A tourist has captured the thrilling and nerve-wracking experience of entering the Blue Grotto, a sea cave in Capri, southern Italy.
A TikTok video by The Rojos, a couple who regularly share their travel adventures, shows a boatman guiding a small rowboat through the cave’s narrow, low‑arched entrance. The point of view footage shows the tourists laying down as they face the tight squeeze to get through the entrance followed by the tour guide exclaiming: “Oh my God, mamma mia.”
Once they are inside the cave the boat’s front tip nearly scrapes the jagged rock above. The boatman carefully uses a metal chain to move the boat through the cave, having to duck under a large rock beside him.
After this, he instructs The Rojos to sit up and blue glistening water can be seen in contrast to the darkness of the cave. Capri.com explains that the bright azure colour of the water is due to the sunlight which enters the cavern through an underwater opening positioned exactly under the cave’s mouth.
The TikTok clip’s caption warns: “Getting into the Blue Grotto is not for the faint hearted!!” The video has amassed an impressive 23.1million views, 1.4million likes and 12,200 comments at the time of writing.
A number of viewers confessed that the clip made them ‘panic’ as one said: “My claustrophobic self had a panic attack through the screen.”
Another added: “Absolute panic rising inside me.” A third shared: “Ok I might be too claustrophobic even for this video let alone the real experience.”
Others saw the beauty of the cave as a different viewer commented: “My claustrophobia could never but this is lowkey cool.” Someone else simply described it as “beautiful but scary.”
The Blue Grotto, a natural sea cave that is 60 metres long and 25 metres wide, is only accessible when sea conditions allow. Rowboats must enter through the cave mouth, which is two metres wide but only roughly a meter high.
The small rowboats transport a maximum of four passengers who must lie flat as boatmen guide them into and through the cave. Conditions like rough seas and high winds cause the grotto to be closed to visitors.
Tourists get a thrill from the light reflecting off the water that creates an electric blue glow. There are also famous silver reflections of objects in the water that are caused by tiny bubbles covering the outside of objects underwater.
Tickets to enter the Blue Grotto cost 18EUR (£15.60) and are purchased from the ticket office. Capri.com advises that the famous light that lights up the inside of the cavern is at its strongest between noon and 2pm.
It adds that there is often less of a wait after 3pm but the seas can become rough resulting in the cave closing to the public. It’s best for visitors to check the conditions before buying tickets.