The busy city of Napoli is not for everyone, but the region has a lot more to visit, colorful houses built on the rocky hill of Amalfi Coast, or one of those lovely sunny islands. Last time when I visited Napoli, it was already 7 years ago, back then I stayed with a couchsurfing host, who I remember has told me that Capri Island isn’t that amazing, I don’t know why he doesn’t like it, but I also didn’t visit it last time during my short stay in Napoli.
This time since I’ve got more time, I decided to do some more research on islands other than Capri, and found there’s natural hot spring in Ischia Island. I’m a huge fan of hot springs. A few years back, I soaked in a natural hot spring at 4000 meters altitude! Under Bolivia’s highest mountain Sajama National Park, and I always loved onsen in Japan. So I was so glad to find they have such near Napoli, and it’s actually possible to do a day trip there from Napoli (although probably even better if you can stay a few nights in Ischia, it’s a cute island where many movies were shot.)
In the summer, there are regular ferries departure from several ports near Napoli (Napoli main port, Pozzuoli, Mergelina), but starting September only main port or Pozzuoli. Pozzuoli is a bit further away from the city but cheaper and less busy. There are 3 ports in Ischia Island, the closest port for the hot spring is Forio, I’d suggest you check the schedule before you go, as some boats from Pozzuoli only stop at Ischia main port.
From Forio port, you can either take a taxi or bus No.1 (ticket available at a news booth in front of the tourism info center). Forio is a less busy port, the last ferry to Napoli stops before 5pm, otherwise you can take a bus to the main port to catch later ferries.
Hot Spring is a bit smaller than I thought, the bay area is lovely, only a small part of the bay is warm in October and even in the winter. There’s a little restaurant open only in the summer and when I visited in October, it’s used as sunbathing area. Hot Spring is from the lava and stones in the cave, so sea water flows in and got heated pretty fast, wave is huge so it’s not like you can float calmly, but it was fun every time the wave came. The whole place is natural and untouched, so you just find a space between the stones.
It was a fun place, not so crowded in October and totally worse the trip, if you don’t mind taking those steps down (quite a few steps).
