Capri Day Trip Fri or Sat?
 

Looking for any advice regarding a day trip to Capri from Rome. Specifically, we have a choice of going on a Friday or Saturday at the end of May. Would traffic heading back on the bus (Naples to Rome around 5pm) be better on one day or another? How about the actual vistit to Capri? More crowded on a Saturday? I know this isn't the best way to see Capri but it's a day trip (out of 6 days in Rome) or nothing. Thanks in advance for your responses!

Hi orca,

We took a day trip to Capri from Rome. It was a bus group tour, which was good for us on our first "solo" trip to Italy. Capri is beautiful and I'm definitely glad that we spent the time to go there.
I do recall that there was a lot of traffic, but we happened to be catching the weekend that everyone in Italy starts their vacation. At one point, traffic just stopped for a while.
My guess is that if you're not going during that time (beginning of August) the better day to go to avoid traffic would be a Saturday. Capri itself will probably always be crowded, but no more so than Rome.
Capri is very beautiful and special. You're sure to enjoy it!

Hi Orca - Why go by bus?? Better to go by train and miss the traffic altogether :)

That way you can catch the last hydrofoil back to Naples and have more time in Capri :)

Friday would be better IMO as Capri will be less busy than Saturday.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Thank you cybertraveler and Steve, for your responses. Seems like Capri might be less crowed Fri. but traffic better Sat. We normally avoid bus/group tours but decided that we would do this one rather than navigating the Rome/Naples trains and getting ourselves to the ferry with the crowds. Any additional comments from those with Capri experience would be appreciated.

Orca - I'm surprised that a Rome bus tour company offers Capri as a day-trip (- normally it's 2 days). Can you give details please?

If you were going in August crowds would be an issue. Not so in May ...

Steve

The Capri Tours run daily from Rome. I think there are a couple companies, one being Grayline in Italy. They will pick you up from your central hotel around 7am and the tour leave the bus station at 7:30 am. Drive to Naples with a couple scenic stops and guide commentary. Then get on a boat to Capri. Rest of day on Capri. Leave back to Naples 5pm. Arrive Rome 9pm or so. One tour has Blue Grotto included, the other it is optional. Both tour companies say that if the sea is too rough for boats to Capri they will substitue a tour of Naples/Pompeii. There is another day tour available 3 times a week that goes to Pompeii, Sorrento and Amalfi. While that sounds great we decided that probably would be packing in too much in one day. At least the Capri trip is straight to Naples to the "steamer" and on to Capri.

Orca,

I'm pretty sure that's the tour that we took. They didn't really come to "our" hotel, but we had to walk to a hotel a couple of blocks away. Not really a problem, but there were a lot of buses loading up tours at the same time, so we had a few moments of confusion making sure that we got on the right bus. Get there early, if that's the case.

We took the Blue Grotto tour, and once you get in, it's beautiful and eerie; however, getting into the grotto was an ordeal! You are herded into these little punt-type boats (that's all that will fit into the opening of the grotto). There are 4 to a boat, then the boats all go along the cliffs until they get to the opening in the cliff which is the entrance to the grotto.

When we were there, the waves were quite high--so high that the entrance would fill with the surf. So, the boats would wait until the waves receded a bit, then one at a time they hustle you through the opening...hopefully before the next wave crashes through and crushes you against the top.

Literally, we had to lie down on the bottom of the boat sideways (and we're tall!). We had to be head to foot and stay below the rim of the boat. So we waited in that position with a Japanese couple who spoke no English, but looked just as apprehensive as we were.

If we could have turned back, believe me we would have...but not an option! We obviously did get in and out, but it really wasn't worth it. I'd have preferred to have lingered over lunch in one of the beautiful restaurants...

Just for what it's worth in your planning!

Cybertraveler- thanks for the detail on your experience with the Blue Grotto. We've pretty much decided that we will sign up for the tour that has the optional grotto entry (pay on Capri if you want to go). Although we understand the grotto is really something once you're in there, the thought of waiting and waiting to get in (or maybe getting turned back) when we could be spending the time looking at the great views, exploring Capri or even taking a scenic boat tour around the island -well it just seems like we would make better use of our short time, by skipping the grotto. We can always change our minds, but the "optional grotto" tour is $50.00 pp less than "grotto included" tour, so I think that's what we'll do. Thanks for the heads up about meeting the bus too. At least in our case the bus depot is only 3 blocks from our hotel, so we can also just walk there, but I imagine it will quite chaotic at the depot.

orca,

Good decision--wish we'd known in advance.

Enjoy Capri!