Neptune's Grotto (Grotta di Nettuno) is a sea cave at the foot of the Capo Caccia cliffs, 24 km from Alghero, with a salt lake, stalactite halls and a 30-minute guided tour that starts every full hour. You reach it either by boat from Alghero or Cala Dragunara, or on foot down the Escala del Cabirol, a cliff staircase of 654 steps. Entry costs €18 for adults in autumn 2026, and the cave shuts whenever the sea is rough.
Quick facts
Entry: €18 full, €10 reduced, under-6s free (official price list, still headed "Price 2025" on 30 October 2026).
Hours from 25 October 2026: 10:00 to 15:00 (last tour), daily.
Winter Thursdays: closed every Thursday from 12 November to 18 March.
Always closed: 24 and 25 December, and any day the sea is too rough.
Stairs: 654 steps, 119 m of height, 400 m long, opened in 1954.
Boat: about 40 minutes each way; the boat fare does not include cave entry.
Booking: a time slot is compulsory for every visit by land.
Tickets and prices for autumn and winter 2026
The official admission page lists a full ticket at €18. The reduced ticket costs €10 and covers ages 6 to 17, residents of Alghero, university students up to 26 with proof of enrolment, and school groups of at least 15. Groups of 25 or more pay €12 each with a reservation.
From 1 November, residents of Sardinia also pay €10. That winter rate runs to 31 March, or until the week of Easter if that comes first. Easter 2027 falls on 28 March, so expect the island-resident price to end that week.
Entry is free for children under 6, for people with disabilities and their carer, for licensed tour guides, and, in a family group, from the third child aged up to 17. The price list was still labelled 2025 when we checked on 30 October 2026, so a new list could appear before the 2027 season.
Buy online through Alghero Experience, the city's ticket portal. From November to May the ticket office on the Capo Caccia forecourt is open during visiting hours; the official page notes it reopened on 16 October 2026. Even with a ticket bought at the office, land visitors must book a time slot.
Opening times: what changes on 1 November
The cave has run on its short day since 25 October 2026: tours from 10:00, last tour at 15:00, according to the official opening times page. Each guided tour lasts about 30 minutes, in Italian and English.
Two winter rules catch people out. First, the same page says the cave is closed every Thursday from 12 November to 18 March. Second, the boats largely stop: the official site says the sea service runs from April, and Alghero Experience gives April to November. Navisarda, one of the two boat lines, says its hourly sailings run until 31 October.
So from November, plan on the stairs. Closures for rough sea can come at the last minute. Call the cave ticket office on +39 345 7418361 or check its social pages on the morning of your visit.
Boat vs 654 steps: which to choose
Start: by boat from Alghero port (Banchina Dogana) or Cala Dragunara; on foot from the Capo Caccia forecourt at the top of the cliff.
Season: boats April to October or November; the stairs all year.
Travel time: about 40 minutes each way by boat; 654 steps down and the same back up on foot.
Extra cost: the boat fare on top of the €18 entry; on foot, the €5 summer shuttle and nothing in winter.
Effort: low by boat; high on the climb back by stairs.
Rough sea: the cave shuts either way.
Choose the boat if you have small children, older relatives or bad knees. The official getting-there page calls it the best option for families with children or elderly people. The trip passes Capo Galera and Punta Giglio before rounding Capo Caccia. Navisarda lists its Alghero return trip at 2 hours 30 minutes in total.
Choose the stairs if you have a car, travel outside the boat season, or want the cliff views. The steps are cut into a 119 m wall. The cave advises against them for anyone with heart disease or breathing problems.
Both routes end at the same entrance, the same 30-minute tour and the same €18 ticket. A rough sea closes the cave to everyone, whichever way you planned to arrive.
How to get there
By car
From November to May you drive straight to the Capo Caccia forecourt and must arrive at least 40 minutes before your slot. Latecomers lose the booking. From June to October roadside parking near the cave is banned. You park free for four hours at Casa Gioiosa and take a shuttle, arriving an hour before your slot. The 2026 visitor information sheet gives the shuttle fare as €5 for adults, €3 for ages 4 to 14 and €10 for a family of two adults and three children.
By bus
ARST line 5 runs from Alghero to Capo Caccia all year. On the current ARST timetable, the winter run (1 October to 31 March) leaves Via Catalogna at 09:15 Monday to Saturday and reaches Capo Caccia at 10:02. Return buses leave Capo Caccia at 12:00 and 18:05. No winter Sunday bus reaches the cave, so check the date code on the timetable before you go.
By boat
Navisarda and Frecce delle Grotte sail from Banchina Dogana in Alghero port. Buy your cave ticket at the port kiosk before boarding, because the boat fare excludes entry. From Cala Dragunara, inside the Porto Conte park, the Navisarda price list shows €16 for adults, €8 for under-12s and free under 4. It runs two departures a day in low season and up to four at peak. The page mentions groups of at least 10, so phone ahead.
What you see inside
The tour follows a path along the side of the cave. It starts at Lago La Marmora, a salt lake linked to the sea, which SardegnaTurismo puts at up to 100 m long and 9 m deep. Next comes the Acquasantiera, a stalagmite about 2 m high. The Sala della Reggia rises 18 m, the highest point of the visitor route, and the Sala Smith holds the Grande Organo, the biggest column in the cave. The official site says the cave draws more than 150,000 visitors a year. A free smartphone audio guide covers 9 languages; bring your own earphones.
What most guides get wrong
The step count. The official site and the 2026 visitor sheet say 654 steps. SardegnaTurismo gives 654 in its main text and 656 in its practical notes. We use 654.
The cave's length. The official history page and halls page give 2.5 km of galleries, with a visitor route of a few hundred metres. SardegnaTurismo says about 4 km of cave and about 1 km of route. Either way, you walk only a small part of it.
"Boats run all year." They do not. From November the stairs are usually the only way in.
"You can just turn up." Land visits need a booked slot, and in winter that means arriving 40 minutes early at the top of the cliff.
Summer heat on the climb. The Capo Caccia weather station averages about 8 days a month of 30°C or more in July and August. Go early and carry water.
When to go
Sea state decides closures, and wind drives the sea. In the WMO climate normals for the Capo Caccia station (1991 to 2020), days with wind of 20 m/s (72 km/h) or more average about 5 a month in December and January and about 1 a month from June to August. May, June and September have few such days and far fewer 30°C days than July and August, which matters on the climb.
Local tips
Wear proper shoes. The cave bans flip-flops, swimsuits and bare chests.
There are no toilets inside the cave; use the ones by the ticket office on the forecourt.
Food is banned inside; water in a reusable bottle is allowed.
Dogs are allowed on a lead and with a muzzle.
The cave is not accessible by wheelchair, by boat or by stairs.
If the sea shuts the cave on a booked day, you can rebook free or ask for a refund.
Pair the visit with a day in town: our Alghero travel guide covers the old town and beaches, and the walk along Alghero's sea bastions fills a late afternoon. With a car and another day, the coast road from Alghero to Bosa heads the other way. Flying in for the off-season? Alghero keeps all its Ryanair routes this winter, with fewer flights: see Ryanair's 15% winter cut at Alghero.
Basing yourself in the east and driving across? Rental12, a holiday-rental company in Olbia that shares an owner with Sardinia Blog, covers north Sardinia more broadly, with Neptune's Grotto and Alghero as a day out, in North Sardinia: Where to Stay, What to See 2026 | RENTAL12. It is a company guide, not independent research.
Sources: Grotta di Nettuno: admission fees · Grotta di Nettuno: opening times · Grotta di Nettuno: getting there · Grotta di Nettuno: history · Alghero Experience: visitor information 2026 (PDF) · ARST line 5 timetable · Navisarda: Cala Dragunara · SardegnaTurismo: Grotte di Nettuno · NOAA NCEI: WMO climate normals 1991 to 2020, Capo Caccia. Checked 30 October 2026.
Photo credits: Lit stalactite columns reflected in Lago La Marmora, the salt lake at the start of the Neptune's Grotto tour (JYB Devot, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons); The brick-edged steps of the Escala del Cabirol zigzag down the Capo Caccia cliff towards the sea (K93, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons); Isola Foradada seen from the Capo Caccia cliffs, the view boats pass on the way to Neptune's Grotto (Gianni Careddu, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons); The Escala del Cabirol clings to the 119 m cliff as a boat heads for the cave entrance, with Foradada behind (JYB Devot, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons); Stalactite curtains and columns rise from the water in the halls of Neptune's Grotto (Mboesch, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons). Fact sheet and chart: Sardinia Blog, from the sources listed above.
