marina grande and capri town
 
 
 
Ferries and hydrofoils dock at MARINA GRANDE , the waterside extension of the island's main town, which perches on the hill above. You can take boats to the Blue Grotto from here, and there's a tourist office that doles out maps and other information, as well as any number of pricey waterside cafés and restaurants. It is, however, quickly exhausted, and you may as well take the funicular (daily: 6.30am-9pm; L1500/00.77 one-way) up the steep hill to Cápri town itself; if the funicular is too crowded (as it surely will be in high season) you can also walk, which takes about twenty minutes; follow the road up from the far end of the harbour, from where steps lead all the way up across the crisscrossing road.

CÁPRI is the main town of the island, nestled between its two mountains, its houses connected by winding, hilly alleyways that give onto the dinky (almost toytown) main square of Piazza Umberto , crowded with café tables and, invariably, a lot of people. Sit on the steps and eat your lunch and watch the drinkers and diners digging deep for the (undeniable) ambience.

Of things to see in or near Cápri, the Certosa San Giacomo (Tues-Sat 9am-2pm, Sun 9am-1pm; free) on the far side of the town is a run-down old monastery with a handful of paintings, a couple of shapeless Roman statues dredged up from the deep and an odd, overgrown cloister given over in part to a music school. To the right of the monastery, the Giardini Augustos give tremendous views of the coast below and the towering jagged cliffs above, and from there you can wind down to either the beach below (rocks really), or, beyond, to MARINA PICCOLA - a small huddle of houses and restaurants around a few patches of pebble beach: reasonably uncrowded out of season, though in July or August you might as well forget it. Marina Piccola is also accessible by bus.

Up above the Certosa, and a further pleasant walk fifteen minutes through Cápri town, the Belvedere del Cannone has marvellous views, especially over the Faraglioni rocks to the left and Marina Piccola to the right. Further out of Cápri town, there are two walks worth doing out to the eastern edge of the island. One, up to the ruins of Tiberius's villa, the Villa Jovis (daily 9am-1hr before sunset; L4000/22.07), is a steep thirty-minute hike from Piazza Umberto following Via Botteghe out of the square and Via Tiberio up the hill. It was here that Tiberius retired in 27 AD to lead a life of vice and debauchery and to take revenge on his enemies, many of whom he apparently had thrown off the cliff-face. You can see why he chose the site: it's among Cápri's most exhilarating, with incredible vistas of Ischia, Prócida and the bay; on a clear day you can even see Salerno and beyond. There's not much left of the villa, but you can get a good sense of the shape and design of its various parts from the arched halls and narrow passageways that remain. Below, there's another villa, the more recent Villa Fersen of one Count Fersen-Adelsward, a gay Swedish millionaire who built the house early this century apparently to entertain pick-ups from the town. Unfortunately its new owner has not seen fit to open it up to the public.

The other walk is to the Arco Naturale , an impressive natural rock formation at the end of a high, lush valley, a 25-minute hike from Cápri town, again following Via Botteghe out of the square but branching off up Via Matermania after ten minutes or so; you can get quite close to the arch due to the specially constructed viewing platforms. Just before the arch, steps lead down to the Grotta di Matermania , ten minutes away down quite a few steps - a dusty cutaway out of the rock that was converted to house a shrine to the Sybil by the Romans. Steps lead on down from the cave, sheer through the trees, before flattening into a path that you can follow back to the Tragara Belvedere , and, eventually, Cápri town - reachable in about an hour.