If you have a single day and you do not fancy arguing with stairways, the Chiaiolella is the answer. The road comes right down to the seafront, the L2 bus drops you a few metres from the sand and behind you there are beach clubs, bars, pizzerias and restaurants that are open. It is the busiest and the best equipped beach on the island, and it shows: in August, mid-morning, it is not a quiet place. In exchange it is the only one where you can turn up with a heavy bag, a parasol and two children without wrecking a shoulder. It looks towards Vivara and Ischia, it takes sun all day, and at sunset the light does the rest.
The access: here the road really does arrive
This is the difference that counts for more than any description of the sand. The Chiaiolella has direct road access: you get there by car (when you are allowed to bring one), by scooter, by micro-taxi and above all by bus. The L2 line starts from Marina Grande, from the terminus near the church of Santa Maria della Pietà, and the L1 does the harbour–Chiaiolella ridge route. The ticket costs 1.20 EUR bought on the ground, in a bar, a tobacconist or a newsagent, and 1.40 EUR on board. We are not writing down how long the ticket is valid for: one source says 60 minutes, another 90, and there is no official figure.
Remember the ban, though: from 30 March to 15 October 2026 non-residents may not land vehicles on the island or drive them there. In practice, in summer you get here by bus or on foot, and that is perfectly fine. The details, with the exemptions, are on the page about getting around Procida.
We do not publish the precise walking distances from Marina Grande because no reliable source gives them. What is documented is that the whole island is crossed in about 40 minutes on foot: the Chiaiolella is at the opposite end from the harbour.
What the beach is like and what the sea is like
Dark volcanic sand, wide sands, shallow safe water for a good many metres: it is the reason Procidan families come here. The beach lies between Punta Serra and the headland of Santa Margherita Vecchia, and two tuff faraglioni, the rock stacks, separate it from the Ciraccio, which carries on north along the same side.
On the claim to be the longest
You will find it written everywhere that it is the longest beach on the island. It is an open question: the local tourist portal gives the record to the Chiaiolella, while two other island guides give it to the Ciraccio. Nobody publishes a measurement. We tell you about the disagreement and leave the choice to you: either way they are the two widest stretches of sand on Procida, one after the other.
The Ciracciello
The southern stretch, towards the marina, many people call the Ciracciello. The tourist portal treats it as part of the Chiaiolella, other guides treat it as a beach in its own right. On the spot there is no visible boundary: all that changes is the name in the mouth of whoever is pointing it out to you and the density of parasols.
The sun beats down all day, and that means two things: water that warms up early at the start of the season, and no natural cover in the afternoon. With the right wind, people surf on the western side too.
Beach clubs, unpublished prices and what is behind the beach
It is the beach with the most facilities on the island: several equipped beach clubs, alternating with free stretches, and behind them the seafront of the Chiaiolella marina with bars, pizzerias and restaurants. Da Mariano and Da Girone are two of the long-standing addresses on the seafront: you eat and you are back on the beach in three minutes.
What a parasol costs
We cannot tell you, and nobody can. For the 2026 season no beach club at the Chiaiolella publishes a price list. The prices are asked for on the sand, before you settle in. If you want to spend nothing, the free stretches are there and they are ordinary public beach: towel, your own parasol, done.
Accessibility
A single guide describes the Chiaiolella as equipped for people with reduced mobility. It is one source, not confirmed anywhere else and with no detail about walkways or aids: take it as an indication to be checked by ringing the beach clubs, not as a guaranteed service. What is certain is that there are no stairways to do here, and that alone makes it the most workable of Procida’s beaches.
When to go and when to change beach
May, June and September are the right months: good water, facilities open, half the people of August. In August, between 11:00 and 16:00, the beach is working flat out and so is the seafront: if you are after silence, at those hours you are in the wrong place and you would do better to move to the Ciraccio, which is longer and emptier, or to take to the sea on a boat trip round the island.
The advantage of the Chiaiolella is that it is exactly where the other things you need are: the footbridge to the Vivara reserve starts from here, and so does our Chiaiolella–Vivara walk. Morning on the beach, afternoon on the bridge, an aperitivo on the marina watching the sun go down behind Ischia: it is the simplest and the most successful day the island allows anyone who does not want to trudge.
