America's Cup Naples 2027: stay on Procida, Ischia or Capri, or in Sorrento

The photo above is Marina Corricella, Procida's fishing harbour, and the island is as small as it looks: pastel houses, lemon gardens, a pace no regatta will change. It is the nearest island to Naples, about 12 nautical miles from the port.

Caremar takes about an hour by ferry from Calata Porta di Massa or 40 minutes by hydrofoil from Molo Beverello (SNAV runs hydrofoils too). In 2026 Caremar alone had 13 sailings out a day (14 in summer) and 11 back (12 in summer), the last leaving Procida a little after 20:00; across Caremar and SNAV, fares were roughly €15–25 one way.

The catch is beds: Procida is by far the smallest of the three islands, so in our experience it fills first — book it first and expect minimum-stay requests in July. With small children, head for Chiaiolella in the south-west: dark sand, shallow water, lidos on the bus route.

Ischia is the biggest island in the gulf and, in our experience, the one with the widest choice of hotels and apartments, so it is the natural first look across the bay. Hydrofoils take about an hour from Beverello, ferries an hour and a half from Porta di Massa, with dozens of summer 2026 departures a day across Alilauro, Caremar, SNAV and Medmar, at roughly €15–26 one way.

Match port to boat: Alilauro hydrofoils serve Ischia Porto and Forio, SNAV goes to Casamicciola, often via Procida, and Caremar and Medmar car ferries land at Ischia Porto and Casamicciola. Stay near Ischia Porto if you will commute often; Forio and the west are for beach days. On non-race days the bonus is the hot springs, Ischia's speciality.

Capri is the glamour option, not the quick one: hydrofoils from Beverello take about 50 minutes, Caremar from Porta di Massa about an hour by fast craft or 85 by ferry, roughly €14–31 plus the €5 landing fee from April to October. It is also the expensive one and, in July, the crowded one: tens of thousands of day-trippers on peak days, groups capped at 40 since February 2026, non-resident cars banned for most of the year. The 2027 decree is not out, but expect the ban to cover the Cup window as in recent years.

Sorrento is not an island but behaves like one: hydrofoils from Beverello take about 40 minutes, around €19 with Alilauro; the Circumvesuviana from Porta Nolana or Garibaldi takes about 75 minutes for under €5, every 30 minutes from 17 October 2026 — check eavsrl.it. The Campania Express tourist train was suspended from 1 October 2026, with no word on 2027.

Sorrento is also the only one of the four with a direct airport bus: Curreri from Capodichino, eight runs each way, about 90 minutes via Pompei, €13 one way, under-3s free on a lap. It is also the gateway to the Amalfi Coast — SITA buses reach Positano in about 50 minutes, Amalfi in about 90 — so a race week can become a coast week.

Pozzuoli is the mainland-with-boats option just west of Naples, and the Cumana from Montesanto, fully running again since 11 September 2026, gets you there. Rail is the weak point, though: Metro Line 2 has not run west of Campi Flegrei since mid-June 2026, so for now the Cumana is the only train into Pozzuoli, and in the Campi Flegrei a line can close at a few hours' notice — our getting-around guide tracks the status. The port, five minutes from the station, has ferries to Procida (25–45 minutes depending on the operator, roughly €10–17) and Ischia (about an hour direct). One caveat: Pozzuoli sits on the Campi Flegrei caldera, on yellow alert since 2012, where the magnitude 4.7 earthquake of 31 July 2026 was the strongest since monitoring began in the 1970s. Read the Protezione Civile rules of conduct and INGV-OV's weekly bulletin before choosing it.

Our rule is simple: count the race afternoons you genuinely care about — typically the Louis Vuitton Cup Final (26 June–4 July according to the planned calendar published in September 2026, which includes reserve days and may change) or the Match from 10 July — and book those nights in Naples, near the seafront, even at a premium. Spend the rest on an island or in Sorrento, where a morning ferry gets you in on the days you want to watch.

Then order matters: Procida first, because it is the smallest and, in our experience, fills first; Ischia and Sorrento next; Capri only if Capri matters more to you than the Cup. Hotels have not set 2027 rates yet, and Naples' mayor Gaetano Manfredi said in July 2026 that demand would have to spread beyond the city to the islands: do not wait for timetables, book now and recheck sailings in spring 2027. We are a Naples team at Vesuview, and this is the order we give our own friends.