reading to find out how.
Getting to Capri from Sorrento by ferry
You can get the ferry from Sorrento to Capri. The ferry from Sorrento to Capri is shorter than the ferry from Naples, so it makes sense to go to Capri as a day trip from Sorrento.
The ferry port in Sorrento is easy to navigate. It’s small, and well sign posted for tourists. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time before the ferry so you can get your ticket, as there are sometimes queues for tickets. When you buy your ticket, you can ask where the ferry goes from.
The ferry from Sorrento to Capri takes about 40 minutes. It’s a comfortable ferry, with plenty of seating. Most of the ferries don’t have seating outside, but you can sit next to the window inside and enjoy the nice views out of the window. The view getting into Capri is stunning.
Capri’s Blue Grotto – or not!
Soon after arriving on Capri, I decided to take a boat tour of the island. At the marina in Capri, there are lots of companies offering boat tours of the island the the Blue Grotto. You just need to walk a short distance from where the ferry drops you off to get a ticket for the boat tour of the island.
It can be a bit overwhelming to decide which boat tour to take. So booking a boat trip around Capri in advance is the simplest, and nicest option. This boat trip includes snorkelling and the Blue Grotto (affiliate). Or this boat tour also includes the Blue Grotto and swimming stops (affiliate).
And you can book a private boat trip around Capri island as well, which would be amazing. This half day private boat trip (affiliate) will show you all the top sights, or this private Capri boat trip (affiliate) will let you plan your perfect day.
I definitely regret not booking one of these boat trips in advance. Instead, I just booked the first one I saw when I got off the boat on Capri Island. This ended up being a mistake, and a pre-booked boat trip would definitely have been the best option.
The boat trip I booked on the day was advertised as taking about one hour, and included a stop at the famous Blue Grotto. The Blue Grotto was one of the things I definitely wanted to see on Capri, so I was looking forward to it, and thought it would be a good trip. However…
Capri’s Blue Grotto closures
However, about 10 minutes into the boat trip from Marina Grande in Capri, we got to the Blue Grotto area. And then ‘discovered’ that the Blue Grotto was currently closed because the tide levels were too high. So it wasn’t possible to do the transfer into a small rowing boat to go inside the Blue Grotto.
I was a bit annoyed at this. I understand that the entrance to the Blue Grotto is very small so can often be closed if it’s not safe to go in. However, the boat company would have definitely known when selling the tickets that the tide was too high at that time. It’s not like tide times are a surprise. So they sold ‘Blue Grotto’ boat tickets, knowing that it wouldn’t be possible to go inside the Blue Grotto.
I was definitely disappointed not to get to see the Blue Grotto. But I don’t know if it would have been amazing anyway. It would have cost another 20 euros (which the boat company definitely didn’t tell us either – it was implied that a visit to the Blue Grotto was included in the boat ticket price, when it wasn’t). And apparently, even in October, the queues to go inside the Blue Grotto can be around 2 hours long. So you end up just queuing for hours to get into a small rowing boat to have one or two minutes inside the Blue Grotto. I’m sure it would have been stunning inside – but the queues and commercialism definitely put me off. But I’d still like to do it one day, and it would have been nice to have been able to do it.
Not being able to see the Blue Grotto was definitely a disadvantage of doing the day trip from Sorrento to Capri by public transport. If I’d have booked an organised day tour, I think I would have had a better chance of getting to see the Blue Grotto.
Boat tour around Capri island
The rest of the boat tour around Capri island was lovely. Once I got over the disappointment of not being able to go into the Blue Grotto, I did enjoy the rest of the boat trip. It was nice to see this pretty island from the sea. There were lots of interesting caves – including some blue-ish caves that I could pretend were the Blue Grotto!
The views of the Faraglioni rocks were stunning from the water.
Seeing these rocks made the boat trip worth it. They were just so impressive as they rose out of the sea.
There were some really impressive caves around the island. It was also lovely to see the Marina Grande from the water as well as we got back there after the boat trip.
Capri Town and Anacapri
After the boat trip, I decided to head up to the top of the island. However, this wasn’t that simple. Capri is very busy, with just a few small, narrow roads. So getting around the island can be difficult.
Again, a pre-booked tour would have made this so much easier. You can take this trip that includes a visit to Anacapri (affiliate). Or this tour of the island also includes a boat trip and a guide to take you up to Anacapri (affiliate).
I tried to get to the top of Capri island without a pre-booked tour, and it was challenging! First, I took the funicular from Marina Grande up to Capri Town. The queue was huge – even on a weekday in October. But it moved relatively quickly. There were nice views from the funicular, and Capri Town was nice as well. I spent a short amount of time looking around Capri Town.
I then got the bus from Capri Town up to Anacapri. Again, there was a long queue and the bus was very busy, with crowded standing room only. It’s only a 15-20 minute bus ride, but it’s not very comfortable when you’re standing on the bus, with loads of people around, and the roads are narrow and twisting.
Anacapri
I spent a bit of time in Anacapri and liked it. This town is really small, but it’s cute. There’s a selection of cafes and restaurants. Everything in Capri is fairly expensive, so it’s hard to find a ‘cheap’ meal. But there are several options in Anacapri that aren’t too expensive. I had a foccacia bread with parma ham which was really nice.
The town also has some pretty streets to walk around. As soon as you leave the main street, you leave most of the people and the crowds behind. So the side streets of Anacapri were really nice and peaceful.
Chairlift from Anacapri up the mountain
From Anacapri, you can get a chairlift up to the top of the highest mountain on Capri, Monte Solaro. The Seggiovia di Monte Solaro is a really scenic way of seeing this beautiful island.
The chairlift are single-seats, so you go up on your own. Again, there was a queue, but the chairlift has a constant flow of people so it moves fairly quickly. It’s a little bit scary getting onto the chairlift – you stand there and get scooped into the chair as it comes round behind you. You’ve then got a short amount of time to get yourself and your bag sorted, and get the safety bar down, before the chairlift ‘takes off’. But once you’re settled, it’s a relaxing and beautiful ride.
I loved the views from the chairlift. You could see down to the sea, and also look up to the top of the mountain through the lush greenery.
Monte Solaro, Capri
At the top of the mountain in Capri, the views are even more stunning. You can get amazing views down to the Faraglioni rocks.
It feels like a really beautiful place. The viewpoint here was one of my favourite places I visited when I went to Capri Island as a day trip from Sorrento.
There’s a cafe at the top where you can sit outside and relax with a drink while you admire the views. I really enjoyed sitting here. There’s not loads to do at the top of Monte Solaro, so it’s worth stopping for a drink so you can take in all the amazing views.
The journey back to Sorrento
I really enjoyed Capri, but it was very busy and crowded. And the journey back to Sorrento felt a bit of an ordeal, just because of how busy it was everywhere. I would definitely recommend leaving plenty of time to get back down to Marina Grande and back to Sorrento.
The chairlift didn’t have much of a queue to get down by 3-4pm, so that was ok. But the bus to get from Anacapri down to Marina Grande was super busy. There were long queues and the bus was really crowded again. And then the queue for the ferry from Capri to Sorrento was insane. I think a few other ferries had been cancelled, so there were about 3 ferry’s worth of people trying to get onto one ferry at about 5pm. It just wasn’t a nice, relaxing end to the day – it was a huge crush of people with lots of people pushing.
I’m glad I went to Capri, but the crowds of tourists made it a slightly challenging day. And I completely accept that I was one of the tourists causing it to be busy. But I’d hoped that by October it would be less busy – and it was still very crowded. And people were saying that in the summer, the crowds are even worse! But I still really enjoyed visiting Capri Island as a day trip from Sorrento.
If I was to do this trip again, I would book an organised day tour from Sorrento. I think a tour would have helped me to see all of the top sights (including the Blue Grotto), with a lot less stress. A tour would have meant I could have avoided the queues and crammed, busy buses and ferries. Next time I go, I’ll definitely book this tour on Get Your Guide (affiliate), or this similar tour on Viator (affiliate), or even this private tour on Viator (affiliate).
Hope you enjoyed my guide to visiting Capri Island as a day trip from Sorrento! There are so many other beautiful places to explore in this part of Italy. Make sure you also check out Procida island, and also the Amalfi Coast. You can also visit the Roman ruins at Pompeii, or spend one week in Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. There are also lots of other great places to explore in Italy, including exploring Sicily without a car, visiting the Cinque Terre and Portofino.
Really helpful post – thank you 😁
Thank you, I’m so glad you found it helpful!