Best Things to Do in Capri, Italy

The Green Grotto, or Grotta Verde, is one of the most beautiful and genuinely least-visited of Capri’s celebrated coastal sea caves, positioned on the island’s southeastern shoreline in the dramatic stretch of cliff coast near the famous Faraglioni sea stacks. Unlike the world-famous Blue Grotto with its organised rowboat tours and timed admissions, the Green Grotto is accessed by swimming or snorkelling directly through its partially submerged entrance — a requirement that naturally limits visitor numbers and preserves a rare quality of personal discovery for those willing to enter the water. Inside the cave, sunlight filtering through dense green algae coating the underwater rock surfaces and refracting upward through shallow water bathes the enclosed interior in a distinctive and haunting emerald luminescence, entirely different in mood and colour from its more famous neighbour’s electric blue. The cave’s interior dimensions are considerably larger than the Blue Grotto, allowing genuine freedom of movement once inside, and the absence of organised boat tours creates a meditative, self-guided encounter with Capri’s extraordinary coastal geology. Island circumnavigation boat tours regularly pause outside the Green Grotto to allow passengers willing to enter the water to swim through the entrance independently, adding a memorable aquatic adventure to the scenic journey around the island’s perimeter. The experience combines naturally with visits to the nearby White Grotto and the surrounding rock architecture of the southeastern coast in a single extended exploration.

Marina Grande is the principal harbour of Sorrento, a picturesque and atmospheric working port sheltered within a narrow natural cleft in the dramatic volcanic tufa cliffs directly below the town’s elevated historic centre on the Sorrentine Peninsula in Campania. Descending to the marina from Sorrento’s clifftop piazzas requires either navigating the steep staircases cut directly into the cliff face or taking a winding road down through the rock — a transition that dramatically changes both soundscape and pace, leaving the tourist bustle of the upper town behind in exchange for the quiet rhythms of salt air, bobbing hulls, and the creak of rigging. The harbour divides naturally between a traditional fishing quarter, where brightly painted gozzo wooden boats have been hauled out, repaired, and launched by the same Sorrento families across multiple generations, and an active ferry and hydrofoil quay serving fast connections to Capri, Positano, Amalfi, the Amalfi Coast, and Naples. Several excellent seafood restaurants extend directly over the water on timber piling platforms, their tables positioned just above the incoming Mediterranean swell. Rock platforms along the harbour walls provide informal swimming spots in water of exceptional clarity. Marina Grande preserves a working maritime character and everyday authenticity that most Amalfi-region ports have progressively surrendered to pure tourism infrastructure, making it a genuinely refreshing counterpoint to Sorrento’s otherwise polished clifftop commercial character.

Marina Grande is Capri’s principal port and the island’s lively gateway, welcoming ferries and hydrofoils from Naples, Sorrento, and Positano year-round. The waterfront stretches along a natural bay framed by colourful fishermen’s houses and sun-bleached boats, giving visitors their first vivid taste of island life. Beyond the ferry terminals you’ll find a string of seafood restaurants, gelato stands, and boutiques catering to the steady stream of day-trippers and overnight guests alike.

From Marina Grande, the famous funicular climbs steeply to Capri Town in just a few minutes, while water taxis depart to the celebrated Blue Grotto and other sea caves dotting the coastline. The beach here is shingle rather than sand, but the crystalline Tyrrhenian water rewards swimmers with outstanding clarity. Early mornings are the best time to soak up the harbour atmosphere before the day-tripper crowds arrive. Whether you’re catching a boat, hiring a private motorboat tour, or simply sipping a limoncello at a waterside café, Marina Grande sets an effortlessly glamorous tone for any Capri adventure.

Marina Piccola is Capri’s most beloved and historically significant bathing cove, a sheltered natural bay on the island’s southern coast framed on all sides by sheer white limestone cliffs and overlooked from the open sea by the monumental silhouette of the Faraglioni sea stacks just a short distance offshore. The "small harbour" has served the island as a fishing port for recorded centuries and continues to divide its practical function between a modest working quay — from which ferries operate seasonal connections to the Amalfi Coast and private boats can be hired for coastal excursions — and an acclaimed cluster of beach clubs and lido establishments whose sun-bleached wooden platforms and sunbed terraces cascade down the cliff face in tiers to meet the sea. The water here is among the most beautiful in the entire Bay of Naples, shifting from pale jade at the shoreline to deep cobalt in the middle of the bay, and the surrounding cliffs provide welcome afternoon shade that makes summer bathing more comfortable than on Capri’s more exposed northern shores. Da Luigi ai Faraglioni, the most celebrated of the lido restaurants, is reached by a small complimentary boat shuttle from the rocky landing below — an approach that only heightens the sense of privileged escape. A coastal footpath connecting Marina Piccola to the Via Tragara belvedere above offers one of the most scenically rewarding short walks on the island, with the Faraglioni framed differently and dramatically at every turn of the path as it climbs through Mediterranean scrub.

Monte Solaro is the highest point on the island of Capri, its summit reaching 589 metres above sea level and commanding what many well-travelled visitors describe as the single most breathtaking 360-degree panorama in the entire southern Italian Mediterranean. The classic and most enjoyable ascent is aboard the Anacapri chairlift — a traditional single-seat open-air lift that departs from the village of Anacapri and rises gently for approximately twelve minutes through fragrant chestnut woodland, ancient terraced citrus gardens, and flowering meadows. Passengers sit in individual open chairs suspended above the slope, with the sea visible on both sides of the narrow island simultaneously as altitude increases — an experience that combines the mild drama of exposure with a genuinely serene and unhurried pace. The summit terrace commands unobstructed views encompassing the full arc of the Bay of Naples, Mount Vesuvius smoking on the distant mainland, the Sorrentine Peninsula extending westward, the Pontine Islands scattered across the Tyrrhenian horizon, and on exceptional days of atmospheric clarity the faint profile of Sicily far to the south. A small 14th-century chapel dedicated to Santa Maria Cetrella and the remnant walls of a medieval fortress add historical texture to the summit. The descent on foot through ancient agricultural terraces and abandoned farmland passes a Carthusian hermitage — the Eremo di Santa Maria Cetrella — whose garden has been cultivated in silence for centuries. Monte Solaro offers utterly different yet equally memorable experiences to the casual chairlift visitor and the dedicated mountain walker.

The Natural Arch, or Arco Naturale, is one of Capri’s most dramatic and physically impressive geological features — a massive limestone arch formed over millennia by wave erosion along a sea-level fault line that has since been raised high above the current sea level, now standing on the island’s rugged and sparsely visited northeastern coastal slope with its opening framing a dramatic rectangle of blue sky, distant cliff, and turquoise water far below. Unlike Capri’s celebrated sea caves and marine formations that require a boat charter to appreciate properly, the Natural Arch is reached entirely on foot via a pleasant descending trail through dense Mediterranean maquis departing from the edge of Capri Town, making it one of the island’s most accessible geological highlights for any visitor capable of a moderate walk on uneven terrain. The path passes through an aromatic landscape of carob trees, ancient lentisc, wild rosemary, and trailing capers before the arch appears suddenly and dramatically at a cliff-edge belvedere — a moment of genuine visual surprise given how completely the massive structure is concealed by vegetation until the final few steps. The arch itself is enormous in its proportions, rising approximately 18 metres from its base with walls of banded grey limestone, balanced above a sheer drop of considerable height to the sea below. Geologists interpret it as the surviving remnant of a prehistoric sea cave whose roof gradually collapsed as regional sea levels fell and tectonic uplift raised the former sea floor. The return journey via the panoramic Via Pizzolungo coastal path extends the excursion with views across to the Faraglioni and the Sorrentine Peninsula that rank among Capri’s finest.

Piazzetta di Capri, formally Piazza Umberto I, is the intimate central square of Capri Town and the island’s indisputable social epicentre — an exquisitely proportioned stage set of Baroque architecture, terracotta paving, outdoor café tables, and a continuous performance of elegantly dressed people that has been drawing the world’s wealthy, celebrated, and curious since at least the early 20th century. Framed by the white campanile of the Church of Santo Stefano, a domed Baroque cathedral whose bells mark the quarter-hours, and a quartet of storied café terraces whose chairs all face outward onto the square like the stalls of an open-air theatre, the piazzetta functions less as a pedestrian thoroughfare than as a permanent and self-conscious outdoor salon. The writer and physician Axel Munthe, visiting aristocrats fleeing European revolutions, German Expressionist painters, and Hollywood stars from Greta Garbo to Grace Kelly and Jacqueline Onassis all made this tiny square their preferred outdoor living room across successive decades. Limoncello poured over ice, a perfect granita al limone, or a single caffè at one of the historic bars is the canonical order here — consumed without haste and at prices that reflect the location without apology. The piazzetta reaches its most cinematic and golden quality at aperitivo hour, when the clock tower face catches the late afternoon sun and the day-tripping crowds have begun their descent toward the ferry port, leaving the square briefly to those who have chosen to stay and savour the island’s unhurried, ageless glamour properly.

Via Camerelle is Capri’s most exclusive shopping promenade, a narrow sun-dappled lane that connects the Piazzetta to the Certosa di San Giacomo and serves as the island’s open-air showcase for high-end Italian and international fashion. Flanked by boutiques bearing names such as Prada, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, and Hermès, the street has been the beating heart of Capri’s luxury retail scene since the jet-set era of the 1950s and ’60s, when Hollywood stars and European aristocrats made the island their preferred summer playground.

Beyond designer labels, Via Camerelle also harbours artisan perfumeries, handmade-sandal workshops, and linen shops stocking the light, breezy fabrics synonymous with Caprese style. The street is entirely pedestrianised, making it a pleasant place to window-shop even if extravagant purchases are not on the agenda. Late afternoon brings a golden light that photographs beautifully against the whitewashed façades and tumbling bougainvillea. At its southern end, the lane opens onto the panoramic terrace of the Certosa, offering a rewarding cultural counterpoint to the commercial glamour of the walk itself.

Villa Jovis — Latin for "Villa of Jupiter" — stands as the most ambitious of the twelve imperial residences Emperor Tiberius constructed on Capri during his voluntary exile from Rome between AD 27 and 37. Occupying the island’s highest promontory at roughly 354 metres above sea level, the sprawling complex once included imperial apartments, baths, a lighthouse, and a vast cistern system designed to supply water to the cliff-top retreat entirely independent of the mainland.

Today the atmospheric ruins are accessed via a scenic 45-minute walk from Capri Town along a path flanked by stone walls and Mediterranean scrub. At the summit, the Salto di Tiberio — a sheer cliff dropping into the sea — lends a suitably dramatic backdrop to stories (largely apocryphal) of the emperor dispatching enemies over the edge. A small on-site museum displays excavated artefacts, while the Chapel of Santa Maria del Soccorso at the tip offers some of Capri’s most breathtaking coastal views. The site is managed by the Municipality of Capri and requires a modest entrance fee.

Villa San Michele, perched dramatically above the Bay of Naples in Anacapri, was the creative vision of Swedish physician and author Axel Munthe, who built it between the 1890s and 1910s on the ruins of an ancient Roman villa once said to belong to Emperor Tiberius. Munthe’s celebrated memoir The Story of San Michele (1929) turned the property into a literary landmark read by millions across the world, cementing its status as one of the Mediterranean’s most romantic retreats.

The villa’s terraced gardens command a 360-degree panorama taking in Capri Town, the Faraglioni sea stacks, and the sweep of the bay — consistently ranked among the finest views in Italy. Interiors blend Roman antiquities, Renaissance furnishings, and Munthe’s eclectic personal collection into an atmospheric whole. The loggia sphinx, a beloved symbol of the estate, gazes out over the sea from an elevated pergola walk. Managed today by the Swedish Institute in Rome, the villa hosts summer concerts that draw international audiences to its incomparable outdoor setting. Comfortable walking shoes are advised for the steep approach from Anacapri’s main square.

The White Grotto, or Grotta Bianca, is among the most geologically striking of Capri’s celebrated sea caves, its interior walls and ceiling encrusted with an accumulation of white calcite stalactites and stalagmites formed over thousands of years as mineralised rainwater dissolved limestone from above, percolated through the island’s porous rock structure, and redeposited calcium carbonate crystal by crystal in intricate hanging formations. The cave is situated on Capri’s southern coast and is most practically visited as part of a full island circumnavigation by motorised boat — the classic and most rewarding way to experience the island’s dramatic and largely inaccessible coastal perimeter of vertical white cliffs, hidden sea-level coves, and wave-carved arches. The cave’s entrance opening is somewhat more generous than that of the Blue Grotto, permitting access under a wider range of sea conditions, and the white mineral formations inside create a luminous, crystalline atmosphere of considerable geological beauty. Natural light enters from multiple points within the cave’s structure and illuminates the calcite formations simultaneously from below through the water and from above through surface cracks, producing a layered and subtly theatrical lighting effect that changes through the day. While the White Grotto receives far fewer visitors than the Blue, connoisseurs of Capri’s geological heritage frequently regard it as the more complex and intellectually rewarding interior. Combining it with the nearby Green Grotto and the Faraglioni in a single coastal boat excursion is the most efficient approach.