Not just Capri: islands and coastal villages of Campania without mass tourism

Capri remains one of the strongest images of the Mediterranean, but at the height of summer the Faraglioni are viewed shoulder to shoulder with thousands of other visitors, and prices rise accordingly. If you're looking for an alternative to Capri that keeps the crystal-clear sea and the postcard panoramas but gives you back space and silence, Campania offers plenty: just a different ferry or a handful of kilometres south is enough to change the rhythm. Here is a concrete guide to the region's islands and coastal villages, where summer is still lived on a human scale, with a few inland stops that are worth the detour.

Procida and Ischia

The first alternative is the most obvious and the most sensible: Procida. It's the smallest of the three islands in the bay, with no large hotels or luxury boutiques, and it costs far less than Capri. The little harbour of Corricella, with its fishermen's houses painted pink, yellow and blue, is why the island was named Italian Capital of Culture in 2022. Here too July and August fill up, so aim for May, June or September. Ischia, larger, spreads its visitors across six towns, spas and beaches: quiet corners can be found even in high season, especially on the Forio side and at Sant'Angelo.

The Cilento

Those who really want to escape the crowds head down to the Cilento, Campania's most unspoilt coast. Palinuro, its sea caves and coves like the Baia degli Infreschi or Cala Bianca — reachable only by sea or on foot — are the flip side of the Amalfi Coast. On that same coast, if you really don't want to give it up, Cetara remains a genuine fishing village, famous for its anchovy colatura, and far more livable than Positano.

Naples

The beauty of Campania is that the coast and the interior touch. Staying in Naples, even before you board, try the Borgo Marinari beneath Castel dell'Ovo: it's the only slice of seafront in the city you can reach on foot, with boats, little restaurants and Vesuvius across the water. Few cruise tourists get this far. And if it rains or the sun beats down too hard, underground Naples is a world apart: the Catacombs of San Gennaro in the Rione Sanità, the dramatic "hawk's wing" staircases of the same district and the Greek Crypt of the Cristallini tell of a city that most visitors never see. In the centre too, the Cortile delle Statue a stone's throw from the Quartieri Spagnoli offers a pocket of calm just metres from the chaos.

Moving along the Cilento coast, you can alternate swimming with culture. Above the Sele plain opens the cave-sanctuary of San Michele at Olevano sul Tusciano, a Lombard place of worship carved into the mountain, visited by reservation, which few include in a seaside itinerary. In the heart of the Cilento, Roscigno Vecchia is an entire village abandoned to landslides and now an open-air museum: a different kind of day when you want a break from the beach. Further south, in the Vallo di Diano, the early Christian baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte at Padula still rises over a living spring and is among the oldest in the West.

The interior

If you've hired a car, it's worth pushing inland. Towards Caserta, the church of Sant'Angelo in Formis at Capua guards a cycle of medieval frescoes that earned it the nickname "Sistine Chapel of the Middle Ages", on a basilica built over a Roman temple. And in Irpinia, where hardly any beachgoing tourist arrives, the Cistercian ruins of the Abbey of Goleto and the ducal castle of Bisaccia offer rolling panoramas, wine cellars and absolute silence.

The practical tip holds for all these destinations: choose the shoulder months — May, June, September, early October — when the sea is still warm, the ferries to Procida cost less and the villages aren't taken by storm. Campania beyond Capri is not a fallback: it's simply the less-photographed, and often truer, version of the same summer.

Practical guides for Amalfi

• Where to stay in Amalfi
• What to see in Amalfi in 2 days
• Where to eat in Amalfi
• How to get to Amalfi