About Marco Ferrara, and what this site is for
I am Marco Ferrara. I grew up in Montepertuso, the hamlet on the shelf above Positano, and I spent six summers working deck on my uncle’s charter gozzo out of the Spiaggia Grande before taking an ordinary job in Salerno. I still crew the odd September weekend when somebody is short-handed. To be plain about what this site is not: not a boat operator, not a ferry company, not the commune, and nothing official. I compare the boat tours that leave from this beach, explain what each one adds, and earn a commission if you book through my links.
What six summers on a gozzo teaches you
Mostly it teaches you what the day costs to run. Fuel, the mooring, the landing fees, the ice, the fact that a boat with twelve people aboard and a boat with four cost almost the same to take out. It teaches you that the skipper checks the forecast before he promises anybody the Blue Grotto, because the cave shuts whenever the swell is up and the entrance is the size of the rowing boat that takes you in. And it teaches you which coves are out of the swell on a north-westerly, which is why an itinerary sometimes runs backwards or skips a stop. That is a skipper reading the sea, not a tour being cut short, and I would rather explain it here than have you feel short-changed on the day.
What I am not is a guide, a historian or anybody official. What I have instead is a long memory of watching visitors make the same three mistakes: walking down to the beach with wheeled suitcases, booking the morning crossing and leaving the afternoon return to chance, and choosing a whole day at sea when a crossing to Capri and back would have suited them. Those three are why where the boats leave, booking in advance and tour or ferry exist, and they are worth more to you than anything I could tell you about the view.
The thing this site is actually about
Half the people who search for a Positano boat tour want the ferry. The scheduled hydrofoil crosses to Capri in about forty minutes for roughly €28 one-way, it leaves from the same beach as everything else, and for a great many visitors it is the whole answer.
A tour is a different product from an expensive ferry. The ferry delivers you to the port and leaves you there. A tour circles the island, noses into grottoes the ferry passes at speed, anchors in coves you cannot reach on foot and carries drinks, masks and a skipper who knows which side of Capri is calm that morning. Whether that difference is worth several ferry fares depends entirely on what you want the day to be, which is the question at is a boat tour worth it and the starting point on every tour page here.
How I write about the tours
Ratings, review counts and prices come straight from GetYourGuide, unrounded, which is why a live widget sits beside every number I print. Every price is a “from” figure that re-prices by date, option and party size. I never name the operator behind a listing, and I name skippers and guides only where a reviewer named them first. The ordering and my reasons for it are at the reviews.
How this is paid for
When you book through a link here, GetYourGuide pays me a small commission and you pay exactly what you would have paid going to them directly. That is the whole arrangement and it is set out at the affiliate disclosure.
Corrections
Fares move, timetables shift every year, and the seasonal boats come off the water in autumn. Confirm sailing times and fares with the operator before you travel, and tour details on the booking page. If something here has gone stale, tell me at contact and I will fix it.
Frequently asked questions
Do you run boat tours in Positano?
No. I am not a boat operator, a ferry company or the commune. I compare the six GetYourGuide listings that leave from this beach, and every booking happens on GetYourGuide. If the scheduled ferry suits your plans better than a tour, the site says so — see tour or ferry.
Why does the site often point me to the ferry?
Because for about half the people who arrive here it is the right answer. A tour is a day on the water, not transport to an island. If you want to reach Capri and come back, the scheduled boat does it in about forty minutes for a fraction of any tour price — the fares and the pier are at the ferry to Capri.
How do you decide which tour to recommend?
How many people stand behind the rating first, then whether the price on the listing is the price you finish the day having paid, then what kind of day the boat is buying you. That order is stated in full at the reviews, along with the two newest listings and their review counts.