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Original poster

Tell me about Naples - want to convince DH it's a good idea...

35 replies

MissAmbrosia · 08/10/2022 22:17

I've booked for a week in Ischia in May and due to flight prices wanted to add on 3 days somewhere. Sorrento was a possible but doesn't make me hugely excited, but Naples seems to have lots to do, food great etc. I know the traffic is terrifying, I've seen it before. Has anyone done the underground tour? We've been to Pompeii and Vesuvius before. Might do Pompeii again, but would like to visit Herculaneum, which seems quite quick by train.

OP posts:
Smileandtheworldsmileswithyou · 09/10/2022 03:20

You could do a couple of day trips to Naples, you don’t have to stay there. Or just stay one night before you fly home? I love Naples, half my family is from there so I grew up going there every summer. Ercolano is great but much smaller than Pompeii and can be done in a few hours. Have you looked at Procida? You can get a boat there from Ischia and could stay there for a few nights. It’s the smallest island on the bay of Naples and I absolutely love it, it’s so beautiful and quiet. Or Capri if you can afford it!

Justasec321 · 09/10/2022 03:48

I love Naples.

You cannot ignore crime so work with it. No jewelery, no bag, money in small bills in a few different pockets etc.

All the trips you are talking about are good but are outside of Naples!

The history of Naples is very significant, and well worth reading before you go.

Teatro San Carlo is one of the oldest opera houses in the world - drop in, there may be something on. Museum of Capodimonte is cool. Go get yourself a beautiful cameo - they are made there. Look un the Cristo Velato, on of the most incedible sculptures you will ever see - it is still not known exactly how Sanmartino carved it. When you have finsihed admiring that you can admire the rum babas in the coffee shop across the piazza. The resturants by the port are awesome - especially the cheep and cheerful ones! Hop on a boat over to Capri for lunch - take about 45 mins. Or find the market where they make the figureines for Christmas cribs. Often the faces will have people of the moment - once they had Naomi Campbell as Virgin Mary!

Thank OP - I rumaged around in my memories and really enjoyed it!

It is one of my fabourite places.

Geamhradh · 09/10/2022 14:29

Our kids go on school trips to Naples, and people from here go on a Sunday for the day, it's amazing.
It's filthy in places, other parts remind me of Paris (big wide boulevards) it's noisy, it's scary, it's arty, the food is fabulous, Maradona is their God.
I've been robbed in Manchester, and groped in Brussels. Never even seen "crime" in Naples, not even around the station.
Like any big city, have your wits about you.

toogoodforthisworld · 09/10/2022 14:43

Yeah - skip Naples..
We did Rome and then travelled to Naples stopping at Pompei for the tour (absolutely fantastic place- do not miss!) If I would have know what a dump Naples is I would have travelled back to Rome..

AngelSings · 09/10/2022 14:51

Hated Naples to the point where we moved to another hotel outside of the city after 2 days. It's a dump, scary and the traffic is terrifying, as you say. We did a half-day walking tour of the city, including an underground theatre and aquaduct. That was wonderful but our only good memory of the city.

BTW, we preferred Herculaneum to Pompeii. It's so much more manageable in size and it had more of an impact on us.

Littlepaws18 · 09/10/2022 14:53

Travel man went with Jack Dee to Naples- get him to watch it! It would convince me!

Pompeii is incredible.

ElizabethinherGermanGarden · 09/10/2022 14:53

Ravello is absolutely the most beautiful place - not too far away. It may not be what you are looking for, though. Have a look and see what you think.

catinboots123 · 09/10/2022 14:54

Naples is a dump

WishIWasACavewoman · 09/10/2022 14:56

Went to Naples for a WE in May. I wouldn't rush back, tbh. Some parts were great, the history is amazing, but my predominant memory is packed grimey streets

Anapana · 09/10/2022 14:59

We went for a week and loved it, it’s dirty in places but teeming with life. Would go back in an instant! Plus it has a 1 euro aperol spritz bar 🤣

FKATondelayo · 09/10/2022 14:59

Naples is incredible - spent my honeymoon there. The food, the architecture, the museums. It's no more full of crime than Barcelona, Paris or London.

squashyhat · 09/10/2022 15:07

Naples is wonderful. Yes the graffiti is bad and it can be a bit smelly and noisy but I love it. I can highly recommend this hotel which has a pool, rooftop bar and a great view of Vesuvius (if you ignore the incongruous tower block). sanfrancescoalmonte.it/en/

Great archaeology museum, wonderful food, nice marina area and promenade for the nightly passeggiata. The old city area of centro storico is a lively cobbled street mishmash of apartments, bars, churches and shops. Just beware the mopeds trying to run you down! Herculaneum is worth a visit - as you say quick on the circumvesuviana railway. In the other direction on the train it's about an hour to Pozzuoli which has smaller ruins of a roman harbour and port. Capri is worth a day trip.

You won't regret it.

squashyhat · 09/10/2022 15:14

I forgot the castles - Castel Dell'Ovo on the seafront at the marina, the Castel Nuovo near the ferry port and the Castel Sant'Elmo high above the city to the west and reached by a funicular failway. All historic, interesting architecture and with great views.

Seeingadistance · 09/10/2022 18:38

I'm in my 50s, regularly travel solo, and Naples is the one place I would not go back to. I was there only to get from airport to station to get train elsewhere in Italy, but it is the only place I've felt unsafe visiting.

It was dirty, smelly, and just horrible.

Sausagenbacon · 10/10/2022 07:55

I'm another Naples lover. It's also improved a lot over the last decade. So interesting. What I remember is the Sunday Passagiato when everybody promenades with their families, dressed in their best.
So many places on the tourist are bland, this is more real.
If you go, take a day trip to Paestum on the train as well.
And if you want background reading, try Naples 44 by Norman Lewis.

GCAcademic · 10/10/2022 08:04

As you'll see from the above, Naples is a marmite city, you'll either love it or hate it, and there's no knowing which until you've tried it.

I loved it. I went on my own, and didn't have any problems.

RockrrMom · 12/10/2022 14:18

I have been to Naples with my teen son and we really loved it. I like it better than Rome because it is less crowded, very historical, and less expensive. We did do the underground tour (which was super interesting), we went to Pompeii, and we hiked up Mount Vesuvius. I made him shop with me for one day and if you are there during sales, you can get some great bargains. (I love to shop for my kids in Italy because kids' clothes in France seem to come only in black, drab gray, and various shades of beige.) We spent a good part of a day just getting lost in the alleys looking up and seeing the nonnas hanging their laundry on lines stretched across the street. We went to Da Michele, which is a tourist trap, but if you go very early in the evening, there's no one there and the pizza is actually really good.

Also, if you have a child with you (even a teen!) people cannot do enough for you. I can't remember how many times my kid was told to eat, because you're too skinny.... Italy (and here I'm including Rome, even though I don't love that city for other reasons) is the best country I have EVER visited alone with my kids.

Incrediblebuttrue · 12/10/2022 14:23

Naples is amazing. Hands down best pizza and coffee in Italy. There are several underground tours do pick what you're most interested in. We did onecthat was archeology - ok. The best one was underground tunnels which were used as air raid shelters and you finished up in the cellar of a house. Fascinating.

Incrediblebuttrue · 12/10/2022 14:25

Also the taxis in Naples are fixed price and so much better than Rome.

DarkAndDusty · 12/10/2022 14:59

Time Out ranks Rione Sanita in Naples as one of the coolest neighbourhoods in the world... www.timeout.com/travel/coolest-neighbourhoods-in-the-world

SarahMused · 12/10/2022 15:15

Naples is a great place to visit. I preferred Herculaneum to Pompeii so it’s definitely worth a visit. We did the underground tour which was really interesting. Don’t bother trying to drive though, it’s bad enough in a taxi and public transport is fine. The area around the station is ok in the daytime but dodgy at night and don’t walk along with your phone or anything else valuable easily accessible as the moped riders have a habit of grabbing stuff!

Mochudubh · 12/10/2022 15:49

Pros:
Definitely visit Herculaneum, much more compact than Pompeii but with loads of interest.
I'd love to go back and do the underground tour where you can see old the old Fiats and Lambrettas just abandoned.
Puzzuoli (sp?) and the Campi Flegrei - there's a lovely amphitheatre there and very quiet compared to similar sites.
People watching, DH and I spent a whole hour waiting for the hop-on/off bus absolutely fascinated by the passers by, all human life is there.
Food, absolutely lovely, although I never found a pizza that was as good as the sadly missed Carmine's in Aberdeen.

Cons:
Beggars and scammers everywhere, often with small children they claim to be ill/hungry, assume any random approaching you in the street/at the station is a beggar/scammer.
If you're sensible and do everything you can to minimise becoming a target of pickpockets you shouldn't have any problems.
Traffic is mental, watch out for the trolley busses and trams as they make little sound against the background of constant blaring horns.

Mochudubh · 12/10/2022 16:01

Just to add:

We stayed in a hotel just off Piazza Garibaldi, very close to the station and it was fine, although we like to dine early by Mediterranean standards and were usually back in the hotel by 9pm.

I felt quite happy exploring by myself for a couple of hours in the afternoon as DH doesn't like to walk far.

There did seem to be a heavy police presence around the area in the evening and I felt safe as part of a couple and would probably have nipped out to the nearest shop myself if I'd needed to but I wouldn't have gone wandering on my own.

junipermerry · 12/10/2022 17:46

Loved it. Stayed in the Spanish Quarter. Vibrant and alive.

ErrolTheDragon · 12/10/2022 17:58

If you go, take a day trip to Paestum on the train as well.

Absolutely- we went there when we were staying in sorrento one Easter when dd was 10, it was fabulous. I don't know what it's like by May, but spectacular temples in a grass and flower filled meadow, not crowded, nice walk from the little station with a sighting of a two-tailed lizard (ok, that part isn't guaranteed Grin).

DH and I are planning on going to that area again, probably will stay in sorrento and revisit Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum and also Amalfi coast on a local bus. But also get the train to Naples to go to the archaeological museum at least.

(He's been there on a work trip which included a tour of backstreets squashed into a fiat 500 so he's probably had enough authenticityGrin)