I am very much interested in the 2 hr boat tour around Capri and would like to have an idea of the cost and how large is the tour? We are a party of 4 and this would be the end of April. Has anyone rented their own boat for the tour? Any recommendations for a tour company?

Thank you.

Hi TF - There are a number of boat tour companies. You can find links/ details here:

http://www.capri.net/en/k/excursions-by-sea

Hope this helps ...

Steve

travelfan,

I did a tour and it was the highlight of my 2 days on Capri. There are many companies and sizes of boats. I took one that had smallish wooden boats taking about 15 passengers. This is one for those who like the wind in their hair! Other, larger boats are enclosed, but I don't think you would see as much that way.

We didn't get to go into the Blue Grotto due to rough seas (and the Italian girl sitting in back of me - thankfully - was sick the whole trip) but I loved it and was happy with everything we saw as well as the tour guide. The company charged about 14E in 2005, but I'm sorry I can't remember the name!

Buon viaggio

Steve's link is for private tours. There are two companies that have larger boats.

Gruppo Motoscafisti http://www.motoscafisticapri.com/en/index.html charges 18€ and seems to cater to BIG groups.

Laser Capri http://www.capri.net/en/c/laser-capri charges 13€ has smaller boats and is a better option (even if it wasn't cheaper).

Both companies stop at the BLue Grotto on their trip around the island. You can stay on the boat or opt to tour the Blue Grotto. If you decide to tour the Blue Grotto it is a seperate 6€ charge (paid right before you go inside the grotto).

Just back from 4 nites in Capri. What an island.

Anyway, we did the 2 hr Laser Capri boat tour and thoroughly enjoyed it. A couple of things to consider.

First, not all of their boat tours offer the opportunity to go inside the Blue Grotto as the link above makes clear. So check the schedule carefully. If you have no interest in going inside, be sure to take a tour that skips it because you don't want to be sitting on the boat twiddling your thumbs while your fellow passengers wait their turn to go in. And I'm told that wait can be considerable during the busy seasons. We waited about 20 minutes last week.

Second, the entrance to the Blue Grotto is a separate fee and is now up to an extra 10E per person..... (And the oarsman will ask for a tip.) That's really excessive IMHO considering the trip itself is only 13E.

Third, my wife and I were underwhelmed by the whole experience. We waited 20-25 minutes to go in; we were inside the cave for only 2 minutes and you could only see the glowing water for maybe 20-30 seconds of that time due to the angles (you have to be in a certain area of the cave in the right position to see it); the water glows a neat iridescence but it wasn't way up on our wow factor scale; and it was expensive for what you get. In hindsight, we could have easily skipped it and not been deprived.

Fourth, the only negative of our tour was that the guide's English wasn't the best so we missed a lot of the history and other things he was saying. But the views require no explanation!