Capri Blue Grotto tours from Sorrento: what “optional” means
The grotto fee, broken open
You do not sail into the Grotta Azzurra on your tour boat. Your boat stops outside, you transfer into one of the small wooden rowing boats that work the entrance, and the rower takes you in through a mouth low enough that everyone lies back to pass under it. Inside is a few minutes of blue light coming up through the water from below. The rowers often sing, and they are often tipped. Of the total, most of it is the rowing boat and the rest is admission. Under-sixes go free. EU citizens under 18 pay the rowing fee only, and 18 to 25 pay a token admission plus the rowing fee. The cave keeps its own hours, which are shorter than most people assume.
| Season | Open | Cut-off |
|---|---|---|
| November–March | 09:00–14:00 | Last entry 13:30 |
| April, May, October | 09:00–16:00 | Last entry 15:30 |
| June–September | 09:00–18:00 | Last entry 17:30 |
Closed on 25 December and 1 January. Note the last-entry times against a boat tour that leaves Sorrento in the morning and has you back by evening — in November to March the cave shuts at two in the afternoon, which removes a good deal of the day’s flexibility.
Julie waited two hours. Rebecca waited fifteen minutes.
Both were on the same tour, the flagship boat, the one that names the grotto in its own title. Julie wrote that her guide made great suggestions for touring other caves besides the Blue Grotto, but that there was a two-hour wait. Rebecca wrote that the tides allowed them to see many sea caves including the Blue Grotto, and that their tour was timed well so they waited only fifteen minutes. Neither review is wrong and neither operator did anything different. The variable is the sea, the hour you arrive and how many boats are already circling. If you book expecting Rebecca’s morning and get Julie’s, you will be the one leaving the one-star review, and I would rather you booked expecting Julie’s and were pleased.
The boats that put the grotto on the table
The flagship exclusive tour, the most-booked boat on this route and rated 4.8 from 4,997 reviews, is the listing that names the optional Blue Grotto outright: five to eight hours, a group capped at twelve, snorkelling, drinks on deck, a limoncello tasting and about four hours ashore. Julie and Rebecca are both its reviewers. That is the one I send people to if the cave is the reason they are coming, purely because it is explicit about what it is and is not selling — my full account is in the flagship boat review.
The snorkelling tour, around $150 and rated 4.9 from 444 reviews, runs six hours over the Faraglioni and the grottoes with drinks and fruit aboard, states that there are no extra landing fees, and gives you three hours ashore rather than four. Fewer hours on the island means less slack for a two-hour queue. The day trip with transfer, the cheapest of the high-volume options and rated 4.9 from 1,882 reviews, explores the grottoes on its way around the island and is the least you can pay to be in the right water.
Most bookedSorrento: Exclusive Capri Boat Tour and Optional Blue Grotto
Best for swimmingFrom Sorrento: Capri Boat Tour with Snorkeling & Drinks
Best valueFrom Sorrento: Capri Island Boat Day Trip With Transfer
The three, on grotto terms
| From Sorrento: Capri Boat Tour with Snorkeling & Drinks | The grotto boatSorrento: Exclusive Capri Boat Tour and Optional Blue Grotto | From Sorrento: Capri Island Boat Day Trip With Transfer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $148 | $141 | $126 |
| Names the Blue Grotto | Grottoes, not by name | Yes, as optional | Explores grottoes |
| Time ashore | 3 h | ~4 h | ~4 h |
| Length | 6 h | 5–8 h | 5–7 h |
| Rating | 4.9 (444) | 4.8 (4,997) | 4.9 (1,882) |
| Grotto slack in the day | Tight | Best of the three | Good |
| View → | Book this → | View → |
The caves you see either way
This is the part that gets lost. The Blue Grotto is one stop on a coastline full of them, and the rest cost you nothing extra because you see them from your own boat. Coming round from Marina Grande you pass Tiberius’ Leap, then the White Grotto, the Natural Arch and Villa Malaparte, then the Faraglioni, where the boat goes under the arch through the middle stack — that is the photograph every reviewer takes. Beyond that lie Marina Piccola, the Punta Carena lighthouse, the north-west coast, and on the standard route the Green Grotto and the Coral Grotto as well. Julie’s guide steering the group to other caves when the wait was two hours is exactly the right instinct. A day where the Grotta Azzurra is shut is not a wasted day; it is a day with one fewer queue in it.
Ask your skipper what the morning call was before you commit to the queue, and ask again when you are alongside. Conditions are assessed early and can change twice in a day, so the answer you were given at the harbour is not always the answer at the cave mouth. If the queue is long and the clock is against your time ashore, let it go.
Time and money, before you decide
Two to three hours including the queue, about €20 a head, and roughly five minutes inside. Set that against three or four hours ashore and it is a real choice rather than a formality: the cave or Capri town, most days, not both. On top of the cave sits a small landing fee, a few euro a head and higher in summer, which every non-resident pays on arrival — the whole bill is laid out on the cost page. If you would rather compare boats on their own merits first, all six are on the comparison page.
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Frequently asked questions
Is the Blue Grotto included in a Capri boat tour from Sorrento?
No. On every tour I list it is optional and paid separately: about €20 at a floating booth, most of it the rowing boat and the rest admission. The flagship tour, the most-booked boat on this route and rated 4.8 from 4,997 reviews, is the only listing that says so in its own title, which is one reason I rate it for this. Ratings and prices for all six are on the comparison page.
How long do you wait for the Blue Grotto?
Anything from fifteen minutes to two hours. Rebecca, on the flagship tour, waited fifteen minutes because the tides were kind; Julie, on the same tour, faced a two-hour wait and her guide took the group to other caves instead. Budget two to three hours in total including the queue, for about five minutes inside the cave.
Can the Blue Grotto be closed?
Often. Rough seas or high winds shut it, the boat operators assess conditions fresh each morning at 09:00, and the same day can open and close more than once. It also closes on 25 December and 1 January, and it shuts at 14:00 between November and March. Which months give you the best odds is covered on best time to visit.
Is the Blue Grotto worth about €20?
For about five minutes inside, that depends entirely on the queue you land in. What is not in doubt is the rest of the circuit, which costs nothing extra: the Faraglioni arch, the White Grotto, the Natural Arch, the Green and Coral Grottoes. If you are still weighing the whole day against simply catching a boat over, that is ferry or boat tour.