What's on in Capri (Isle of Capri), Italy through the year

Peak crowds — Capri Hollywood film festival, Christmas holidays in Italy

• Rule

  Landing fee on arrival

  1 Jan – 31 Dec

  Everyone who is not a resident pays a landing contribution on arrival: about €5 a person from April to October and €2.50 the rest of the year. On a scheduled ferry or hydrofoil it is inside the ticket; on a private boat it is not. Source ↗

Still on: Island shuts for winter (1 Nov – 20 Mar), Capri Hollywood film festival (26 Dec – 2 Jan)

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Landing fee on arrival (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Island shuts for winter (1 Nov – 20 Mar)

Shoulder season — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Rule

  No visitor cars on the island

  15 Mar – 5 Nov · usuallyClosures

  Non-resident vehicles are barred from the island from around Easter to early November, which is why everything moves by funicular, open taxi and the Anacapri bus. Bringing a car is not a decision you get to make. Source ↗

• Holiday

  Easter and Pasquetta

  4–6 AprEaster & Holy WeekCrowdedClosures

  Easter Sunday and Easter Monday (Pasquetta) are public holidays, and Italians use the long weekend for short breaks and day trips: trains and hotels fill, old towns and sights are busier than the weeks around, and many shops and some restaurants close on Easter Sunday. Source ↗

• Opening

  Island season opens

  25 Mar – 15 May · usuallySummer season opens

  Hotels, the Marina Piccola beach clubs and the full ferry timetable restart around Easter. April and early May are the only weeks when everything is open and the paths are still empty. Source ↗

Still on: Landing fee on arrival (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Island shuts for winter (1 Nov – 20 Mar)

Peak crowds — Easter and Pasquetta, Spring bank-holiday bridges

• Nature

  Broom and cistus on the paths

  5 Apr – 25 May · usuallyWildflowers & blooms

  The Sentiero dei Fortini and the walk up Monte Solaro are at their best when the broom and rock rose are out, before the day boats arrive in numbers and while the light is still soft. Source ↗

• Opening

  Blue Grotto access

  15 Apr – 15 Oct · usuallyClosures

  The cave entrance is barely a metre high at low tide, so a boatman can only lie you flat and row you through when the sea is calm enough; rough winter seas suspend the trips for days or weeks at a stretch even though the site itself has no fixed closing date. Source ↗

• Holiday

  Spring bank-holiday bridges

  25 Apr – 2 JunNational holidayCrowdedBook early

  Liberation Day (25 April), Labour Day (1 May) and Republic Day (2 June) are public holidays, and when one falls near a weekend Italians bridge it into a long break, the ponte. Those weekends bring domestic crowds, fuller trains and higher room rates, and some shops close on the day. Source ↗

Still on: Landing fee on arrival (1 Jan – 31 Dec), No visitor cars on the island (15 Mar – 5 Nov (usually)), Easter and Pasquetta (4–6 Apr), Island season opens (25 Mar – 15 May (usually))

Peak crowds — Spring bank-holiday bridges, Day-tripper hours

• Festival

  San Costanzo

  13–15 MayReligious feast

  The island's patron is carried through Capri and down to Marina Grande on the 14th, a procession the residents put on for themselves rather than for the ferry crowd. Source ↗

• Season

  Day-tripper hours

  15 May – 30 Sep · usuallyCruise seasonCrowded

  Boats from Naples and Sorrento land thousands of people between ten and four, and the funicular queue in the port is the proof. The island changes character entirely after the last hydrofoil.

Still on: Landing fee on arrival (1 Jan – 31 Dec), No visitor cars on the island (15 Mar – 5 Nov (usually)), Island season opens (25 Mar – 15 May (usually)), Broom and cistus on the paths (5 Apr – 25 May (usually)), Blue Grotto access (15 Apr – 15 Oct (usually)), Spring bank-holiday bridges (25 Apr – 2 Jun)

Peak crowds — Spring bank-holiday bridges, Day-tripper hours

• Season

  Sea warm enough to swim

  15 Jun – 10 Oct · usually

  There is almost no beach, so swimming means a ladder off a rock platform at Marina Piccola or the Faraglioni. The water stays comfortable through September and into October.

Still on: Landing fee on arrival (1 Jan – 31 Dec), No visitor cars on the island (15 Mar – 5 Nov (usually)), Blue Grotto access (15 Apr – 15 Oct (usually)), Spring bank-holiday bridges (25 Apr – 2 Jun), Day-tripper hours (15 May – 30 Sep (usually))

Peak crowds — Day-tripper hours, Summer holidays in Italy

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Landing fee on arrival (1 Jan – 31 Dec), No visitor cars on the island (15 Mar – 5 Nov (usually)), Blue Grotto access (15 Apr – 15 Oct (usually)), Day-tripper hours (15 May – 30 Sep (usually)), Sea warm enough to swim (15 Jun – 10 Oct (usually))

Peak crowds — Day-tripper hours, Ferragosto

• Holiday

  Ferragosto

  8–24 AugSchool holidaysCrowdedBook early

  Italy's own holiday fortnight, when the anchorage below the Faraglioni is full of boats and the piazzetta is impassable in the evening. Everything costs what it can. Source ↗

Still on: Landing fee on arrival (1 Jan – 31 Dec), No visitor cars on the island (15 Mar – 5 Nov (usually)), Blue Grotto access (15 Apr – 15 Oct (usually)), Day-tripper hours (15 May – 30 Sep (usually)), Sea warm enough to swim (15 Jun – 10 Oct (usually))

Peak crowds — Day-tripper hours, Summer holidays in Italy

• Festival

  Settembrata Anacaprese

  8–18 Sep · usuallyHarvest

  Anacapri's ten-day harvest festival in September, with the villages competing over food stalls and a procession. It happens after the day boats have thinned and is aimed at residents. Source ↗

Still on: Landing fee on arrival (1 Jan – 31 Dec), No visitor cars on the island (15 Mar – 5 Nov (usually)), Blue Grotto access (15 Apr – 15 Oct (usually)), Day-tripper hours (15 May – 30 Sep (usually)), Sea warm enough to swim (15 Jun – 10 Oct (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Landing fee on arrival (1 Jan – 31 Dec), No visitor cars on the island (15 Mar – 5 Nov (usually)), Blue Grotto access (15 Apr – 15 Oct (usually)), Sea warm enough to swim (15 Jun – 10 Oct (usually))

Quiet — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

• Closure

  Island shuts for winter

  1 Nov – 20 Mar

  Most hotels and restaurants close, the ferry timetable thins to a handful of crossings and rough days cancel those. What is left is about seven thousand residents and the walks. Source ↗

Still on: Landing fee on arrival (1 Jan – 31 Dec), No visitor cars on the island (15 Mar – 5 Nov (usually))

Peak crowds — Capri Hollywood film festival, Christmas holidays in Italy

• Festival

  Capri Hollywood film festival

  26 Dec – 2 JanCrowded

  For a week over the new year the island's winter shutdown pauses for a film festival, and the few hotels that stay open fill with it. Outside that week, December on Capri is closed. Source ↗

Still on: Landing fee on arrival (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Island shuts for winter (1 Nov – 20 Mar)