Getting to Capri Italy: Ferries from Naples, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast
Every boat to Capri lands at Marina Grande, and almost everything else about the crossing varies: the port you leave from, the craft, the fare, the season and the operator. This page sorts them out, and then covers the two things that actually decide a day trip — the landing tax and the last boat home. If the crossing is the part you would rather skip, the Capri Italy private boat tours come and collect you on the mainland instead.
Every route, side by side
| From | Craft | Time | Fare from | Runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naples, Calata Porta di Massa | Ferry | 85 min | €14.00 | All year, Caremar |
| Naples, Calata Porta di Massa | Fast ferry | 60 min | €25.30 | All year, Caremar |
| Naples, Molo Beverello | High-speed | 50 min | €26.50 | All year, SNAV and NLG |
| Sorrento, Marina Piccola | High-speed | 40 min | — | All year |
| Sorrento, Marina Piccola | Hydrofoil | 30 min | — | All year |
| Positano | Seasonal | About 30 min | €26–28 | Mid-April to October |
| Amalfi | Seasonal | About 1 hour | €26–28 | Mid-April to October |
| Salerno | Seasonal hydrofoil | — | — | May to mid-October |
| Ischia | Seasonal | — | — | Mid-April to October |
2026 fares as published by the operators. They are "from" prices and they move with the season and the craft.
From Naples: two ports, and they are not the same place
This is the mistake that costs people their morning. Naples has two passenger terminals for Capri. They are about two kilometres apart.
Molo Beverello is the hydrofoil terminal, right below Piazza Municipio. Its fast craft reach Capri in about 50 minutes, from €26.50. Calata Porta di Massa is the ferry terminal, further east. Its boats take 60 to 85 minutes, from €14.
Read which terminal your ticket names before you set off, and allow for the walk between them if you get it wrong. The cheap ferry is genuinely cheaper and genuinely slower, and it takes luggage and pets that the hydrofoils do not.
From Sorrento, the short crossing
Twenty to forty minutes from Sorrento's own Marina Piccola, depending on the craft, and the shortest hop of the lot. That is why so many Capri day trips are sold out of Sorrento rather than Naples: an early boat over and a late one back gives a genuinely full day on the island.
It is also why six of the trips listed here board on the mainland instead of on Capri. They collect you at Sorrento, at Positano or at Marina di Cassano, and you never queue for a ferry at all. If the crossing is the part you would rather not manage, the tours from Sorrento page lists them.
From Positano, Amalfi and Salerno, April to October
These are seasonal routes and they stop for the winter. Positano is about thirty minutes and Amalfi about an hour, both roughly €26 to €28 per person, running from mid-April to the end of October; Salerno's hydrofoil runs May to mid-October. Out of season the answer from the Amalfi Coast is to go via Sorrento by road and take the short crossing.
From a cruise ship
Ships anchor off and tender their passengers in to Marina Grande. The clock therefore starts later and stops earlier than the printed call. Four hours ashore is the realistic planning figure for a full-day call. That is enough for a boat lap of the island, or for the funicular and the Piazzetta — not both, and certainly not Anacapri as well.
Two of the shorter boat trips here run about two hours from Marina Grande, which fits inside a tender window with room either side. Book the earliest departure your ship's timings allow rather than the one that looks convenient.
The landing tax nobody mentions
Every non-resident who lands on Capri pays a landing tax: €5 per person from 1 April to 31 October, and €2.50 from 1 November to 31 March. In practice it is already inside your ferry ticket rather than collected at the quay, so most visitors never notice it. It is worth knowing about anyway. It appears as a line on some tour listings and not at all on others, and one of the private cruises here states that it covers the tax for you.
No cars: what that actually means
Non-residents cannot bring a vehicle to Capri for most of the year. There is no version of the trip where you drive off a ferry and park. It matters less than it sounds: the funicular runs from the harbour to Capri town in four minutes for €2.40, and buses cover the rest of the island for the same fare. The open-top taxis work to fixed rates — €17 for up to four passengers, €20 for up to seven. Full detail is on visiting Capri.
Skip the ferry queue entirely
Six of the trips here board on the mainland and bring you across themselves, so the crossing is part of the tour rather than a ticket you have to buy.
The last boat back, and why it decides your day
Work backwards from it. The last departure varies by operator, by destination and by season. In high summer a Naples sailing has run as late as 8pm; in winter the timetable finishes far earlier. Check it on the morning you travel rather than the week before, because a cancelled sailing in rough weather moves everything.
Miss it and you are staying the night, at Capri's prices. Plan to be back at Marina Grande half an hour before the boat you intend to take, and remember the funicular down from Capri town runs to a timetable of its own and closes for January and February.
Booking, cancellations and rough sea
Ferry tickets are sold at the ports and online, and in July and August the popular sailings do sell out. When the sea gets up, the hydrofoils are cancelled before the slower ferries, because they cannot take a swell. If your crossing is cancelled the operator rebooks or refunds you. The day is gone either way.
Every tour listed here refunds in full up to 24 hours ahead, which is the one part of the arrangement you can control. When you are ready to see which trip fits which crossing, Capri Italy Tours sets them out with their boarding points.
Sources
Checked on 5 September 2026. Hours, fares and timetables belong to the bodies that publish them and they change with the season. The official pages are the place to confirm before you travel.
Let the boat come to you
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead on every trip listed here.
See Top Tours