The best sunset beaches in Capri

Capri is a sunset island, but most of its beaches are not sunset beaches, and the honest job of this page is to explain that geography before you wait for a glow that never reaches the sand. The steep ridge of Monte Solaro and the island's east facing coves mean the sun vanishes early from many of the famous spots, so the real sunset swims are on the western tip, and there are fewer of them than the postcards suggest.

We have ranked the beaches below for how well they actually catch the evening light, weighing the western aspect, the room to settle in and the cost of a sundown drink against the alternatives. The clear winner faces due west, the quiet runners up keep the light a little longer than the rest, and the value note runs through it all, because the best sunset on Capri is a free swim off public rocks with one well timed aperitivo, not a daybed you barely use.

If you take one line from this page, take this. Go to Punta Carena for the genuine sunset, do not waste the evening at Marina Piccola where the sun leaves early behind the mountain, and arrive in the late afternoon to swim the free rocks before the colour comes. Do that and Capri gives you one of the loveliest sundowns in the Mediterranean without the island's usual price.

The honest truth about Capri sunsets is that the island's shape works against most of its beaches. Monte Solaro throws an early shadow over the south coast coves, and the famous Marina Piccola loses the sun by early afternoon, long before the golden hour. So the romantic sunset swim that people imagine at the classic coves simply does not happen there, and chasing it ends in disappointment and a long wait in the shade.

Where the island delivers is the western tip, and Punta Carena is the one beach to plan an evening around. Facing due west below the lighthouse, it gives you the sun dropping straight into the sea, a free swim off the rocks and an aperitivo to hand. Gradola on the Anacapri side holds the light longer than the eastern coves too. Conditions are typical and never guaranteed, and the rocks can pick up a swell in a breeze, so judge the evening before you swim.

The best sunset on Capri is also one of the cheapest things to do here, which is a rare bargain on a pricey island. A swim off the free public rocks at Punta Carena and a single well timed aperitivo as the sun goes down costs a fraction of a daybed day, and gives you the better memory. So skip the loungers you would not use, time your arrival for the late afternoon, and let the western light do the work for nothing.

Capri's sunset belongs to the western tip, where Punta Carena's Lido del Faro is the place to settle in for an aperitivo as the sun drops into the sea. Elsewhere the lidos close as the light fades from the eastern coves, so the evening scene is concentrated here. We never invent a venue, a minimum spend or an opening status, so anything we cannot confirm is marked to be confirmed. Browse the directory, send one enquiry to check your date, and remember the free public rocks give you the same sunset for the price of a single drink.