Book nowPompeii tickets are now sold by name with a daily cap, and the Cappella Sansevero runs on timed slots: book both before you fly.
Hours, prices and coordinates are from general knowledge; re-check them on the official sites the week before you fly.
Naples' month of open doors: churches, palaces and courtyards usually closed open for visits and concerts, only in May.
🔗 official page comune.napoli.it
Dates from general knowledge — check the official site
Three days: the old town above and below ground on arrival, Pompeii and the bay on the full day, its treasures in the museum before the flight.
Land at 10:00, bags into storage until the 15:00 check-in. Pizza, the Veiled Christ and the tunnels under the old town; dinner in the Quartieri Spagnoli.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →€5 each20 min
From outside arrivals, every 15–20 minutes. Buy the ticket on board; carry cash in case the card reader is down. From Garibaldi it is 15 minutes on foot up Via dei Tribunali, or a taxi at the fixed fare of about €12.
€5–7 a bagbook online
Bounce and Radical Storage keep bags in shops round Piazza San Gaetano; book for 11:00–15:00.
€6–10 a pizzaqueue
Sorbillo, Di Matteo and the Pizzeria del Presidente are a few doors apart. Give your name at the door and wait 20–40 minutes, less before 12:30. A margherita is the test; a whole pizza each is normal here, eaten with a knife and fork.
The lane of workshops making presepi, the Neapolitan nativity scenes, including figures of footballers and politicians.
free
Two minutes from the flat, crossing Spaccanapoli. Open all year; the latest figures of celebrities stand among the shepherds. Fifteen minutes is enough.
A prince's family chapel holding the Veiled Christ, a 1753 marble statue whose carved shroud looks transparent.
about €12 eachday's highlighttimed slotclosed Tuesdays
Five minutes away, in a side street off Spaccanapoli. Book a slot online: walk-ins wait an hour or more. The statue is in the middle of the chapel; photos are not allowed.
Downstairs are the two 'anatomical machines', human skeletons with their veins preserved, which made the prince's reputation as an alchemist. Allow 40 minutes.
A guided tour of the Greek quarries and Roman aqueduct 40 metres under the old town, used as air-raid shelters in the war.
about €15 eachnarrow passage
From Piazza San Gaetano, tours in English on the hour or every two hours; book online. One passage is a shoulder-width corridor by candlelight, which you can skip. 136 steps down. Wear a layer: it is 18°C below. Allow 90 minutes.
The 16th-century grid of narrow streets above Via Toledo, and the mural of Diego Maradona, who took Napoli to their first two league titles and is treated here as a saint.
freeuphill
Twenty minutes down Via Toledo, then up into the grid. The mural is in Largo Maradona, now a shrine of scarves and photos, with bars round it. Washing lines, scooters and front doors open to the street.
€20–30 each
Plain trattorie with paper tablecloths and a handwritten menu. Pasta e patate with provola, genovese, the slow-cooked onion and beef sauce, and fried anchovies are the dishes to look for.
The Circumvesuviana to Pompeii for the 9:00 opening, four hours in the ruins. Back for the seafront and seafood at Borgo Marinari.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →about €3.60 each way35 min
Fifteen minutes' walk to Garibaldi; the Circumvesuviana platforms are downstairs, separate from the mainline station. Take the Sorrento line and get off at Pompei Scavi – Villa dei Misteri. The trains are old and crowded; watch your bags.
The Roman town buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD and dug out from the 1740s on: streets, houses, baths and a theatre as they stood.
about €18–22 eachday's highlightnamed ticketno shade
The Porta Marina entrance is two minutes from the station. Tickets are sold by name with a daily cap; book online and bring ID. Download the site map first; signage inside is poor.
A four-hour loop: the Forum, the Stabian Baths, the House of the Vettii's frescoes, the Lupanar, the amphitheatre. There is almost no shade; carry water, the fountains in the streets still run. Wear shoes for big uneven stones.
€15–25 each
Leave by the amphitheatre exit and walk ten minutes to the modern town's square. Its restaurants are calmer and cheaper than the ones at the station.
50 min
The Circumvesuviana from Pompei Santuario back to Garibaldi, then the walk up.
The car-free seafront along Via Caracciolo and Via Partenope, with Vesuvius across the bay.
free
Metro line 1 from Dante to Municipio, then ten minutes to the sea. Walk west along the bay; the whole city is out on a May evening. Sunset is about 20:20.
The oldest castle in Naples, on the islet where the city's Greek founders landed; legend says Virgil hid a magic egg in its walls.
free
A causeway leads in from the seafront. The terraces at the top look across to Vesuvius and back at the city; the gates usually close at 19:30 in summer, so check the time on the day.
€35–50 each
The little harbour under the castle is all fish restaurants with tables by the boats; tablecloths, waiters in white, prices to match. Spaghetti alle vongole and fried mixed fish are the things to order. Taxi home, about €12.
Out of the flat by 10:00, bags into storage. Pompeii's mosaics at the Archaeological Museum, fried pizza, the funicular to Vomero, coffee at Gambrinus before the 20:00 flight.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →€5–7 a bagbook online
The same storage shop as on Wednesday, booked until 17:00.
One of the world's great collections of Roman art, holding the mosaics and frescoes taken from Pompeii and the Farnese family's marbles.
about €22 eachday's highlightclosed Tuesdays
Ten minutes up Via Costantinopoli. The Alexander Mosaic, from the House of the Faun you walked past yesterday, is on the mezzanine with the other Pompeii mosaics.
Upstairs are the frescoes; on the ground floor the Farnese Bull, the largest marble group to survive from antiquity. The Secret Cabinet of erotic art from Pompeii is a small locked room on the mezzanine. Allow two hours.
€3–6 each
Back on Via dei Tribunali, Di Matteo and others fry pizza folded over ricotta and salami, eaten from paper at the counter. A frittatina, fried pasta with peas and béchamel, is the other thing to try.
about €1.50 each
The Funicolare Centrale from Via Toledo to Piazza Fuga, five minutes; the same ticket as the metro. Then 10 minutes on foot to Castel Sant'Elmo.
The star-shaped 16th-century fortress on the Vomero hill, the highest point in central Naples.
about €5 each
A lift takes you up through the walls. From the ramparts the whole city lies below: Spaccanapoli cutting straight through, the port, Vesuvius and Capri on a clear day. Allow 45 minutes.
The 1860 café beside the Royal Palace, all mirrors and gilt, where Neapolitans leave a paid coffee for a stranger, the caffè sospeso.
€2–6 each
Funicular back down, then ten minutes along Via Toledo. Drink an espresso at the bar, a third of the table price. The great half-circle of Piazza del Plebiscito is next door.
Metro, funiculars and city buses share one ticket; the Circumvesuviana to Pompeii is a separate one.
Metro line 1 takes contactless bank cards at the gates at its main stations; elsewhere buy tickets at tobacconists marked T or at station machines, and stamp paper tickets before boarding. The Circumvesuviana sells its own tickets at the station; buy a return to Pompei Scavi. Inspectors fine on the spot.
Licensed white taxis have fixed fares between the airport, the station and the centre: say 'tariffa fissa' before you set off and agree the price. Use the ranks or the app Taxi Napoli; ignore drivers who approach you in the arrivals hall.
The old town is busy and safe, but pickpockets work the Circumvesuviana, Garibaldi and the crowds on Via dei Tribunali. Keep phones in a front pocket, not on the café table. Scooters ride through the narrow streets in both directions; keep to the side.
Coffee is drunk standing at the bar: pay at the till first, then hand the receipt to the barista. Pizzerias take names at the door and seat you in turn. A cover charge, coperto, of €1–3 a head is legal and on the menu.
For three, 3 days and 2 nights in Naples, staying in the old town. Covers the flat, the city tax, transport, bag storage, tickets, every meal and a buffer. Flights are not included.
| Item | Economy | Comfort | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat on Via dei Tribunali, 2 nights | €260 | €420 | €130–210 a night for three |
| City tax | €30 | €30 | About €5 a person a night |
| Transport | €50 | €110 | Comfort takes fixed-fare taxis to and from the airport |
| Bag storage, two days | €40 | €40 | 3 bags × 2 days |
| Sansevero, Sotterranea, Pompeii, museum, Sant'Elmo | €220 | €230 | About €75 each |
| Lunches and street food | €90 | €150 | 3 lunches for three |
| Dinners | €150 | €240 | 2 dinners for three; Borgo Marinari the dearest |
| Coffee, drinks, water | €60 | €90 | |
| Buffer | €60 | €120 | A nativity figure, an extra taxi |
| Total | €960 | €1,430 |
Realistic figure: About €1,100–1,250 for three, without flights
Cards work in museums and most restaurants, but street food, some pizzerias and the Alibus driver may want cash. Keep €50–100 each in cash.
All of them: the WayFriend guide library.
