Start with the confusion, because it is why you are here. The Grotta Azzurra (Blue Grotto) is on Capri — an island, half an hour by ferry beyond Positano. The Grotta dello Smeraldo (Emerald Grotto) is at Conca dei Marini, on the Amalfi Coast proper, between Amalfi and Praiano, and you reach it in ten minutes by boat or by a lift that drops down from the coast road. Nine times out of ten, people searching for "the blue grotto on the Amalfi Coast" want the second one.
They are two different experiences in price, length, reliability and sheer spectacle. This page sets their hours, tickets and access side by side, and says plainly when to give one of them a miss. The simplest way to see the Emerald Grotto with a swim stop is the boat tour with caves from Amalfi, €86 per person on GetYourGuide, price verified.
The two caves compared
| Grotta dello Smeraldo | Grotta Azzurra | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Conca dei Marini, Amalfi Coast | Capri, north-western shore |
| Ticket | €7 per person | about €18 per person |
| Hours | 10:00–16:00 (10:00–15:00 in winter) | 09:00–17:00 |
| Length of visit | about 20 minutes in a rowing boat | a few minutes inside the cave |
| Getting there | lift from the SS163, SITA bus, boat from Amalfi | motor launch from Marina Grande or bus from Anacapri |
| Typical queue | short, even in August | 30 minutes to 2 hours between 10:00 and 13:00 |
| Closes in | rough sea | rough sea, westerly or libeccio wind |
| Colour | emerald green from below | deep blue, lit from underneath |
The Grotta dello Smeraldo was discovered in 1932 and is a partly flooded karst cavity: the stalactites reach down to the water and some submerged formations are visible below the surface. The green comes from light entering through an underwater opening.
Grotta dello Smeraldo: how it works
Conca dei Marini: the cave opens below the coast road, just before Capo di Conca.
Entry costs €7 per person, paid on the spot. Some older sources quote €5 or €10: seven is the most recent and most consistent figure. Under-12s go free according to the Positano tourist board. You go in in small groups aboard a rowing boat with a boatman who circles the cavity and talks you through it: twenty minutes at most, with a few minutes' wait if a coach has just arrived.
Three ways to get there:
- From the SS163. There is a lay-by with limited parking, a flight of steps and a lift down to the cave. This is the option if you are driving or on a scooter, but roadside parking is scarce and in August it is a lottery.
- On the SITA bus. Line 5070, Amalfi–Positano, stops on the main road at Conca dei Marini; from Amalfi it is a few minutes. Tickets are not sold on board: buy them in bars and tobacconists displaying the SITA sign, or through the Unico Campania app. The COSTIERASITA day pass costs €10.
- By boat from Amalfi. Cooperativa Sant'Andrea leaves the Molo Pennello every hour from 09:30 to 15:30, about €10 return, cave ticket not included. Allow an hour and a half in total.
The cave closes when the sea is up, because the entrance at water level becomes impassable for the rowing boats. There is no booking system: if the day is windy, ring ahead or go straight to a plan B — the Fiordo di Furore, for instance, four kilometres along the coast road.
Grotta Azzurra: what to allow for
Blue Grotto: you go in lying flat in a rowing boat, and only if the sea allows it.
The Blue Grotto opens 09:00 to 17:00, weather permitting, and is closed on 25 December and 1 January. At the floating ticket office you pay about €18 per person, covering the entry ticket and the ride on the rowing boat; one source breaks the sum down as €14 entry plus the boatman, with under-6s free and EU citizens under 18 paying only for the boat, roughly €10–12.
There are two ways in:
- By motor launch from Marina Grande, roughly €24 for the passage with a tour of the island, about two hours, cave ticket not included.
- By bus from Anacapri, from the Piazza della Pace stop, about 15 minutes, then a flight of steps down to the floating ticket office.
You are inside for a very short time: the boatman lays the passengers flat to get through, makes a brief circuit and takes you back out. It is spectacular, but the ratio of waiting to being there is the worst on the entire coast.
The colour has a simple explanation: light enters through a submerged opening below the entrance, passes through water that filters out the warm wavelengths, and comes back up lighting the cavity blue from underneath. For the same reason the effect is strongest with the sun high — which is precisely the window in which the queue is longest. Neither problem is solved by booking: they are solved only by picking the right day and turning up at opening time.
If you want to swim on that side of the island anyway, the water around the Faraglioni is better and carries no ban: the stopping points and the rules are in snorkelling on the Amalfi Coast.
Getting to Capri from the coast
Marina Grande: every ferry docks here, then it is the funicular, a taxi or half an hour uphill.
From Amalfi the Alicost ferry to Capri via Positano costs €23 each way under the fare list published by Alicost, with a return at €43.50 and children aged 4–12 at €14; the crossing takes about fifty minutes, morning departures run from 08:25 to 10:30 and returns from 16:25 to 18:50. Other operators on the same route charge between €27.50 and €30. On Capri you also pay the €5 landing tax from 1 April to 31 October.
From Marina Grande the funicular to the Piazzetta costs €2.50, a taxi about €20, and the walk uphill takes thirty minutes. Everything about a day on Capri, including the private boat alternatives, is on the Capri by boat from Amalfi page.
Caves by boat: which tours include them
Molo Pennello in Amalfi: the ferries, the boat tours and the Emerald Grotto shuttles all leave from here.
| Tour | From | Duration | Price | Caves included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caves and drinks tour | Amalfi | 4–8 h | €86 per person | passes the Emerald Grotto and the smaller caves |
| Fiordo di Furore with swim stop | Amalfi | 2 h | €36 per person | runs past the Emerald Grotto |
| Private tour with prosecco | Amalfi | 6 h | from €715 per boat | itinerary of your choice, entry extra |
Prices seen on GetYourGuide. Watch for a distinction that catches people out: nearly all group tours pass in front of the Emerald Grotto, but entry is not included and whether the boat stops for you to go in depends on the boat. If getting inside is the priority, ask before booking, or take the short two-hour tour from Amalfi and add the Cooperativa shuttle separately.
Anyone travelling in their own boat will find the approach rules on the boat rental page: powered craft may not come within 200 metres of beaches and 100 metres of rocky shores, and there is always traffic in front of the caves.
When to go, and when to let it go
Mornings in May, June and September are the best for both: a generally calm sea, short queues, good light. July and August double the waiting times and clog the coast road, and the period from 1 August to 30 September also brings targhe alterne (an odd-and-even number plate scheme) on the SS163 between Vietri and Positano, from 10:00 to 18:00.
It is also worth remembering that the two caves have different seasons. The Emerald Grotto opens all year, on reduced winter hours, which makes it one of the few things you can actually visit on this coast in February. The Blue Grotto depends instead on the sea links to Capri, which in practice work well from 1 April to the first days of November: outside that window you need more changes and the evening returns thin out. The full picture of the boat formats is in Amalfi Coast tours.
If the wind is blowing from the west, give up on the Blue Grotto before you even buy the ferry ticket and move the day onto the mainland coast: the Emerald Grotto, facing south, holds up much better. The alternatives are gathered under things to do on the Amalfi Coast and the practical connections under getting there.
Between the Blue Grotto and the Emerald Grotto the choice is nearly always dictated by geography: if you are staying between Positano and Vietri, the Emerald Grotto is round the corner and costs €7. If you have a whole day and the sea is flat, Capri is worth the trip. Either way it pays to arrive by boat early in the morning: check availability on the caves tour from Amalfi and take the earliest departure going.
