Private boat to the Blue Grotto: €399 for the boat, not the seat
The arithmetic, done properly
The €399 is the single most misread number on this site, so here it is worked out rather than asserted. The boat costs €399 whoever is aboard. The cave costs €18 a head on top and always will.
| Party | Boat, per head | Cave, per head | Per head, all in | Party total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two | €199.50 | €18 | €217.50 | €435 |
| Three | €133.00 | €18 | €151.00 | €453 |
| Four | €99.75 | €18 | €117.75 | €471 |
I stop the table at four. I have no published capacity figure for this boat and I am not going to guess at one, so if there are more of you, read the listing before you divide.
A family of four, against the alternative
Take the case I am asked about most: two adults, two children, all four going. The private boat is €399 for the party, so €99.75 each. Add the cave at €18 a head, or €72 for the four, and the day comes to €471, which is €117.75 per person.
The four-hour boat from Sorrento is €119 per person. For the same four people that is €476 before anybody gets near the cave, and €548 once the €18s are added. So the private charter lands €77 under it for a party of four.
They are not the same product and I will not pretend otherwise. The Sorrento boat includes the crossing from the mainland and runs about four hours; the private boat starts on Capri and runs three, so you need to already be on the island. But if you are, and there are four of you, the charter is the cheaper of the two and you have the boat to yourselves. The comparison against the other five listings is on the tours hub, and the Sorrento pair are pulled apart on the Sorrento page.
Run it the other way and the case collapses. For two people the boat is €199.50 each, €217.50 with the cave, against €25 a head for the island circuit out of the same harbour. You are paying roughly eight times the cheapest seat for privacy and three hours of somebody’s undivided attention. That can be worth it. It is a choice, not a saving.
Three hours, out of Capri
Four point eight from 173 reviews, which is a good score on a modest sample — enough to be meaningful, not enough to be settled. The listing puts a Blue Grotto visit in its title, and the reviews are mostly about the boat and the skipper. Maren from Norway describes “a very cute turquoise very well kept traditional boat with a sail shielding from the sun” and names the skipper, Alex. Roya from the United States travelled with three teenagers and says Alex took them round the whole island.
That second review is the one I would weigh if I had teenagers. Three hours on a shared boat with a fixed route is a different proposition from three hours on a boat that can stop where you want, and the difference shows up in the mood on the way home more than in the photographs.
Private boatCapri: 3-Hour Private Boat Tour with Blue Grotto Visit
Best ratedSorrento: Exclusive Capri Boat Tour and Optional Blue Grotto
CheapestCapri: Island Boat Trip with Grottos
What €399 does not buy
Entry, first of all. The €12 rowboat and the €6 state ticket are collected at the cave mouth on the day, per person, and a chartered boat changes none of it. It does not buy a place in the rowboat queue either: access is capacity-capped, the line is worked in order, and in high season it runs sixty to ninety minutes for under five minutes inside. And it does not buy an open cave, because the mouth stands about a metre above the waterline and any swell closes it, with the decision made at the cave at nine in the morning.
One detail that does favour a party of four: the rowboat at the cave mouth takes four passengers. Four of you go in together on one boat. Six of you do not. Every charge behind that €18 is set out on the prices page.
If what you actually want is to be in the water, a private boat will not get you there. Swimming at the Blue Grotto is prohibited inside the cave and outside it, at every hour of the day, and it is enforced, with reported fines in the €1,000 to €3,000 range. The swimming page has the rule and the cases. Hire the boat for the coast and the company, not for a swim in the cave.
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Frequently asked questions
Is €399 the price for each person or for the boat?
For the whole boat. It is a three-hour private charter out of Capri and the price covers the party, not the seat. Four people pay €99.75 each; two people pay €199.50 each. The €18 at the cave is the part that stays per person, whatever the party size.
Is a private boat cheaper than a group tour?
For four people leaving from Capri, yes: €471 all in against €548 for the same four on the €119 boat from Sorrento. For two people it is nowhere near, at €217.50 a head against €25 for a seat on the island circuit. The number of people in your party decides it, and the boat tours page compares the departure points.
Does a private boat get us into the grotto faster?
No. Nothing does. The rowboat queue at the cave is capacity-capped and worked in the order it forms, so a chartered boat waits like everybody else. What it changes is where you wait and who you wait with, which for a family is not nothing — but it is not a shortcut and I would not let anyone sell it to you as one.
Do we still pay at the cave on a private boat?
Yes. €12 to the boatmen’s cooperative and €6 to the state, per person, in cash, at the cave mouth. That is €72 for a family of four on top of the €399. No tour, charter or booking anywhere includes it.
What do reviewers say about it?
Four point eight from 173 reviews. Maren from Norway describes a well-kept traditional boat with a sail rigged for shade and names the skipper, Alex; Roya from the United States travelled with three teenagers and says Alex took them round the whole island. It is a small sample compared with the Sorrento boats, and the full write-up is in the private boat review.