Palazzo d’Avalos two days before
The visit is guided only, with a minimum of two and a maximum of twenty people. The published hours differ between sources: the only confirmation that counts is the one you get in writing.
Itinerario
Procida in 2 days
With two days you change character: you are no longer a day tripper. You see the island once the last crossing has gone, which is when it is at its best.
Written by
Chiara Scotto di CarloWrites about Procida's villages and monuments starting from the people who live in them, and re-checks opening hours and closures before every update.
UpdatedThe difference between one day and two, in Procida, is not the number of things you see. It is the evening. After the last ferry crossing the day trippers have gone and the quayside at Corricella is left to the people who sleep there. In the summer of 2026 the island recorded 236,000 landings against the well over a million of Capri: many of those are visits of a few hours, and in the evening you can feel it.
Two days also let you slot in the two things a single day cannot carry: Palazzo d’Avalos, which needs a booking two days ahead, and a proper beach, one of those with road access, where you can spend half a day instead of an hour.
Before you go
- Book Palazzo d’Avalos at least two days ahead. Guided visits only, 13.00 EUR, a minimum of two and a maximum of twenty people, about an hour. The hours published online do not agree with each other: get your slot confirmed in writing.
- Decide where you are sleeping. Corricella is the finest but you get there only by stairways; Marina Grande is handy for the ferry. The comparison is in where to stay in Procida.
- Buy the ticket on the company’s website: 12.70 EUR on the ferry from Naples, 9.50 EUR from Pozzuoli. The aggregators add commission.
- Light luggage, on your back. If you sleep at Corricella or up high, wheels are no use to you at all.
- No car: from 30 March to 15 October 2026 non-residents’ vehicles cannot land, with fines from 430 to 1,731 EUR.
Day 1
The upper villages and the evening on the quay
On foot, with the C2 if you would rather avoid the climb
- 09:00
Marina Grande and via Roma
Breakfast at the counter along the harbour front. The church on the square is Santa Maria della Pietà, the sailors’ church: a single barrel-vaulted nave, two canvases of 1722 by Antonio Fumo and a baroque bell tower with a four-faced clock. The harbour church - 10:00
Terra Murata
Ten minutes uphill from the harbour, at ninety-one metres: the highest inhabited point on the island, a fief of the d’Avalos family from 1529. Porta di Ferro, Porta di Mezz’Omo, and at the belvedere two cannon of the Neapolitan Republic of 1799. The fortified village - 10:45
Abbey of San Michele Arcangelo
Free, with a donation if you wish and a guided explanation. A thousand years of monastic presence documented from 1026, a bellows organ of 1770 and a library of about eight thousand volumes with sixteenth-century choir books. The underground rooms cannot be visited at present: many guides still write otherwise, but it is not so. Hours and interiors - 12:00
Casale Vascello
A fortified courtyard of the seventeenth century, the first settlement outside the walls: coloured houses packed around a central courtyard, so as to block an enemy’s way through. It is not a museum, it is a lived-in courtyard: go in quietly and do not take it for granted that the gates will be open. The seventeenth-century courtyard - 13:00
Down to Corricella and lunch
Ten minutes downhill. The seventeenth-century harbour, the arches, the domes and the vefi, the little vaulted covered balconies of Arab descent. On the quay you eat on the water: book on the morning itself. A table on the quayside - 15:30
The Chiaia beach
From Corricella you go down to the most sheltered bay on the island by a long stairway: the sources say 182 or 186 steps, so about a hundred and eighty. There is also a boat service from the village, and it is the intelligent way not to do the steps again on the way up. The bay and the stairway - 18:30
Punta Pizzaco for sunset
A headland above the bay of the Chiaia, reached on foot from Piazza Olmo along via Pizzaco. It closes the bay to the south and gives the classic view over Chiaia, Corricella and Terra Murata. The path is unsurfaced and exposed, with no railings and no lighting: do not come back in the dark. The belvedere over the bay - 20:30
Dinner at Corricella, with no day trippers
This is the reason you are sleeping here. After the last crossing the quayside changes: what is left is the tables, the boats and the few people who belong there. Fuego covers the cheaper band of the quay. The village in the evening
Day 2
The former prison, then half a day of sea
The morning uphill, the afternoon on the L2
- 09:30
Palazzo d’Avalos
The former Bourbon prison, the strongest place on the island. Built in the sixteenth century by the d’Avalos family, turned by the Bourbons into a military school and then into a prison: in use as a penitentiary from 1830, closed in 1988. Cells with iron beds, an operating room, the permanent display reopened in June 2025. Guided visits only, by booking, about an hour, 13.00 EUR. How to book - 11:00
Santa Margherita Nuova
A church and former Dominican convent on the ridge, built from the second half of the sixteenth century when the Dominicans came up here to escape the Saracen raids. Collapses in 1956, restoration of the church completed in 2012, that of the convent still under way. From the terraces, the view down onto the Corricella. The church on the ridge - 12:30
Lunch towards the Chiaiolella
Take the L1 or the L2 from the terminus at Marina Grande and get off at the south-western marina. On the seafront there are restaurants and pizzerias: Da Girone makes the lemon pesto, which is the signature dish of the house and uses the one ingredient that is genuinely exclusive to the island. The lemon pesto - 14:30
Chiaiolella or Ciraccio beach
The two big beaches, the only ones with direct road access. The Chiaiolella is the better served, with beach clubs and bars, shallow water and sun all day; the Ciraccio is longer and in the afternoon it catches the mistral, with the sand flying. Two tuff stacks separate them. The best-served beach - 17:00
The bridge to Vivara, if you have booked
A State Nature Reserve since 2002, about 36 hectares, with a Bronze Age settlement and imported Aegean pottery. Guided visits only, online booking compulsory, a maximum of 25 people, closed on Monday, walking boots and no flip-flops. From 25 September the visits are cut back to Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Hours, prices and rules - 19:00
Back
From the Chiaiolella you return to the harbour on the L1 or the L2. Leave a margin: the evening ferry crossings are partly seasonal and in rough seas the hydrofoils are the first to go. Timetables and fares
How to adapt it to the season
From June to September the itinerary holds as it stands: the buses are on the summer frequency, with the L1 up to one service every fifteen minutes, and the evening ferry crossings exist. Bookings for the restaurants on the quay become necessary.
Out of season, from October to May, move the sea out of the programme and fill the second day with the monuments: the last bus is around 21:00 and the evening ferry crossings are not running. Check the abbey as well, whose opening for visits runs from Holy Week to All Saints.
If you want the sea as the main activity, swap the two days round: the beaches first, then the villages. The logic of the itinerary — go up early, come down for lunch — applies to the villages day in any case.
If you have one more night
With three days you can add two things that are genuinely worth it here. The first is a day on a boat: the circuit of the island lasts two hours, but there are longer formulas with swim stops, and it is the only way to see Corricella from the right angle. The second is a trip to Ischia: three nautical miles, twenty minutes by hydrofoil, about eighteen crossings a day. Sleeping on the small island and visiting the big one costs less and gives you better evenings.
The full format over two or three nights is in the weekend in Procida. If instead you have less time, the one-day itinerary concentrates the same stops into the morning and the early afternoon.
Adjusting the length of your stay
Procida in 1 day
The two upper villages in the morning, the quay at Corricella for lunch and the sea in the afternoon: the right order for an island you cross in forty minutes.
A weekend in Procida
Two nights, three full half-days and no rushing: the format Procida seems made for, above all in May, June and September.
Procida from Naples in a day
The trip from Naples with the real numbers: 25.40 EUR of ferry there and back, the full itinerary, and an honest comparison with the organised package from 85 EUR.
Summary
2Days
4Villages and upper monuments
2Beaches
13.00 EURPalazzo d’Avalos
Reporter notebook
Insider tips
Corricella from above in the morning, from the sea in the afternoon
From the ridge at Santa Margherita Nuova the view is the classic one. But the village only really makes sense from the water: if you can, do the boat tour as well.
The evening is the real reason to sleep here
After the last crossing the day trippers have gone. It is the only time the quayside at Corricella belongs to the people on it, and it cannot be bought with any ticket.
Skip the queues — book your Procida tours
Among the best loved
Procida island boat tour with swim stops
A full circuit of the island with swim stops and a guide on board in Italian, English and French. Changing rooms and showers are available at the lido you leave from.
2 hoursFrom €42
Reserve your spot✓ Verified GetYourGuide reviews
Procida: sunset aperitivo by boat
The circuit of the island at sunset, with music on board and an aperitivo of home-made snacks. The swim stop is optional.
2 hoursFrom €50
Reserve your spot✓ Verified GetYourGuide reviews
Frequently asked questions
Are two days enough for Procida?
They are the right measure. One day is enough to see the island; two let you add Palazzo d’Avalos, which has to be booked ahead, half a day of proper sea and above all the evening, when the day trippers have gone.
What do you need to book for two days in Procida?
Palazzo d’Avalos at least two days ahead, and Vivara online if it interests you. In high season the tables at the restaurants on the quay at Corricella and the boat tours as well.
Where should you sleep for a two-day itinerary?
At Corricella if you travel light and want the evening on the quay; at Marina Grande if you have suitcases or an early ferry. Corricella has no road access: you get there only by four stairways or by sea.
Can you do Procida in two days without a car?
It is the only way, in high season: from 30 March to 15 October 2026 non-residents’ vehicles cannot land. The EAV buses, at 1.20 EUR a ticket bought on land, and your legs are enough.
Is it possible to visit Vivara in two days?
Yes, if you book online before you leave. The visit lasts two and a half hours on average, takes 25 people per slot, closes on Monday and requires walking boots. From 25 September it is cut back to Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Further reading
Official sources
- VisitProcida — guided visit to the prison — Price, booking and length of Palazzo d’Avalos
- Riserva Naturale Statale Isola di Vivara — 2026 calendar, prices and rules of visit