Amalfi Coast Honeymoon, Part 3: Capri

The infamous Capri was the last stop on my Amalfi Coast honeymoon trip. It’s a place with a reputation for being a ritzy glitzy vacation spot for the rich and famous. Which, I’m not going to lie, had me a bit intrigued.

However, I was really not sure what to expect because as I did research on the area, I found that Capri had a lot of mixed reviews. “Only go to Capri for a day trip”… “Capri is magical” …”Capri is too commercial and expensive”…

My husband and I found that there was more to Capri than it’s reputation. Capri is wildly beautiful, with areas that are far more rugged and untouched than expected, lots of shopping and small streets to explore, and full of locals who really love the island that they are from.

My husband and I chose to stay in Capri for two nights. And in the end, we felt that this made us like Capri more.

You have to take a ferry to get both in and out of Capri, and we booked ours on OK Ferry. We also actually took a ferry back to Naples on our way home to the airport. This by far is the fastest, cheapest, and easiest way to get back to Naples.

Also, once you get to the port of Capri, you have to get up to where the shops and hotels are. There is a metro  type thing that will take you and your luggage up hill. Then once you are up, there are people there that will take your bags to your hotel using little golf cart type cars.

I recommend this, as most of the hotels in the area we were in are actually NOT reachable by car.

I mean the roads were quite narrow.

My husband and I didn’t know this and so we paid a lot for a taxi to take us up as high as it could and then we walked uphill carrying all our luggage to the hotel.

Everyone looked at us like we were crazy, but we didn’t know!

Anyways, most people recommend going to Capri for a day trip, which involves racing to get there early in the morning, racing to see the Blue Grotto, and racing to see other “must see spots”, then leaving at the end of the day.

I think that this is not the best idea and I am so glad we didn’t do that. For starters, how can you like a place when you are racing through it the whole day. And not only that, you are racing to do/see tourist traps. Of course, you aren’t going to like it!

Insider tip: don’t go to the blue grotto. Why waste 14 euros per person and 2 hours waiting in line to go into a cave for 5 minutes that has blue light reflected in it from the sun… a good tour guide will tell you the truth… that this is a tourist trap. Yes it is beautiful and yes some people do love it, but I found that it was not the way that I wanted to spend my time.

Because so many race to see Capri during the day, Capri gets super crowded during the day, and then it becomes super quiet at night.

However, this is when you can see the magic of Capri!

Early morning or late afternoon, when all the crowds are gone, and you can explore the city in peace… it is magical.

Plus a lot of shops close at 10 pm, so shopping is more enjoyable as well. 🙂

Another insider tip: some places are willing to bargain and negotiate around closing time… my husband got a great deal on some nice sunglasses that way.

Speaking of shopping, it is true, many of the stores sell lots of designer brands.

I remember trying on sunglasses with my husband and our mouths dropping not only at the price tags of some of the sunglasses, but also at how many people were buying them!

But there were lots of other more affordable shops too.

I personally found that the stores in Capri didn’t feel as local or relatable as those we visited in Ravello or Positano, but it was still fun to window shop.

It was even more fun to explore the landscapes of the island though!

If there is one recommendation that I can make, it would be to take a boat ride around the island!

We learned so many cool historic facts and fun celebrity gossip on our boat ride.

( I believe a Kardashian was on the island when we were there, or so our boat driver told us…. he also proudly mentioned how some big celebrity, maybe Mariah Carey, goes to Capri every year. I can’t remember haha)

The best part though, was seeing how many parts of Capri were undeveloped, and how different the scenery was on various parts of the island.

I mean, it really is unreal.

Our boat captain did a wonderful job of showing us Capri from a local’s perspectives and also of telling us how life is like there for those who do live there all year long.

He also kind of forced me to swim through a cave with my husband while he took the boat around to the other side of the cave to pick us up.

I hesitated to do it but he kept insisting that you only live once and you need to feel the Capri water in this way at least once… so I jumped right in.

And I am glad that I did it!

The cold water felt just amazing.

And no, I’m not naked in this photo… haha just wearing a strapless swimsuit.

We really loved that boat ride and felt like we were able to see more of Capri by staying there for two nights.

If you are thinking of staying overnight in Capri too, there are SO many hotels to choose from.

We stayed at the Villa Brunella, which was just dreamy.

I can’t imagine a more perfect Capri honeymoon pool view.

Or room view, for that matter.

We really felt like Villa Brunella was in the perfect location, with the perfect honeymoon vibes for us.

We were able to roam through the streets at all hours of the day.

And to relax and hang by the pool.

As much as we loved exploring, we loved eating in Capri even more!

True to Italian fashion, the food in Capri was top notch.

I looked up where to get gelato and I saw the name Buonocore Gelateria EVERYWHERE. So that was one of the first stops that we made.

The gelato was creamy and rich and the homemade waffle cone smell was amazing. It stopped you in your tracks. This is a must when you are in Capri.

One thing worth noting, though, is that it is closed on Tuesdays!

I also read that the restaurant Il Geranio was a must to go to, so we took a nice walk to it from our hotel.

And the reviews were not wrong.

My husband and I had some of the most tasty homemade pasta with seafood here.

I can just taste it!

I ordered a tomato sauce and lobster pasta and my husband ordered a clam and pesto pasta.

They were to die for!

PLUS our view at Il Geranio was insane. It looked like a fake backdrop.

It was also really fun to get to and from this restaurant.

It felt like you were going up to a tree house, and then POOF the most beautiful views were all around you.

It was a perfect place for an Aperol Spritz.

If you’ve never had an Aperol Spirtz or a “Spritz”, you need to try it! It’s basically Aperol, Prosecco, and Soda, and tastes like summer in a glass.

My favorite pasta dish that I had in Capri though, was from the restaurant La Capannina. It’s a quaint restaurant a bit hidden off on some side streets.

As quaint as it looks, though, don’t let looks be deceiving, this place is famous and many well known people have eaten here, as you will see in the photos on the walls of the restaurant.

Also, you will need to make a reservation here as it gets crowded quickly.

I ordered a spectacular tomato basil pasta dish… this is my all time favorite pasta…it’s such a simple pasta dish but when it’s done right, it’s the best!

I dream about the tomato basil pasta from La Capannina… Sigh.

My husband loved his pasta meat sauce dish and we both loved the homemade burrata.

How amazing is burrata by the way?

I’m obsessed.

Another wonderful restaurant that we ate at during our Capri holiday was at our hotel itself, Villa Brunella… which had breathtaking views.

You need to make reservations in advance for a window seat.

We had yummy ravioli and a tomato mozzarella dish.

And we also tried the famous Torta Caprese here… an almond chocolate cake that I kept reading about in travel websites.

Apparently there are several “legends” as to how this recipe came to be, but no one really knows for sure.

I was excited because it sounded like something that I could paleoify… crushed almonds and chocolate, heck yes!

However, I didn’t love it… I actually didn’t even like it, wahhhh I feel bad saying that but it just wasn’t for me.

All in all, my husband and I enjoyed our time in Capri. We didn’t do the hiking or even get to Anacapri so we feel like there is SO much more to see. We barley scraped the surface of Capri.

Capri was more expensive than the other places we visited on our honeymoon. And we did find that it was more “touristy” and a bit less charming than Ravello or Positano, but there is definitely more to do and see than what most travel sites recommend.

The Amalfi Coast mini travel series is finally done! If you haven’t read my other two posts about Positano and Ravello, check them out and get ready to dream of Italy. 🙂