The Amalfi Coast is a cliff with a road cut into it. Everything below the road — the coves, the grottoes, the swimming — is a boat proposition, and the boats come in three distinct kinds.
1. Private hire, which is the best value
Split between four to six people, a half-day boat with a skipper costs comparably to individual tickets on a group tour.
What it buys: your coves, your swimming stops, your timing, and no waiting for twenty other people to get back on board.
Widely available from Positano, Amalfi and Praiano, typically as half or full days with fuel sometimes extra — confirm which.
This is the single best thing to spend money on along this coast.
2. Group excursions
Cheaper per person alone or as a couple, on larger boats with fixed itineraries — usually the coast to Capri, or a grotto circuit.
Fine, and constrained by the group.
3. Public ferries
Not excursions at all — transport between Positano, Amalfi, Sorrento, Salerno and Capri, roughly April to October.
Faster than the bus in summer traffic and the coast looks better from the water. Cheap.
Cancelled in rough sea, which is the standing caveat for everything here.
Capri
Thirty to sixty minutes by ferry depending on the port; Sorrento has the most frequent service.
The Blue Grotto requires calm sea and low tide — the entrance is barely a metre high, you transfer to a small rowing boat and lie down to get in.
It closes frequently. Many visitors travel specifically for it and find it shut, so treat it as a bonus rather than the plan.
Beyond it: the chairlift to Monte Solaro from Anacapri, the Faraglioni rock stacks, and Villa San Michele.
Anacapri, above the main town, is quieter and cheaper. Capri town in July is very crowded; go early or stay overnight, when the day boats leave and the island changes completely.
The coves and grottoes
Fiordo di Furore — a narrow inlet under a bridge, with a tiny beach and a former fishing hamlet.
The Emerald Grotto near Conca dei Marini, where light through an underwater opening turns the water green. Reachable by boat or by a lift from the road.
Marina di Praia, a small beach wedged in a ravine.
And numerous unnamed swimming spots below the cliffs that only a boat reaches — which is the argument for the private hire.
Practical
Book a day or two ahead in peak season, particularly for private hire.
Morning sea is calmer than afternoon on this coast; wind builds through the day.
Take shade. Open boats offer little, and the reflected sun is stronger than it feels.
Season: ferries and most boat operations run roughly April to October and stop entirely in winter.