The Chiaia has to be earned. There is no road that reaches it: either you go down the stairway that starts from Via dei Bagni, or you go by sea. In exchange you get the most sheltered bay on the island, dark volcanic sand, water that stays shallow for a good many metres before it drops. It is the beach Procidans point to when somebody asks where to take the children without ending up in the coming and going of the Chiaiolella. And it is also the one that has you talking to yourself at six in the evening, when the steps have to be climbed again with the parasol on your shoulder and the cool box in your other hand. Knowing this before you go down changes the whole day.
How you get there: on foot or by boat, there is nothing else
No road reaches the Chiaia. It is the most useful fact on this page and it is worth putting at the top. No car, no scooter, no micro-taxi dropping you on the sand. The bus leaves you up above and you do the rest with your legs.
The two accesses on foot
The first starts from Via dei Bagni, which you take from Piazza San Giacomo: it is the classic way down, the one with the long stairway. The second is from Via Pizzaco, which you take from Piazza Olmo and which runs towards the headland of Punta Pizzaco, the cape that closes the bay to the south. From Marina Grande you go up to the two squares on the EAV buses; for timetables, fares and lines there is our page on getting around the island.
The little boat from the Corricella
In summer a boat service links Marina Corricella to the Chiaia. It is the real alternative to the steps and the right choice if you are with small children, with a pushchair or with a shoulder that will not cooperate. The fares and the times of this service are not published online: you ask on the Corricella quay on the morning itself. We cannot tell you a price because nobody states one.
A third way: arriving from the sea on a boat trip. The Chiaia is a fixed swimming stop on the island tours with swimming stops, and seen from outside the bay gives a great deal more.
How many steps there really are
Here the sources do not agree, and we would rather tell you that than pick a number at random. The island’s tourist portal says 186 steps; two other local guides count 182. Nobody publishes a survey. So the honest answer is: about 180, in a single continuous descent, with no short cuts and no lifts.
Whether it is 182 or 186 makes little difference halfway back up. What really makes a difference is the hour: at 14:00 in August the stairway takes the sun full on and there is no drinking fountain at the bottom. Go down early, come back up late, take more water than you think you will drink. If you have luggage, a pushchair or difficulty walking, this beach is not for you and there is no point in trying: go to the Silurenza, which is a few steps from the harbour.
The sea, the sand, the shade that is not there
The sand is volcanic, dark, and by mid-afternoon it burns: flip-flops are needed to cross the last few metres. The water goes in slowly, stays shallow for a long way and has no awkward currents. The bay is the most sheltered on Procida, closed to the south by Punta Pizzaco: when the mistral lifts the sand on the western side and people run away from the Ciraccio, here the sea often stays flat. It is the main reason the stairway is worth it.
On shade, we promise nothing
The bay faces east and sits under a cliff, so it is reasonable to expect the sun to move off it in the afternoon. But no source documents this and we have measured nothing: bring a parasol and do not count on natural shade. If you come on the little boat, remember that you have to load the parasol as well.
Beach clubs, lunch and the question of prices
The Chiaia is for the most part free beach. There are two small beach clubs; one of the two is also a restaurant, La Conchiglia, which sits right on the bay and which you reach with the same two legs. It is where a good many people’s day ends: you eat fish looking at the water and then climb the steps back up slowly.
Why you cannot find the prices for sunbeds
Because they do not exist, at least not published. For the 2026 season no beach club at the Chiaia publishes a price list: not on its own channels, not on the portals. Anybody who gives you a precise figure for a parasol and two sunbeds is making it up. You ask on the spot, before you settle in, and you decide from there. The rest of the beach is free and costs nothing: with a towel and a parasol of your own the day costs zero, apart from the ferry.
There are no public showers listed, and no kiosk open all year round. Out of season treat it as a place with no facilities.
Who the Chiaia suits and who it does not
You go if: you want shallow calm water for the children, you are after the beach least exposed to the wind, you want a place that filters the crowd by itself, you fancy lunch on the sea without going back into town.
Forget it if: you have knee or back problems, you are travelling with a pushchair, you are on a day trip with few hours available, or you want to arrive at the beach by scooter. In that case the Chiaiolella and the Ciraccio have direct road access and sort the day out for you without argument.
One last thing: the Chiaia sits below the ridge that leads to Terra Murata and the Corricella. Many people slot it in at the end of a morning in the upper villages. It works, but it means doing the steps with tired legs already. If you can, turn it round: sea first, villages at sunset.
