Blue Grotto (Capri) - Visiting The Blue Grotto

Visiting The Blue Grotto

The Blue Grotto can be reached by motorboat from the port of Marina Grande, by bus from Anacapri, or by taxi. To enter the low opening to the grotto, the tourist transfers from the motorized boat that brought him or her from the port into a small wooden rowboat manned by one of the oarsmen who specialize in ferrying travellers into the cave. Because there is no headroom, visitors must lie on their backs in the bottom of the rowboats as they clear the entranceway. The interior of the grotto is quite spacious, and once inside it is possible to sit upright, until conveyed back out through the same tiny hole.

The grotto cannot be visited during adverse weather conditions, as the entrance is barely large enough to accommodate the small rowboats, and waves can cause the gunwales of the small boats to be smacked upwards against the roof of the opening. As well, bright sunlight is necessary to create enough light to cause the interior of the cave to be lit up in the brilliant blue color for which it is so famous.

When the weather is fine, waterborne traffic jams frequently occur outside the grotto, as the rowboats jostle for positions to enter the cave in single file. As well, the larger, motorized boats from the marina jostle for the attention of the oarsmen at the small rowboats, and once visitors have been transferred to the small boats it is necessary for the oarsman to paddle to another boat, anchored just outside the entrance, where the entry fee (in 2012, 12.5 Euros per person, regardless of the number of visitors in the boat), is paid.

Additionally, it is possible to swim into the cave, though this is best done later in the day when the boats are all gone. There is a stairway that leads down to the water nearby which makes access not very difficult. Beware, if the seas are at all large, it is somewhat dangerous as you pass through the small opening, however this also means that this is the best time to enter during normal daylight as the boats cannot enter at all with any sort of large seas.