Naples Travel Guide, Italy

Naples

Being a port and a lot of liners docking on its port, a lot of visitors embark and disembark every day so when a ship arrives you are expected to see a lot of people filling the port quite quickly. They mostly visit the center of the city and many of them can have a very unpleasant first contact with the city as there are a lot of pickpockets in the port area waiting like vultures to mug the naïve tourists who disembark from the cruise to visit the “charming“ city. But if you are aware of this danger and pay attention, not wearing anything precious over your clothes (necklaces, rings, expensive watches any precious jewelry must be really concealed) you are safe and can go about visiting the city without threat. Americans beware as you are the potential target for these muggers!

Germans usually go to Ischia till June to the spa while rich Americans go to Capri. English prefer Sorento.

People

The Neapolitans are a bit different from the rest of Italians or so they say, they are more patient, tolerant you won’t see many cars bumping into each other like in Rome, and drivers swearing and always rushing somewhere.

Transport

You can not buy the ticket on the bus you can buy it from an automatic machine, from the newsagents, grocers (if it happens to be near the bus station). There are no weekly tickets you can buy a ticket for the whole day or for the whole month. If you buy a ticket it is valid on all means of transport. Besides the bus other means of transport include the funicular, trams and the underground. The buses do not have fixed timetables so it is pretty unsure when the bus is going to come and go on any route! The funicular though is the only one to have a timetable and it runs every 10 min till midnight. They are 4 funiculars and they run on 4 sides of the city up and down the hill. The only way you can travel with the funiculars is either up or down the hill no left or right.

The bay is very beautiful and offers a marvelous view with ocean liners and boats. You can see the waterfront by taking the “metro del mare” a kind of boat is small and fast like the vaporetto in Venice, but this does not run in winter. The ferryboat goes throughout the year and link Capri and Ischia. Procida is favored by the Neapolitans as it is the poorer sister of Capri and it is not so developed from a touristic point of view.

Attractions

There are a lot of parallel and perpendicular streets and it is easy to find your way around. Among the attractions you can count Santa Chiara with a famous cloister made of ceramic. If you look up from the church you can see Castel Sant'Elmo, then there are the San Carlo Theatre, the Opera House, Palazo Reale, Maschio Angioino (a beautiful castle), Castel del Ovo, Borgo Marinaro which is like a little bay full of boats and yachts. Neapolitans like to take their boats for the weekend and spend some time on water. Castle San Telmo is up the hill and from there you have a nice overview of the city, you must not miss the opportunity to get up there.

Nightlife

There are a lot of places to go to have fun during the night, Happy Rock Café and Joys are some of them. Bausan Street is a famous one and you can have Spanish, Portuguese, Latin American dishes and live music.

Food

If you want to taste some typical Neapolitan food choose the Spaghetty con le Vongole (mussels), Calamari, Pasta e zuchinni, Parmigiana, Zuchine alla Scarpece, and any type of sea food and of course pizza is delicious too. Among the sweets there is the Baba(a soft cake with rum inside), and Pastiera.

Among the restaurants worth mentioning are the Ciro, LA Bersaliera, I Re di Napoli, some non expensive ones are Donna Teresa in Vomero near Castel San Telmo, few people know about it is quite small and hidden but serves delicious, inexpensive food.

email to a friendAsk our travel experts a question about Naples
ask now

Things about Naples you may be interested in

• Naples Reviews
• Naples Travel tips

 

+ list your site

 

ReviewsTravel TipsWrite a reviewWrite a travel tip

 

 

Read our members' reviews about Naples

• A weekend in Naples
  review by Wazling posted more then 30 days ago
  Naples itself isn't a very beautiful city, in my oppinion. In its outskirts often look spoiled and dirty. The city center looks better, but cant compete with the centers of other big cities. Besides that, Naples has got an exceptional archelogical museum, you really should visit, if you're...

view all

 

Read our members' travel tips about Naples

• Via Calabritto
  travel tip by MadSuh posted more then 30 days ago
  If you want to enjoy luxury shopping in Naples, Via Calabritto is a 'must see'. The street runs from Piazza dei Martiri to Piazza Vittoria. There are only 400 meters of shopping, but they are full of super high end shops like Louis...
• Virgiliano Park
  travel tip by MadSuh posted more then 30 days ago
  The Virgiliano Park ('Parco della Rimembranza') is in the Posillipo district, a residential area of Naples. The park was built with a system of terraces, which are located just outside the Gulf. From the park you can enjoy the...
• Museo Cappella Sansevero
  travel tip by MadSuh posted more then 30 days ago
  The Sansevero museum is located in a former chapel in the old town of Naples. Inside there is one of the city's main attractions: the statue of the veiled Christ. The statue was created by the artist Giuseppe di SanMartino and represents...

view all

 

 

Community

Members Who Have Been to Naples

See who has been to Naples and ask them a question (membership required)

MadSuh ask a question add to friends

SOUDHA ask a question add to friends

JackRussel ask a question add to friends

Wazling ask a question add to friends

 

show all

 

 

the best travel deals provided by TravelZoo...