Capri is a lunch island. The serious tables are at the water's edge, the day is built around getting to them by boat, and the evening is the Piazzetta, a long dinner and one room where the night ends. Understand that rhythm and the island is simple; fight it and you spend the week in queues on the funicular. Here is how the eating actually goes.
Lunch is the booking
La Fontelina sits at the foot of the Faraglioni — blue-and-white parasols on the rock ledges, swimming off the platforms, and a seafood lunch that is the Mediterranean's most photographed. No sand, no music, no hurry. Boats drop you at the rocks, and the lounger and the table are booked together, on a €400 guide in season. Il Riccio is the other side of the island in every sense: Capri Palace's beach restaurant above the Blue Grotto at Marina di Materita, sea-urchin pasta, a dessert room that people cross the island for, and a terrace before sunset that is the quiet secret. The same €400 guide applies.
Both are placed rather than walked into from June to September, and both are best reached by water. Book the boat and the table as one thing.
The town: Piazzetta, Camerelle and dinner
The Piazzetta is where Capri performs, and an aperitivo there at seven is not optional. Dinner in town divides between the institutions — Da Paolino under its lemon trees, Aurora at the top of Via Fuorlovado, the dining rooms of the grand hotels along Via Camerelle — and a handful of smaller rooms that regulars keep to themselves. None carries a club-style minimum; all of them are booked ahead in August, and a table at nine on a Saturday is a favour rather than a reservation. Dress is Capri: linen, not a jacket, and shoes you can manage on the lanes.
Where the night ends
Anema e Core is the island's legendary tavern night — Guido Lembo's guitar-led singalong that turns billionaires and honeymooners into one chorus. It runs Wednesday to Sunday, never starts before eleven, and tables go quickly in season on a €400 guide. It is not a nightclub and does not want to be; it is a piano bar with the best door on the island, and the reason people book dinner early. There is no second act in Capri and nobody misses one.
The boat that ties it together
Capri without a boat is half of Capri. The classic day is the Faraglioni lap in the morning, La Fontelina for lunch with the tender waiting, a swim in the afternoon and back to Marina Grande for the funicular up to the Piazzetta. Over a week the boat also does the Amalfi run — Positano, Nerano for spaghetti at Lo Scoglio with the boat tied up below the table, the Li Galli islands — which is the best day on the water in Italy. Day boats run on a €5,000–9,000 high-season guide for a 20–25 m crewed boat plus fuel; see yacht hire in Capri.
Getting there, and when
Naples is the airport, then a helicopter to the island's heliport above Anacapri or a hydrofoil from the port to Marina Grande. The helicopter is the arrival that makes sense for a short stay or a party with luggage; the hydrofoil is fine for two people and a bag each. Season runs May to September and August is the peak in the Italian way — full, loud, and placed weeks ahead. June and September are the months to choose if the dates are yours to choose. For the whole week — the boat, the tables, the arrival — start with the Capri concierge.