10 Best Things to Do in Capri

The three limestone sea stacks off the southern coast are the postcard image of Capri. They have individual names: Stella (attached to the shore, 109 metres), Faraglione di Mezzo (81 metres, pierced by a natural arch you can pass through by boat) and Faraglione di Fuori or Scopolo (104 metres, home to the pale blue lizard Podarcis siculus coeruleus, found nowhere else on Earth).

The classic land view is from Punta Tragara at the end of Via Tragara. The path is paved and mostly level from the Piazzetta, though it climbs gently on the return. From the belvedere at the end you can continue down 800 steps to the water at Da Luigi ai Faraglioni, or turn back and take the coastal path towards the Arco Naturale. By sea, most boat operators run the Mezzo passage as part of the island tour for around 20 EUR per person.

Pro Tip: Come at sunset - the stacks glow orange against the water and the crowds thin out after 18:00 when most day-trippers head back to the ferry.

Mount Solaro (589 m) is the highest point on the island and the best panoramic viewpoint. The single-seat chairlift (seggiovia) from Piazza Vittoria was opened in 1952 and takes 12 minutes to reach the summit, climbing silently over gardens, vineyards and macchia scrub. Tickets in 2026 are 14 EUR return or 11 EUR one-way, useful if you want to walk down via the Cetrella hermitage.

At the top you get a full 360-degree view: the Bay of Naples with Vesuvius to the north, the Sorrentine Peninsula and Amalfi Coast to the east, the Faraglioni directly below to the south, and on clear winter days the mountains of Calabria to the far south. There is a small bar for espresso and the ruins of a Bourbon-era fort. The chairlift runs roughly 09:30 to 16:00 in winter and 09:30 to 17:00 from May to October.

Pro Tip: Wear closed shoes rather than sandals - the chair is exposed and open, and the gravel path at the summit is loose.

The Gardens of Augustus are terraced botanical gardens built in the early 20th century by the German industrialist Friedrich Alfred Krupp, later renamed after the Roman emperor. Entry is 1.50 EUR. The gardens are laid out over several levels above the cliff, with beds of dahlia, geranium and bougainvillea, and a bronze monument to Lenin by Giacomo Manzu (Lenin spent time on Capri as a guest of Maxim Gorky in 1908 and 1910).

The real draw is the view over Marina Piccola and the Faraglioni, and directly below, Via Krupp - a switchback footpath carved into the cliff in 1902 that zigzags down to the beach in a series of tight hairpins. The path is one of the most photographed engineering works in Italy. It has been closed intermittently for rockfall repairs; as of early 2026 access is restricted to the upper viewing terraces, so check locally before descending.

Pro Tip: Combine the gardens with the Certosa di San Giacomo monastery immediately next door - the 14th-century cloisters are free and often empty.

Officially Piazza Umberto I but universally called the Piazzetta, this small square is the social heart of Capri town. It measures roughly 30 by 20 metres and is bordered by four bars whose tables occupy most of the flagstones between about 10:00 and 01:00. The 17th-century clock tower on the south side was originally the bell tower of a cathedral that was demolished in 1595, and the low arch on the west side opens onto Via Le Botteghe and the shopping streets.

A coffee at the tables will cost about 6 to 8 EUR (roughly triple the counter price), which is the fee for a front-row seat on what Norman Douglas called "the smallest and best drawing room in Europe". From here Via Vittorio Emanuele leads south to the luxury shops and Gardens of Augustus, while Via Longano climbs east towards Villa Jovis.

Pro Tip: Order at the counter (al banco) if you just want a quick espresso - the price drops to about 2 EUR and no one minds you standing and looking out at the square.

Villa Jovis was the principal residence of the emperor Tiberius, who ruled the Roman Empire from Capri between AD 27 and his death in AD 37. The complex covered around 7,000 square metres on the eastern tip of the island at 334 metres above the sea, and archaeologists have identified imperial quarters, cisterns for the villa's water supply, a bath complex, an observatory tower and a hall used for audiences.

The Salto di Tiberio - the cliff off which, according to Suetonius, Tiberius had prisoners thrown - drops sheer to the water on the northeast side. Entry to the site is 8 EUR in 2026, and it opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 16:00 in winter and until 19:00 in high summer. The walk up from the Piazzetta is entirely uphill on paved lanes, gaining about 190 metres of elevation.

Pro Tip: Bring at least a litre of water - there is a small chapel (Santa Maria del Soccorso) at the top but no reliable cafe, and the return descent still takes 30 minutes.

Anacapri sits at around 275 metres on the western half of the island and was the poorer, quieter half of the pair until the road connecting it to Capri town was completed in 1877. Before that, the only access was the 800-step Scala Fenicia (Phoenician Staircase) cut into the cliff, which you can still climb today from Marina Grande to Villa San Michele.

Piazza Vittoria is the arrival point for buses and the base station of the Solaro chairlift. From here Via Giuseppe Orlandi leads through the old village past Casa Rossa (a 19th-century folly built by an American Confederate colonel) and the small church of San Michele Arcangelo, which has a majolica tile floor from 1761 depicting the expulsion from Eden - entry 2 EUR. The atmosphere is calmer than Capri town and prices at the cafes are about 20 percent lower.

Pro Tip: Buy a day pass for the local bus (12 EUR in 2026) if you plan to shuttle between Anacapri, the Blue Grotto and the Faro lighthouse - individual tickets add up quickly.

Villa San Michele was the home of the Swedish physician and author Axel Munthe, who built it between 1896 and 1910 on the site of a Roman chapel dedicated to Saint Michael. Munthe's memoir The Story of San Michele, published in 1929, was translated into more than 30 languages and made the villa a literary pilgrimage. Munthe donated the property to the Swedish state in 1949, and it now functions as a house museum and study centre.

The villa is furnished with Munthe's collection of Roman antiquities - sarcophagus fragments, marble busts, an Egyptian sphinx on the pergola overlooking Marina Grande - and the terraces are planted as Mediterranean gardens. Entry in 2026 is 12 EUR. Opening hours are 09:00 to 17:00 from November to March and 09:00 to 18:00 or 19:00 in high season. The panorama from the sphinx pergola is one of the finest on the island.

Pro Tip: Read at least the opening chapters of Munthe's book before you visit - the rooms make far more sense when you know the stories attached to each object.

A circumnavigation of the island by boat is the only way to see the coastline properly, since much of it is inaccessible by land. Standard group tours from Marina Grande last 90 minutes to 2 hours and cost 25 to 30 EUR per person in 2026. Private hires (a gozzo with a skipper for four to six people) start at around 300 EUR for a half-day.

The route typically covers the Bagni di Tiberio (the emperor's private baths, now a swimmable cove), the Grotta Bianca and Grotta Verde on the eastern shore, a pass through the natural arch in the Faraglione di Mezzo (only Capri boats have the right to do this - swimmers can also touch the arch), the Punta Carena lighthouse on the southwestern tip, and a stop for swimming near the Grotta Azzurra if conditions allow. Bring a swimsuit, water shoes for the pebbly coves, and cash for the Blue Grotto entry.

Pro Tip: Book a morning departure (before 10:00) - afternoon winds pick up on the western side of the island and can shorten the tour or cancel the Blue Grotto stop.

Marina Piccola is the small bay on the south side of the island, split into two coves - Marina di Pennaulo to the west and Marina di Mulo to the east - by a rocky outcrop called Scoglio delle Sirene, the Rock of the Sirens. Local tradition, backed by 19th-century commentators on Homer, identifies this as the spot where Odysseus lashed himself to the mast to hear the sirens sing in Book XII of the Odyssey.

The beach itself is a mix of free public sections and paid lidos (Bagni di Tiberio, La Canzone del Mare) where a sun lounger and umbrella run about 30 to 40 EUR per day. The water is deep close to shore and the Faraglioni frame the horizon to the east. Buses run every 20 minutes from Piazza Vittoria and Capri town. In 2026 the bus fare is 2.40 EUR one-way.

Pro Tip: Walk down Via Krupp from the Gardens of Augustus if it has reopened, or take the paved Via Mulo footpath - either route beats the bus queue in July and August.