Marina Piccola in the afternoon

Marina Piccola is the sheltered south-facing bay under Capri town, split in two by a rock outcrop the Romans associated with the sirens. Wooden decks and ladders run out over the water from a handful of bathing clubs, and the cliff rises straight behind, with the Faraglioni closing the eastern end of the view.

It gives you the sea-level version of Capri, which the island otherwise makes hard to find. The wooden platforms are clean geometric foregrounds; the water is deep blue and clear enough to photograph through; and because the bay faces south, it holds direct light from mid-morning until the sun goes behind Monte Solaro in the late afternoon — the last hour before that is the best of it, warm and low across the water.

Access is a bus or taxi from the Piazzetta, or a long stepped descent from the Belvedere di Tragara; coming back up on foot is a serious climb. Most of the shoreline is occupied by paying bathing clubs in season, with a small free stretch between them — worth checking what is open before arriving. In winter the platforms are dismantled and the bay is empty rock and water, which photographs quite differently and just as well.