Naples travel guide
Where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Things to do in Naples, planned over three days
Best time to visit Naples
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring, joint best season, 15 to 26 degrees with manageable crowds and monuments opened in May.
Summer sea season with a heat tax, best done early and late, and many family trattorias close at Ferragosto.
Autumn, joint best and locals' favourite, sea swimmable into October and crowds thin after mid September.
Winter value and culture season, lowest prices and no queues, with San Gregorio Armeno transformed at Christmas.
What's on
- Maggio dei Monumenti May
May of Monuments opens palaces, courtyards and churches shut the rest of the year.
- San Gennaro blood liquefaction rite Saturday before the first Sunday in May
The spring repetition of the saint's blood liquefaction rite.
- Napoli Pizza Village usually June
A huge open air festival of the city's pizzerias on the Lungomare.
- Ferragosto mid-August
Naples empties of Neapolitans and many family trattorias close for one to two weeks.
- Festa di San Gennaro 19 September
The city's great feast, arrive at the Duomo before 09:00 as the cathedral fills.
- San Gennaro rite 16 December
The third yearly San Gennaro blood liquefaction rite.
- Christmas on Via San Gregorio Armeno late November to December
The presepe artisans' street becomes Naples' festive heart with workshops, lights and crowds.
- New Year fireworks over the bay New Year's Eve
Spectacular and chaotic, best enjoyed from a Lungomare hotel terrace rather than street level.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Naples
Cappella Sansevero
The Veiled Christ in marble so fine you see the face through the shroud is Naples at its most astonishing.
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli
Pompeii and Herculaneum make full sense only after seeing the mosaics and treasures kept here.
Spaccanapoli
One straight ancient street that delivers churches, cloisters, coffee bars and pizza in a single walk.
Napoli Sotterranea
Forty metres down, Greek quarries, Roman aqueducts and wartime shelters explain how Naples was built.
Catacombe di San Gennaro
Vast early Christian catacombs run by young local guides reclaiming the Sanita neighbourhood.
Castel Sant'Elmo
The star shaped castle gives the definitive panorama over Spaccanapoli, the bay, Capri and Vesuvius.
Certosa di San Martino
A former monastery with cloisters, gardens and the finest presepe collection, richer than the castle beside it.
Teatro di San Carlo
Europe's oldest working opera house stuns on a daytime tour and costs far less for a performance than Vienna.
Where to stay in Naples
Chiaia, Santa Lucia and Lungomare
first trip, all-round base
Calmer and easier at night than the old centre, yet a short walk or metro stop from Spaccanapoli.
Centro Storico
atmosphere, sights and value
Sleep inside the UNESCO grid with Sansevero, the Duomo and Tribunali pizza at your door.
Vomero
calm, families and longer stays
A bourgeois hill district with cooler air and quiet nights, reached by funicular in 10 to 15 minutes.
Plebiscito and San Ferdinando
grandeur and one-night elegance
Monumental and central around the Royal Palace and San Carlo, home to the grande dame hotels.
Posillipo and Mergellina
sea, space and longer stays
A villa hill with sea views and swimming spots, best for four or more nights mixing city and islands.
Quartieri Spagnoli, lower Toledo side
characterful budget base
Genuinely improved with good cheap B&Bs and trattorias, near Via Toledo on lit main lanes.
Think twice about
- Piazza Garibaldi and Napoli Centrale station blocks
Highest pickpocket and scam density, street squalor and an unsettled feel after dark. Use it for trains, sleep elsewhere.
- Forcella and Pendino back lanes late at night
Fine by day, Da Michele included, but the back lanes empty out late. Stick to the main streets after dark and sleep elsewhere.
- Centro Direzionale
A business tower district by the station that is dead at night for a leisure trip and adds transport friction.
Best restaurants in Naples
L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele
Since 1870, essentially Margherita and Marinara only, huge and soupy centred for about six euros.
Sorbillo
Many locals' number one, with a lighter digestible dough, a big menu and strong gluten free pizzas.
50 Kalò
Ciro Salvo's feather soft high hydration dough in a proper bookable restaurant near Posillipo.
Pizzeria La Notizia
The name residents give for Neapolitans' own best pizza, a destination room full of locals.
Isabella De Cham
Pizza fritta perfected by an almost entirely female kitchen, elite food at street price.
Trattoria da Nennella
A singing, teasing set menu madhouse in the Spanish Quarters, Naples' best cheap dinner.
Tandem Ragù
One family ragu cooked for six hours, served over pasta and taken seriously in vegan versions too.
Mimì alla Ferrovia
A city institution since 1943 serving classic Neapolitan dishes in calm five minutes from Centrale.
Best coffee in Naples
Gran Caffè Gambrinus
Coffee standing at the counter, always stand, in Naples' grand historic cafe by the palace.
Outdoor things to do in Naples
Pompeii Archaeological Park
Walk a whole Roman city under Vesuvius, with a licensed guide for the first two hours to make it legible.
Herculaneum Archaeological Park
Smaller, richer and better preserved than Pompeii, with far smaller crowds and an easier half day.
Mount Vesuvius
A short steep climb to the crater rim of the volcano that destroyed Pompeii, with bay wide views.
Kayak Napoli
Paddle the Posillipo villa coast past Roman ruins and coves to see Naples from its own water.
Capri
A hydrofoil day for swimming, the Monte Solaro chairlift and Anacapri, if you keep moving off the Piazzetta.
Procida
The quiet pastel island of Corricella harbour and family beaches at Naples prices, with no famous sight.
Giardini Poseidon
Ischia's biggest thermal park has around twenty pools up to 40 degrees, a beach and a grotto sauna.
Negombo
The boutique thermal alternative on Ischia, gardens and pools in Lacco Ameno for a calmer soak day.
Best hotels in Naples
Grand Hotel Vesuvio
Naples' grande dame since 1882, the only five star deluxe hotel directly on the Lungomare.
Romeo Hotel Napoli
Design luxury with a rooftop pool and spa, across the road from the Capri and Ischia ferries.
Grand Hotel Parker's
A historic 1870 grande hotel with bay view terraces and the two star George restaurant.
Hotel Piazza Bellini
A 16th century palazzo around a beautiful courtyard, the default mid range base for walking everywhere.
Decumani Hotel de Charme
A former bishop's palace with huge beds, a frescoed breakfast hall and a hidden terrace.
De Bonart Naples
A 19th century villa hotel with spa and panoramic views, calm with chain reliability.
La Casa Sul Nilo
A simple, friendly B&B inside the old centre, the budget way to sleep among the sights.
Is Naples expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €65 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €130 a person |
| Splurge | €300 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Cappella Sansevero: weeks ahead
- Napoli Sotterranea: a few days ahead
- Teatro di San Carlo: weeks ahead
- Pizza-making class: a few days ahead
- Stadio Diego Armando Maradona: weeks ahead
- Pompeii Archaeological Park: a few days ahead
- Mount Vesuvius: a few days ahead
- Kayak Napoli: a few days ahead
- Sansevero Chapel timed tickets sell out days to weeks ahead, book the week you book flights.
- Pompeii is timed entry and Vesuvius is online only timed entry, book both together for that day.
- Reserve San Carlo performances, fine-dining dinners, La Notizia and Borgo Marinari weekend dinners.
- Book July and August hydrofoils ahead and never schedule an island day on your last day.
Is Naples safe?
- Violent crime against tourists is rare, the real risks are pickpocketing and distraction theft.
- Use a cross body bag, phone in a front pocket, and extra care at Centrale, on the Circumvesuviana and around the port.
- Look both ways every time, scooters mount pavements and some riders treat red lights as advisory.
- Take extra care around the station and in unlit back lanes late at night. Emergency number 112.
Naples travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Restaurants ringing Piazza Garibaldi and the port with photo menus and tourist menu boards.
- Da Michele's queue at 13:00 on a Saturday as your only pizza plan.
- The Blue Grotto as a must do plan, and driving the Amalfi Coast yourself from Naples in summer.
- Skip the line resellers charging multiples for Sansevero and Pompeii, buy official tickets.
Getting around Naples: public transport and more
- Walk the compact centre, it is faster on foot than by car.
- Metro Line 1 links Garibaldi, the centre, Toledo and Vomero, with three funiculars climbing to Vomero.
- Use the Circumvesuviana from Napoli Garibaldi for Pompeii, Herculaneum and Sorrento, and stay pickpocket aware.
- Take the Alibus or a fixed tariff licensed taxi from the airport, and do not rent a car for Naples itself.
Who Naples suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Naples your trip
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