All seven Blue Grotto tours, cheapest first
The line nobody puts in the listing
I have had this conversation at the bus stop more times than I can count. Somebody holds up a phone with a booking on it and asks me why the boatman is asking for money. The answer is that the Blue Grotto is a state archaeological site and the money splits three ways. Six euro of entrance goes to the Ministry of Culture. Twelve euro goes to the boatmen’s cooperative for the row in and out through the mouth. And if you came round from Marina Grande by sea rather than down the road from Anacapri, €23 to €25 went to whichever company ran the motorboat. By land the total is €18. From the port it is €41 to €42.
A tour is a fourth purchase sitting on top of all that. It buys the crossing, the boat, the guide and the shape of your day. It does not buy the cave. I have set the whole thing out, charge by charge, on the ticket prices page, including the one figure the sources disagree about.
All seven, cheapest first
Prices are the GetYourGuide “from” price read on 15 September 2026, in euros, and they move. Ratings and review counts are as scraped, including the 4.3.
CheapestCapri: Island Boat Trip with Grottos
Beats the queueBlue Grotto Early Entrance Experience
From SorrentoFrom Sorrento: Capri Boat Tour with Blue Grotto Optional
Best ratedSorrento: Exclusive Capri Boat Tour and Optional Blue Grotto
From NaplesFrom Naples: Capri, Anacapri, and Blue Grotto Full-Day Trip
From PositanoPositano: Capri and Blue Grotto Shared Boat Tour with Drinks
Private boatCapri: 3-Hour Private Boat Tour with Blue Grotto Visit
The €25 island trip, and its 4.3
Four point three across 5,948 reviews is the weakest score on this site and I am not going to hide it under the word cheapest. My reading is that the trip does what it says — an island circuit out of Marina Grande — and that a share of the people marking it down had expected to go inside the cave. Nicholas from Portugal wrote that a ninety-minute trip “felt more like 4 hours because of the non-stop great scenery” and liked the multilingual guide. Sylvia from Italy rates it too. The compliment and the complaint are about two different products. Why a circuit so often passes the grotto rather than stopping at it is the whole argument of the boat tours page.
The one that is aimed at the queue
Eighty euro per person for the early entrance listing. It is the only one of the seven with the queue as its stated purpose, and the mechanism is not clever: it goes early, before the day boats arrive. Going early is not the same as going first, and it is nothing at all like skipping. Access to the cave is capacity-capped and the boatmen work the line in front of them. Jennifer from the United States reported being “probably the third rowboat inside the grotto”, which is what an early start looks like on a day it works. Ailine from Australia was “fortunate to not have a long wait”, and the word fortunate is doing real work in that sentence. Twenty-nine reviews is a small base and I would not lean hard on the 4.5.
The one most people book
One hundred and nineteen euro per person from Sorrento, 4.8 from 5,297 reviews. The best rating at the highest volume of anything here, which is a rarer combination than it sounds, and roughly four hours on the water. The listing calls the Blue Grotto optional, which means extra, decided on the day, and not guaranteed. Michayla from Australia called the trip “worth every penny”; Janice from the United States called it “one of the top highlights of my trip” and singled out the staff’s history commentary. Both Sorrento departures are pulled apart on the Sorrento page.
The private boat is priced per group
Three hundred and ninety-nine euro is what the boat costs for three hours. It is not a fare per head. Divide it by the number of people getting on, and for four that is €99.75 each before the cave, which lands under the four-hour Sorrento boat for the same party. For two people it is €199.50 each and the sums stop working. I have done the arithmetic in full on the private boats page.
Three of them side by side
The cheapest way onto the water, the one nearly everybody books, and the boat you hire whole.
| Capri: Island Boat Trip with Grottos | Best rated, highest volumeSorrento: Exclusive Capri Boat Tour and Optional Blue Grotto | Capri: 3-Hour Private Boat Tour with Blue Grotto Visit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | €25 per person | €119 per person | €399 per group |
| Departs | Marina Grande, Capri | Sorrento | Capri |
| Rating | 4.3 from 5,948 | 4.8 from 5,297 | 4.8 from 173 |
| The grotto | Often passed, not entered | Optional, and extra | Named in the itinerary |
| Still due at the cave | €18 per person | €18 per person | €18 per person |
| Suits | An hour and a half on the water | A day out from the mainland | Four people travelling together |
| Free cancellation | ✓ Up to 24 h before | ✓ Up to 24 h before | ✓ Up to 24 h before |
| View → | Book this → | View → |
Find out whether the cave is open before you spend anything on getting to it. The skippers decide at the cave mouth at nine in the morning and there is no way to know the night before. the Motoscafisti open/closed banner carries a dated verdict through the season, and the island sites copy it. If the ticket desks at Marina Grande are shut, so is the grotto.
Two things before you book any of them
The first is that a booked date guarantees nothing. Any swell, high tide or onshore wind closes the mouth, which stands about a metre above the waterline, and the cave opens and shuts within the same day often enough that I never promise anybody a visit. The €6 and the €12 are paid at the cave, so a closure costs you nothing there; what is exposed is a pre-paid transfer or tour. I could not find a published refund policy from any of the boat companies, so ask at the desk before you hand over money.
The second is that the cheap route is real and it works. The Staiano bus from Anacapri is €2.40 bought in advance, €2.90 on board, and at the bottom of the stairs you pay the same €18 as the people who arrived by motorboat. I have sent my own visitors down that way for years.
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Frequently asked questions
Which of the seven should I book?
If you are already on Capri and want an hour and a half on the water for very little, the €25 island circuit does that, provided you accept it may not stop at the cave. If you are crossing from the mainland for the day, the €119 boat from Sorrento is the best-rated listing here at serious volume. If there are four of you and you want the boat to yourselves, run the per-group sum before you dismiss the €399 charter. And if the cave is the only thing you want, take the bus and keep your money — going without a tour covers that route in full.
Is the €18 included in any of these tours?
No. Not one of the seven includes grotto entry. The €6 state entrance and the €12 rowboat are paid at the cave mouth on the day, in cash, per person, however you arrived and whatever you already paid. Treat it as a separate line in your budget, because every operator does.
Does any tour skip the rowboat queue?
No, and I would be wary of anything that says otherwise. Access to the cave is capacity-capped and the queue is worked in the order it forms. The early entrance listing goes early, which is a real advantage on a good morning, but it is an early start rather than a shortcut. In high season the wait runs sixty to ninety minutes, sometimes past two hours, for under five minutes inside.
What happens if the Blue Grotto is closed on my date?
The cave shuts whenever the sea runs into the mouth, and the call is made at the cave at nine in the morning. Tours generally carry on without the stop. There is no published closure statistic worth quoting and I am not going to invent one, but November to March it is shut far more often than not. Hours, and why it closes has the live sources for checking on the day.