Capri itinerary - doable ?

[waterski12001]

Hello,

 

We are coming to Naples July 19, 2010 on the Ruby Princess Cruise ship.

 

I have a few questions

 

1. Is the chair Lift operating on Tuesday's in the Summer months?

 

2. Is the following itinerary reasonable?

 

3. How long does it take to walk back down from Mount Solarno to Ana Capri? We would like a little exercise and the hike sounds right up our alley but we don't want to waste a lot of time

 

We are willing to pay extra for taxi's if necessary in order to accomodate this schedule. We don't want to waste a lot of time standing in line for buses that are full.

 

 

Arrive at Marina Grande as early as possible - Cruise ship allows disembarkation at 7:00 a.m.

07.10

Aliscafi/Jet

Snav

Molo Beverello

€ 17.00

feriale/from Mon. to Sat.

8:00 A.M. - Arrive at Marina Grande

 

8:00 A.M. - Purchase return Hydrafoil ticket to Naples

4:30

Aliscafi/Jet

N.L.G. - Linea Jet

Molo Beverello

€ 17.00

 

8:30 a.m. - Immediately go to Ana Capri and take the chair lift up the

Mount Solaro

9:00 A.M. - 9:45 A.M. Enjoy the view on top of Mount Solaro - have a coffee and relax

 

9:45 A.M. - 10:00 A.M. - Chair Lift Down from Mount Solarno to Ana Capri

 

10:15 A.M.. - 11:15 A.M.. - Tour - Villa San Michele

 

11:30 A.M. - Arrive in Capri

 

11:30 A.M. - 12:15 P.M. - Walk Through Main Square and end up at the GARDENS OF AUGUSTUS

 

12:15 P.M. - 1:00 P.M. - Tour Gardens of Augustus have a picnic lunch

 

1:00 P.M. - 1:20 P.M. - Walk back through Capri and end up at Marina Grande

 

1:30 P.M. - 4:00 P.M.- Giani's Gozzi boat ride around the island touring the grotto's

 

4:00 P.M. - Arrive back at Marina Grande

 

4:30 P.M. - take Hydrafoil back to Naples

 

5:30 P.M. - Board the Cruise Ship

Cruise ship leaves at 7:00 p.m.

[euro cruiser]

Well, it feels a tad crowded to me, especially in a place like Capri, that always strikes me as being all about relaxation.

 

I've never walked down from Monte Salerno, but it's on my "to-do" list (we took the chair lift both ways). The Capri Tourism website estimates about an hour to make the trip on foot. You can read more about it, and other things on the island, on their site here: http://www.capritourism.com/en/article?article1_id=1648

[alexandra cruiser]

We had a perfect Capri day planned,but lo and behold the choppy water caused hydrofoil to be delayed over and hour, and trip was very rough....but finally got there in one piece and planned Blue Grotto trip closed due to weather,again....ended up taking taxi to town, window shopped and had a LONG lunch, saw a few sights, but no chair lifts to anything, weather AGAIn...so just hope for good weather and smooth seas,but plan on enjoying the lovely island, good food,nice people,etc,,,EVEN IF nothing goes AS PLANNED.....just thought I d share my not quite as planned Capri visit,,hahahaha.No matter what,it will be an experience,right????By the way this was in June........:eek:

[Seabee]

Disembarking at 0700 will make catching the 0710 ferry a crap shoot...cruise ship is close but by the time you get to the ferry and purchase a ticket, you may be looking at the next ferry.

[dbh62ark]

I agree with the comment about rushing in Capri. Your timing is going to be really tight. Did you know that you'll have to allow transportation time up to Anicapri and back down? To me, it's not the place to run from site to site.

 

I agree with Seabee that you might not make that first boat to Capri due to the time needed to walk from ship to hydrofoil area and then buy your ticket. Also, I don't know what boat trip you referenced, but I think the Blue Grotto gets more and more crowded as the day goes on. Accordingly, I would advise going there first. You can join one of the boats right at Marina Grande that takes approx 1.5 hours to go to Blue Grotto. you'll see lots of scenery along the way but will not go through the famous rock of Capri. You will, however, see those rocks from the Gardens Augustus, which I highly recommend.

 

All things considered, I'd ride the chairlift down to save time (we've done it twice). You'll get plenty of exercise walking around Capri and Anicapri that day.

 

I recommend using the fun convertible taxis instead of the bus to save time and have a better experience. We went up from Marina Grande to Anicapri, did the chairlift and walked the village and then worked our way down.

 

Have a great trip,

Donna

[tartanexile81]

I would never leave it as late as 4:30 to get the ferry back. The queues are horrendous at the end of the day and if you miss that one, would you miss the ship's departure time? We'd ALWAYS recommend taking a ship's excursion to Capri, because of the risks involved getting stuck there and back in time.

[Hlitner]

WOW! We have an old friend who is obsessive about her trips (sounds like the OP) and actually developed a detailed line by line itinerary for a family trip to Orlando. After 2 days her family was ready to lynch my poor friend. Detailed itineraries are one of the primary reasons we hate organized tours. Certainly do your research (the OP has already done this step) and know your options. Than, just go have fun and take things as they come and forget about any schedule other than what you need to consider to get back to the ship on time. When I read the OP I can hear in my head a woman saying ...we need to pick up the pace on this walk because we are thirty seconds behind schedule.... When I was a must younger man I used to overplan my days. My daughter, now nearly 30, still remembers me waking her on a European trip and saying ....EVERYBODY UP. We had to get up early to meet my schedule. That everybody up comment is now a long-standing family joke.

 

Hank

[euro cruiser]

I would never leave it as late as 4:30 to get the ferry back. The queues are horrendous at the end of the day and if you miss that one, would you miss the ship's departure time? We'd ALWAYS recommend taking a ship's excursion to Capri, because of the risks involved getting stuck there and back in time.

There is a very simple solution to this problem - buy your return ticket when you get to Capri, when there is NO ONE on line. That way you have your ticket, you know when you need to be at the pier to return, and you save yourself about $100 per person on the ship excursion (not to mention avoiding the cheesy, so called "real, local" lunch they take you to - been there, suffered through that).

[Hlitner]

There is a very simple solution to this problem - buy your return ticket when you get to Capri, when there is NO ONE on line. That way you have your ticket, you know when you need to be at the pier to return, and you save yourself about $100 per person on the ship excursion (not to mention avoiding the cheesy, so called "real, local" lunch they take you to - been there, suffered through that).

 

Totally agree! If a cruiser needs an organized tour to tell them to allow extra time to get down to the pier than so be it! For the rest of us it is just common sense to head back down a bit early and than do some shopping, eating, etc, within site of the ferry pier. Never thought an overpriced cruise excursion was a good alternative to common sense, but guess it is different strokes ........ Besides, the tours do not take folks on the chairlift from Anacapri up to the top of the mountain...which we think is one of the best bargains in all of Italy.

 

Hank

[dbh62ark]

I would not recommend an organized shore excursion tour in Capri either. I saw the groups shopping in the department store there (at the bottom of the chairlift in Anicapri) being herded around, and that's not for me. And my opinion is that that is not what Capri is about anyway. You need time to gawk in front of the store windows to see the jewelry that Liz Taylor would find gaudy, etc. Capri is an experience and not a place to go from site to site to check things off your list.

 

Happy travels,

Donna