Capri: Hiking and Handbags

Wondering where you can find spectacular day hiking and overpriced designer handbags? Look no further.

The island of Capri features a surfeit of luxury goods: hordes of tourists arrive each day in search of all that glitters. Also popular: limone gelato, and the world-famous Blue Grotto. Not all that exciting, except perhaps the gelato.

Much less widely known, however, is that Capri features spectacular day hiking. A three-dimensional island landscape covered in wildflowers, walking atop cliffs which plunge thousands of feet into the turquoise sea below. The Amalfi coast, seemingly a stone's throw away, provides background scenery. Photos here.


The trails we found were poorly marked on most maps. As a result, we met exactly two people on a four-hour walk, which probably would have gone faster if we could stop gawking at the views. Lucky for you, this map and this map cover our favorite hike fairly well. Starting in Anacapri, near Villa San Michele, ask around or follow the signs for Monte Solaro. You should find a dirt road leading steeply up in switchbacks, eventually adjacent to the chairlift. At the fork in the road, on a saddle near Monte Capello, divert left from the Monte Solaro path and walk across the flats toward the hermitage of Cetrella.

The hermitage, often completely deserted, has a lovely view of Capri and Marina Piccola, especially from the back patio. From here, continue westward up and along the edge of the cliff tops: the trail from here up to Monte Solaro is occasionally hard to follow.

The summit of Monte Solaro, destination of the chairlift, is an unfortunately large complex. It's challenging to find the continuation of the cliff top trail. The most obvious trail down from the buildings takes you back down to Villa San Michele: take this trail just a short way, and then cut left under the chairlift to make a counter-clockwise circle of the complex and return to the island's southern edge, eventually continuing west in the direction you were walking previously.

The trail continues along the cliff, easy to follow at this point, eventually descending and returning to civilization near the western end of Via Migliera. Which, conveniently, is a great place for a late lunch: check out Da Gelsomina.