Capri Geography & Climate

Capri is limestone, geologically part of the Sorrentine peninsula rather than volcanic like Ischia and Procida to the north. It is about six kilometres long and three wide, and the coast is almost entirely cliff: there is very little flat ground and hardly any sand.

Two high points divide it. Monte Solaro, above Anacapri, reaches 589 metres and is the island’s summit; Monte Tiberio at the eastern end is lower, at about 334 metres, and carries the ruins of the emperor’s villa. The saddle between them holds Capri town.

The Faraglioni are three limestone stacks off the south-east coast, detached from the cliff by erosion; the outermost has an isolated lizard population that is locally distinct. The Blue Grotto on the north-west coast is a sea cave whose colour comes from sunlight entering through a second, submerged opening below the entrance.

There are no rivers. The rock is karst, so rainfall drains straight through it, and water supply has always been the island’s structural constraint.

Capri has a Mediterranean climate, moderated on all sides by water. Summer highs are generally in the high twenties Celsius, usually with wind on the heights even when the harbour is still. Rain between June and August is unusual.

Winters are mild — typically between nine and fifteen degrees in the day — and wet, with most of the year’s rain falling from October to March. Frost and snow are effectively unknown.

The variable that matters most here is the sea state rather than the temperature. The Blue Grotto can only be entered when the swell is low enough for a rowing boat to pass under the opening, and it closes without notice — including on fine days, if there is a swell running. Boat trips round the island go the same way.