Capri in 2 days
- pat kelly
- Jul 17
- 4 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
The ferry from Sorrento to Capri is 15 minutes, so there is no question you should visit this famous island if you are in Sorrento for even two days. If you can spend a night, you might have some crowd free time, which is what we did.
We stayed in an AirBnB on the beach that sits next to the famous Faraglioni rocks. Once you get off the ferry in Marina Grande, everyone grabs the funicular to get up to Capri town. We grabbed a cab for our place in Marina Piccola.
This AirBnB is not available currently but was right next to this great beach so despite being rustic, it was a great spot.
We dropped our bags and gawked at the Faraglioni for a minute (which was right outside our door) and headed out.
We started our Capri tour like a lot of people, with the view from the Gardens of Augustus. This is only 5 minutes walk from Capri Town's Piazezetta. This is a multi tiered property with incredible views of the Faraglioni and the crazy blue water of Capri.
Our next mission was to visit one of the many Roman emperor haunts on Capri. This island was a hang out for many emperors but Tiberius is most linked to Capri for having twelve villas here by himself. The largest is Villa Jovis on the summit of Mount Tiberio. Tiberius made this his main home and ran the Roman empire from it from 27-37 AD.
I caught a little flack later for this visit as I might have undersold the 45 minute walk (all uphill) from town. It was 1000 degrees and tracy had one some fancy shoes, so you know...
The villa does retain a lot of brick walls and rooms but was not that memorable. The trip is mostly for the views, which are pretty incredible.
We enjoyed the downhill walk back to town and finished the day at the beach outside our place. In Homer's Odyssey, the waters outside Marina Piccola were home to the Sirens. The rocks we were swimming around once housed half woman, sailor murdering suductresses.
Homer actually included the Faraglioni, which lie a stones throw away from the Siren's rocks in his story as well. When the brave Ulysses blinded the cyclops, he threw the giant boulders from his clifftop cave at Ulysses' ships and they became the Faraglioni. Maybe Ol' Homer had a few margaritas at this beach and came up with all of his best ideas. The next day we would be getting up close and personal with those famous rocks.
I had planned on getting a group boat tour around the island, which was pretty inexpensive. While we were walking up to the tour boats, a guy approached us to see if we wanted to book a private boat. It was a little more expensive, but it was definitely worth it.
The small boat tour was the highlight of the entire two week vacation. The kids are smiling in every photo. The group tour would have been good but this was awesome. He had a little cooler with beverages and the kids could lay down on the ride.
Every boat tour starts with a stop at the blue grotto.
You have to wait outside this legendary sea cave for a smaller boat to enter the cave. The smaller boats are lined up at the entrance, which is only 3 feet high. A boatman pulls the boat through via a chain, while everyone on board has to lay down.
The color of the water is amazing and despite crowds inside and out, the Blue Grotto is worth the visit.
After we slid out the cave, we got back into our boat and left most of the crowd of boats behind. The captain did a slow tour around the island. It was a beautiful ride.
The Faraglioni are the highlight of the tour. These sea stacks are made of limestone and each has its own name: Stella, Mezzo (with the arch), and Scopolo. Scopolo, the furthest stack, is the only place that a certain blue lizard lives.
Aside from Homer's stories, another legend holds that any couple that kisses while passing under the arch of Mezzo will stay together for life. Obviously we had to lock it up while we were there.
We continued around the island and checked out a few other sea caves and smaller grottos with similar eery looking water. The captain stopped the boat at one point and we jumped out and swam around close to the coast. It was an incredible tour and the kids actually fell asleep lying on the bow of the boat on the last few minutes of the tour.
After a great two days, we had to grab another ferry to go back to the mainland. The last part of the vacation was Positano. We grabbed a ferry for the forty minute ride.
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