Boat tours in the Gulf of Naples: Capri, Gaiola, Ischia and Procida

Boat tours in the Gulf of Naples: what €84 actually buys

The Gulf of Naples makes sense from the sea: Vesuvius in full, the city rising from the port to the Vomero, Posillipo with its villas on the water, and then Capri with the Faraglioni. A boat tour of the gulf sells exactly that view, plus something the ferry doesn’t give you: the grottoes along the Capri coast, a swim offshore and the slow rhythm of sailing. The benchmark price is €84 for nine hours with a day on Capri; the ferry costs less, but it’s transport, not a cruise.

The rule for choosing is simple. If your goal is an island (walking in Anacapri, the thermal baths of Ischia, Corricella on Procida), take the ferry or hydrofoil and read the pages on Capri and Ischia and Procida. If the goal is the sea, the tours on this page. Prices checked regularly.

Gulf of Naples and Capri by boat: the benchmark tour

From Naples: panoramic boat tour of the Gulf of Naples and Capri is the product with the longest track record: €84, nine hours, 4.5 out of 5 from almost 3,700 reviews. The boat leaves Naples in the morning, crosses the gulf with Vesuvius on your left, circles Capri with stops at the grottoes and the Faraglioni, and leaves you a few free hours on the island before the return. The swim depends on the skipper and the sea: in July and August it’s almost always on the programme.

What you see from the sea that you can’t see from land: the White Grotto and the Green Grotto on the south coast, the natural arch, Villa Malaparte on Punta Massullo, the Faraglioni from below. What you don’t see: the inside of the Blue Grotto, which requires transferring to the rowing boats with a separate ticket and calm seas; the tour stops at the entrance and the choice is yours.

The free time on Capri is the weak point: two or three hours are enough for the Piazzetta and the Gardens of Augustus, not for Anacapri and Monte Solaro. If you want both, the full Capri tour with the Blue Grotto at €161.50 also includes the guided part on land.

Just the island cruise: €25 from Marina Grande

If you reach Capri by ferry on your own, the island cruise can be bought on the spot or online: Capri: Coast-to-Coast Boat Excursion costs €25 for about an hour, leaves from Marina Grande and covers the grottoes, the Faraglioni and the coastline with Vesuvius on the horizon. At 4.4 out of 5 from 40 reviews it’s a small product, but it does exactly what’s needed: the sea part without the price of a private-boat crossing from Naples.

The back-of-an-envelope sum for the day: Caremar ferry €14.80 each way (according to the official website, caremar.it) plus the €5 landing fee and the 12% surcharge if you buy before the day of departure, island cruise €25, total just under €60. You save €25 compared with the tour from Naples and decide for yourself how long to stay on the island. You lose the sail across the gulf and the swim from the boat.

Snorkelling at Gaiola: the half-day tour

The Gaiola Underwater Park marine protected area, below Posillipo, is the cleanest stretch of sea in the city and the only one where putting on a mask makes sense: seabeds with Roman remains of the villa of Pausilypon, posidonia meadows and the two islets a few metres from the shore. Access to the park is free with online booking from May to September (two sessions, 9am–1pm and 2pm–6pm) and you reach it on foot from the Discesa Gaiola; the park closes when there’s a weather warning.

Naples: snorkelling with a marine biologist and a licensed guide costs €72 for three hours, 4.9 out of 5 from 227 reviews: you head out by boat along the Posillipo coast, swim with the mask and fins provided and listen to someone who knows what you’re looking at. It’s the right tour for anyone with half a day, for those who don’t want the crossing to Capri, and for families with children who swim well. The listing, however, talks about the Posillipo coast and a swimming stop below Villa Lauro, with a landing on a private beach, not about entering the Gaiola park: if it’s specifically the protected area’s seabeds you want, ask the operator before booking.

On your own you spend nothing: book access to the park, bring your own mask and swim from the little beach. Without a boat, though, you stay in the bathing zone and miss the outer seabeds; and without a biologist the Roman remains are just rocks. For the city’s proper beaches, see the page on the beaches of Naples.

Ischia and Procida by boat: the long day

Naples: boat excursion to Ischia and Procida with lunch costs €117 for seven hours, 4.6 out of 5 from 158 reviews. The boat circles the two islands with swims in coves, lunch on board with drinks, and short stops ashore: Corricella on Procida seen from the sea is the postcard of the gulf, and the Aragonese Castle of Ischia can only be seen in its entirety from the water. This is the tour to choose if you have one day for the Phlegraean islands and don’t want to spend it juggling hydrofoils.

The comparison with doing it yourself: Caremar hydrofoil Naples–Procida €17.40 and Naples–Ischia €21.60 each way, ferry €12.70 and €14.80, according to the official website. With two islands in a day you need three crossings plus the bus on Ischia, and the bill climbs to €50–60 with no lunch and no swim from the boat. The €117 tour isn’t cheap, but for a couple who want sea rather than logistics it’s reasonable. The page on Ischia and Procida has the full comparison with the longer 12-hour tours.

The Amalfi Coast from the sea

From Naples: boat tour of Amalfi, Positano and Ravello costs €84 for ten hours, 4.5 out of 5 from more than 5,500 reviews. It’s the most sensible way to see the Amalfi Coast in a day from Naples: the SS163 coast road is one continuous queue in summer, whereas from the sea you see Positano and Amalfi the way they should be seen, from below, with the Bagni della Regina Giovanna in Sorrento as the first stop. Ravello sits up in the hills and can’t be reached from the sea: on the tour it’s a paid option, with a minibus from Amalfi, one free hour in Ravello and one in Amalfi; without Ravello the free time in Amalfi stretches to three and a half hours. The boat leaves from Torre del Greco, with a bus from the meeting point in Naples (7:40am at the Starhotels Terminus, unless the voucher says otherwise). Compare this tour with the minivans and premium tours on the page on the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento.

Sea, wind and cancellations: what to expect

The Gulf of Naples is a sheltered sea but not a lake. With a strong south-westerly or north-westerly the small boats don’t go out and the hydrofoils may suspend services; the large ferries almost always sail. The practical rules:

• Check the marine forecast the evening before, not just the rain forecast. A blue sky with one-metre waves is enough for a cancellation.
• Morning departures are calmer: the sea breeze usually picks up between 1pm and 3pm.
• If the tour is cancelled, the operator refunds or reschedules: book with free cancellation and keep a back-up plan in the city, which Naples has no shortage of.
• Do you get seasick? Take the half-day tour or the big ferry. Nine hours on a 12-metre boat in a long swell is an ordeal.
• Season: the boats generally run from April to October; from June to September the sea is calmer and the water warm enough for a swim from the boat.

What to bring on board and what to ask before paying

The boats on group tours are gozzi or motorboats with 10–20 seats, with an awning but no cabin. Bring a hat, sun cream, a towel and a light sweatshirt for the return, when the wind on deck gets chilly even in August; rubber-soled shoes, not flip-flops, for climbing up and down the ladder. Water and fruit are normally included, lunch only where stated.

Three questions to ask before booking, because they change the value of the tour: whether the swim is scheduled or only «weather permitting»; how many free hours there are on land and what time you’re back in Naples; and whether the boat is shared with a second group, which doubles the time spent at each stop. The answers are in the product description or in the most recent reviews. Anyone prone to seasickness should take a tablet an hour before departure and sit at the stern, where the boat moves least.

Which tour for whom

One last thing to bear in mind: almost all these tours leave from Molo Beverello or Mergellina, both reachable on metro Line 1 (Municipio) or with the Alibus from the airport; departures for Gaiola may be from Bagnoli or Posillipo. The exact meeting point is on the voucher, and it pays to be there twenty minutes early: a twenty-seat boat doesn’t turn back for anyone who went to the wrong pier. For ferry and hydrofoil times and fares, see the transport page.