Boat tours to the Blue Grotto, and what each kind of boat does
Transfer-only versus island tour
The desks at Marina Grande sell two things and the difference matters more than the price does. The transfer is a shuttle: it takes you out to the cave mouth, you join the rowboat queue, you come back. Roughly an hour of boat time if you ignore the queue, and about two hours in real life once the queue is in it. The island tour is a sightseeing circuit of about two hours that goes round the coast, takes in the other grottoes the listing names, and passes the Blue Grotto on its way.
People book the second thinking they have bought the first. That is the whole confusion, and it is where most of the one-star reviews on the cheap listings come from.
Why an island tour so often does not stop
Because stopping is not something the boat controls. The grotto queue runs sixty to ninety minutes in high season and the circuit has a route to finish and a next departure to be back for. A two-hour tour cannot absorb a ninety-minute wait. So the boat slows, everyone photographs the mouth from the water, and the tour carries on. On some days it is not even a choice: if the sea is running into the mouth the cave is closed and nobody is going in, on any boat, at any price.
The cheapest listing we carry rates 4.3 from 5,948 reviews, the lowest score on this site. I do not think it is a bad trip. I think a good number of those reviewers booked a circuit and wanted a transfer.
Queue on land, or queue at sea
Worth knowing before you choose a route rather than after. Arriving by boat, you wait for the rowboat bobbing in a small craft off an open cliff. Arriving by land from Anacapri, you wait on a flight of stone stairs. The island’s own advice is blunt about it: if you get seasick, queue on land. An hour of swell before a four-minute cave has ruined more visits than the price ever has.
The four places you can leave from
Marina Grande on Capri, Sorrento, Naples and Positano. They are four different days, not four prices for the same day.
Marina Grande, Capri. The cheapest way onto the water at €25 per person for the island circuit, and the departure point for the €399 private boat if you want three hours with nobody else aboard. This is also where the plain transfers go from, if all you want is the cave.
Sorrento. Two listings, €94 and €119, the second rated 4.8 from 5,297 reviews and running about four hours. Both of them call the Blue Grotto optional, which means extra and not guaranteed. The Sorrento page takes both apart.
Naples. One listing, €162 per person, 4.8 from 1,673 reviews, and a full day that takes in Anacapri as well as Capri. It is the longest day of the four and I say so plainly on the Naples page.
Positano. One listing, €172 per person, 4.8 from 267 reviews, drinks included, shared boat. The smallest review base of the mainland departures.
CheapestCapri: Island Boat Trip with Grottos
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
What no boat buys you
What works
- A crossing, a deck and a coastline that is genuinely worth the fare on its own
- Somebody else handling the timing, the harbour and the transfers
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start on every listing here
- A whole day out, which is the honest reason to book one
Worth knowing
- Grotto entry. The €18 is collected at the cave, per person, cash, on the day
- A place in the rowboat queue. Access is capacity-capped and nothing jumps it
- An open cave. Any swell shuts the mouth and the call is made at nine in the morning
- A guaranteed stop, on any circuit tour, however the listing is worded
Which is why I tell people to book the boat for the day rather than for the cave. If the grotto happens, it is four or five minutes of something you will not see anywhere else. If it does not, you still had the crossing and the coast, and you have not paid €18 for a cave you did not enter. The full ladder of what each charge is and who takes it is on the prices page.
If the cave is the only thing you want and you are already on the island, do not buy a boat tour at all. Take the Staiano bus from Anacapri for €2.40, walk down the stairs, pay €18 at the bottom and keep the difference. I have been sending visitors down that road my whole working life and none of them has come back cross about it.
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Frequently asked questions
Is the Blue Grotto included in a Capri boat tour?
Entry never is. Some tours stop at the cave and some pass it; none of them covers the €12 rowboat or the €6 state entrance, which are collected at the cave mouth on the day, in cash, per person. Read the listing for whether the stop is included and read this site for the fact that entry is not.
What is the difference between a transfer and an island tour?
A transfer runs Marina Grande to the cave mouth and back, takes about an hour of boat time, and exists to deliver you to the rowboat queue. An island tour is a two-hour sightseeing circuit of the coast that passes the grotto and often does not stop, because a ninety-minute queue will not fit inside a two-hour route.
Which boat tour is most likely to get me inside?
A plain transfer from Marina Grande, taken early, on a flat morning. Beyond that, the €80 early entrance listing is the only product built around the queue, and it works by starting before the day boats rather than by skipping anything. Compare all seven on the tours hub.
Do I still pay at the cave if I booked a boat tour?
Yes, every time. The €18 stands whatever you paid the operator. Budget it per person and bring notes.
What if the sea is rough on the day?
Then the cave is shut and the boat goes round the island without it. The mouth is about a metre above the waterline and any swell closes it; northerly winds almost always mean closed, and it often opens and shuts within the same day. Hours, and why it closes lists the live sources for checking before you leave.