We are going in a group to Capri Island through Napoli, We will have around 6 children within the age of 10 and one of November 1998 birth. Should we purchase the tickets for them in the buses in Naples, Capri and Anacapri. Would be grateful for a factual answer and not personal opinion.

In addition to that, please tell what is the approx. journey time on bus from Napoli Centrale to Napoli Dock, Napoli Dock to Marina Grande (Capri), Marina Grande to Capri Town, Capri Town to Anacapri Town (Mt. Solaro), Anacapri to Blue Grotto and back. Can we go to these places by walk also?

I can help you with the Capri part of your question having just returned from there.

There is something you need to know about the buses on Capri. They are very small. There are just 6 or 8 rows of seats and the seat configuration is 2 seats on one side and 1 seat on the other. As you can imagine, the seats fill up very fast, leaving standing room only for many people. They are often very crowded. With your large group, I suspect you'll be standing a lot which could be a challenge for the little ones as the roads are curvy and they'll have to hold on tight.

You can buy Capri bus tickets either from the bus driver or from designated ticket booths.

Your best bet to get from Marina Grande to Capri town is the funicular. There are no seats but it has about 6 "cars", and each car can hold upwards up 6-8 normal sized adults comfortably.

The bus from Marina Grande to Capri town takes maybe 3-4 minutes. From Capri town to Anacapri, the bus ride is about 15 minutes. We didn't take the bus to the Blue Grotto.

Walking from Marina Grande to Capri town is doable but not advisable because the walk is all uphill, a steep one at that, and pretty long. Can't imaging the little ones doing it and the adults would have to be in good physical condition.

While it's possible to walk from Capri town to Anacapri, it's not realistic. Again, I can't imagine the little ones doing it, much less the adults. Everyone would have to be in excellent physical condition because the hike involves a very steep hill with lots and lots of steps and, while I'm not sure exactly how long it would take, I'm guessing it would be a couple of hours. See http://www.giovis.com/caprianacapri.htm

There is a hiking path from Anacapri to the Blue Grotto but it's a long one. We didn't do it but if I remember correctly, it's a least an hour and a half, maybe 2 hours, for adults in good physical condition.

The other option is hiring taxi's to take you everywhere but that would be very expensive.

Dear DCD

Many thanks for such a wonderful information. Please answer the first part of my query also regarding travel by children on buses, if you have information regarding the same.

Motumotu,

I'm sorry but I'm not sure what your question is regarding the children. As I mentioned above, tickets on buses on Capri can be purchased from the bus driver or from ticket offices. With so many people traveling at one time, you might want to get the tickets from the booth.

Also, regarding transportation from the Naples train station to Mollo Beverello, it cost us (2 adults with 2 pieces of luggage) a total of 20E for a taxi from the stand outside the station. Very expensive for a 15-20 minute ride which was, shall I say, exciting but not in a good way. People in Naples drive crazy! As someone said, there are NO rules of the road there. I can believe it. The public tram might be your best bet to get your group to Mollo Beverello.

I think Motumoto is asking whether children ride for free. Since I don't have kids I have no idea - I'd suggest googling for the bus web sites. But the buses are very cheap.

Dear DCD,

Mr. Thursdaysd is right. I am asking about fares for children in buses in Napoli, Capri and Anacapri. My question posted at the top of this topic is reproduced below:

"We are going in a group to Capri Island through Napoli, We will have around 6 children within the age of 10 and one of November 1998 birth. Should we purchase the tickets for them in the buses in Naples, Capri and Anacapri."

Also please tell if we go to Anacapri by bus, would coming back by walk be convenient.

Motumotu,

I don't what the fare is for children.

"Also please tell if we go to Anacapri by bus, would coming back by walk be convenient." Walking back from where?

Dear dcd

My apologies for not mentioning the place. Actually I was asking would coming back to Capri Town from Anacapri and Capri Town to Marina Grande be convenient and how much time will it take. Earlier you mentioned the approx. time for going from Marina Grande to Capri town and Capri Town to Anacapri. This time I am asking about travel time and convenience by travel on foot from Anacapri to Capri town and from Capri town to Marina Grande.

What would you recommend:

"Should I purchase the return ticket for our group for hydrofoil from Napoli to Capri and back or I should purchase the ticket for our backward journey from Capri to Napoli separately"

Do not plan on walking from Anacapri to Capri town or from Capri town to Anacapri with the children. Too long and physically demanding. Adults who enjoy long hikes and who are in excellent physical shape might enjoy it.

Walking from Capri town to Marina Grande is downhill but the street is narrow and fairly busy with traffic. So I wouldn't recommend it for children. We didn't walk it so I don't know how long it would take. I would guess 20-25 minutes. But if the adults have luggage, I wouldn't recommend it for them either.

Something to keep in mind. If you are planning on doing hikes where you'll be going up and down a lot of steps, I would strongly recommend doing exercises for those muscles, which are not the same ones that get used when walking on flat ground. As we found out the hard way.............

Not sure when would be the best time to buy your return ticets to Naples. If you're travelling during high season and if you want to make sure you are on a specific hydrofoil, maybe you will want to buy the tickets in advance. But before doing so, you will want to ask whether the tickets could be used on a different hydrofoil either on that day or another day if the weather is bad (stormy seas) and the hydrofoils aren't running.

In another thread the OP states that this group is doing this visit to Capri and a daytrip from Rome . . .

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...from-capri.cfm

Thought this might inform some of suggestions . . .

this visit to Capri AS a daytrip from Rome . . .

Thanx ellenem. That puts things into perspective.

Motumotu, it seems like your purpose in going to Capri this time is to go inside the Blue Grotto and to do the chairlift to Mt. Solaro. I think you'll have your hands full doing all that in the limited time you'll have on Capri. Realistically, I'd recommend taxis to get you wherever you want to go to save time. The buses would be fine, but because they are so small and crowded, you may not be able to get your whole group on the bus at the same time. It's not uncommon for people to have to wait for the next bus and they weren't running every 5-10 minutes last week. More like every 20 minutes or so. Maybe that changes in June but I'd check that out to be sure.

Also, we were completely underwhelmed by the Blue Grotto. I certainly wouldn't make a day trip to Capri just to see it. It costs 10E a person to go inside plus the oarsman wants a tip. We were inside maybe 2 minutes and could only see the iridescent water maybe 20-30 seconds because you have to be in a certain position inside the grotto to see it. And it wasn't all that impressive anyway. We came away thinking it was a ripoff, especially for that price.

Now the views from the top of Mt Salero were extremely impressive and well worth doing on a nice day. But I'd hate to think you travel all the way from Rome and have lousy weather which blocks the views and prevents you from going inside the Blue Grotto.

Dear DCD,

I think the information provided by you will be of immense help to me and my friends in our group.

Good work. Keep it on.