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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Ayone been to Naples ?

68 replies

Bigbadmama · 03/03/2023 15:09

I am meeting an American friend in Rome early June. Thinking of combining this with a few days in Naples. What is it like ? Is it fascinating and full of historic buildings and Italian charm or is it a run down slum full of thieves and pick pockets ? I will be travelling alone.

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Bigbadmama · 04/03/2023 10:57

@grafittiartist @FightingFatAt49 thank you.

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crackofdoom · 04/03/2023 11:04

My recollections of Naples, both as a student staying with local friends in one of the tenement areas of the centre, and as a tour director taking a coach full of Americans through there;
Going out on the balcony of my friends' flat during a major international football match and being able to see dozens of blue flickering screens through the open windows of the neighbouring flats. At a certain moment there was a HUGE roar of "GOOOOL!" that seemed to come from the whole city, and within a few seconds fireworks started going off everywhere.

Sitting out in the piazzas at night- that's where everyone socialised as they couldn't afford bars. You could get a beer from one of the many little corner shops, but there was no drunkenness.

An amazing local festival with traditional music and dancing(like the Tarantella but not) everyone got up and got involved.

Being told there was no petty crime in that quarter because if you got your bag nicked or something the local Camorra boss would track the thief down and get it back for you.

During the rubbish strikes, amongst mountains of garbage, one of my tourists elected to stay outside the stupid cameo factory I was obliged to drag them to, and witnessed a punch up outside a bar in front of a mound of rubbish, various bystanders screaming like banshees and clinging to the protagonists as the cops tried to arrest them. Highlight of his trip apparently 😆

The coach driver, on our way to Rome, insisting on pulling over at the side of the road to meet a mysterious associate with a large box that he wanted him to take with us. Never happened anywhere else!

I suppose your reaction to these kind of stories determines whether you'd like Naples. Me, I'd go back like a shot!

ilovesooty · 04/03/2023 11:13

I've been for two different week long holidays there. It was vibrant and exciting and I loved it. I stayed near the station and rode the buses at night. I kept my valuables in a small bag under my t shirt. I never felt unsafe.

MissAmbrosia · 04/03/2023 13:28

I'm going in May - and Ischia too. I started a thread a while back. Similar responses - either love it or hate it.

Philomenacunk1 · 04/03/2023 13:31

I was in Naples the other week. I agree with other posters - the city centre was busy and a bit dirty. Nothing like the tourist cities of Venice, etc. I wouldn’t have missed Pompeii for the world though. Plus, it’s a really easy trip to the amalfi coast - which is stunning.

JacobsCrackersCheeseFogg · 04/03/2023 13:36

I didn't like it. Naples was (has been?) controlled by Mafia for many years and has been very run down. I like the Amalfi Coast, would go back tomorrow. Positano and Sorrento are so picturesque.

soberfabulous · 04/03/2023 13:45

It is worth it purely to visit Pompeii.

But as others have said: dirty, menacing and crime ridden.

Also had the best pizza of my life there.

FKATondelayo · 04/03/2023 15:12

I love this thread. It really captures the contradictions of Italy in a nutshell. I love going to Italy but it drives me up the wall at the same time. The bureaucracy and the beauty, the crime and the art. Chaos and lushness and decadence ... until you DARE order a cappuccino after lunch.

I think if you are the kind of person who loves Venice, the Uffizi and Capri - you will never be down with Naples - city of Maradona, volcanoes and organised crime.

Bigbadmama · 04/03/2023 15:47

@FKATondelayo Pleased you are enjoying the thread. I am getting lots of useful perspectives.

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Quveas · 04/03/2023 15:59

Bit daft to say "I prefer Ischia it's where people in the know go". Ischia is where rich Italians who aren't rich enough for Capri go for a couple of days from their homes in Naples.

Bit daft to think yours is the only opinion. Lots of Italians prefer Ischia over Capri because it's exorbitantly priced, over crowded, over exposed, and rather passe. The really rich often go elsewhere now because it's chock full of no account "influencers" trying to rub shoulders with the "greats". It used to be lovely, but I wouldn't go now.

bert3400 · 04/03/2023 16:02

Been a couple of times and never felt comfortable. There's alway an undercurrent of hostility and menance . As a tourist you stick out and I felt 'stared' at and very vunerable. Around the area are some beautiful sites and definitely worth a visit, but don't stay too long in Naples

LSSG · 04/03/2023 18:18

Yep loads of leary men, one kicked sand over me on the beach which was nice! But it was basically rife.

So1invictus · 04/03/2023 18:23

Quveas · 04/03/2023 15:59

Bit daft to say "I prefer Ischia it's where people in the know go". Ischia is where rich Italians who aren't rich enough for Capri go for a couple of days from their homes in Naples.

Bit daft to think yours is the only opinion. Lots of Italians prefer Ischia over Capri because it's exorbitantly priced, over crowded, over exposed, and rather passe. The really rich often go elsewhere now because it's chock full of no account "influencers" trying to rub shoulders with the "greats". It used to be lovely, but I wouldn't go now.

I know what Italians think.
What with living here.

cigarettesNalcohol · 04/03/2023 18:35

Quite smelly and dirty. But best Margherita pizza I've ever eaten. I enjoyed staying there though.

Frenchfancy · 04/03/2023 18:37

I've been to Naples twice, once for 3 days and the second time for a week at the request of our DCs. We loved it and would go back in a heart beat. It's so alive and there is so much to see.

If you want a Disneyfied version of Italy you won't like it.

Nimbostratus100 · 04/03/2023 18:48

I am confused by the word "edgy"

what does it mean?

safe, privileged middle class people who get a fission of excitement viewing poverty and crime close up while feeling like they are invulnerable personally.

I don't expect people living under a bit of corrugated iron with no sanitation stealing for a living find the experience "edgy"

DanseAvecLesLoup · 05/03/2023 19:19

Nimbostratus100 · 04/03/2023 18:48

I am confused by the word "edgy"

what does it mean?

safe, privileged middle class people who get a fission of excitement viewing poverty and crime close up while feeling like they are invulnerable personally.

I don't expect people living under a bit of corrugated iron with no sanitation stealing for a living find the experience "edgy"

I would say it is fairly subjective, if you are used to Sandals or similar all inclusive resorts behind compound walls with security then a trip to Naples could be seen as 'edgy' insofar as being out of ones comfort zone.

Personally I have been pulled over and questioned by armed militia in Nigeria, have been robbed in Cameroon, have driven through mine fields in Mauritania and have had to try and reason with a 15 year old drunk border guard in the DRC armed with an AK-47. I found Naples amazingly fascinating, the people welcoming, the food amazing and could not give a shit about the graffiti or rubbish.

TheUndoing · 05/03/2023 19:36

I went a few years ago and loved it. The food, the museums and the people watching in the piazzas were wonderful. Didn’t feel unsafe at all, even on public transport etc. If you’re used to London/Glasgow etc then I can’t imagine you’ll have any issues. The people were lovely (and not to descend into cliche but great with kids).

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