The best things to see and do in Naples
We spent three nights in Napoli, on the west coast of Italy in May. This lively city has so much going on, and it’s also the perfect base for taking day trips to Pompeii, Capri, Sorrento, and the Amalfi coast. These were our favourite things to do in Naples.
The best things to do in Naples
Centro Storico and Spaccanapoli
The historic centre of Naples is a series of narrow, cobbled streets lined with bars, restaurants, and souvenir shops with churches and other historic buildings in between.
On any day of the week, but especially weekends, these streets are packed with both locals and tourists and street vendors and you can find everything from €2 Aperol spritzes to folded pizzas and cones of fried food. It’s loud and busy, but the vibe is great.
Quartieri Spagnoli and vía Toledo
Even louder and busier than Centro Storico is Quartieri Spagnoli, another area of crowded narrow streets just next to Via Toledo. Via Toledo is the main shopping street in the city, and its Metro station is said to be one of the most beautiful in Europe.
Quartieri Spagnoli leads slightly uphill from Toledo with some streets offering a view across the bay to Mount Vesuvius. There are even more street vendors, people trying to get you into their bars (which is worth it – the drinks are cheap and are often served with pizza fritta and other delicious snacks), stag and hen dos, motorcycles, tourists…
Basically the streets are packed. But it’s fun and lively and makes you want to get involved, not run away!!
Chiaia
This upmarket neighbourhood makes a more peaceful change from the bustle of the Spanish Quarter or the Historic Centre of Napoli. It’s a lovely spot to wander for a few hours or to head to for a fancier dinner.
Museo Cappella Sansevero
One of the famous sites in Naples is Cappella Sansevero, a small chapel that is home to a veiled sculpture of Christ. It costs €12 to enter the chapel and tickets do sell out so you should book ahead. You can also book tickets through third-party tour operators but these usually come at a large mark-up.
The chapel is not big – you can walk around it in under 15 minutes – but the statues and sculptures inside are amazing works of art which are worth seeing if you can get a standard ticket (but possibly not worth the 2x more expensive guided tour tickets, in my opinion).
Piazza del Plebiscito
This large piazza is close to the waterfront in Naples, and often hosts big cultural events. It’s surrounded by some of the city’s major buildings and is one of the best known tourist spots in the area.
Day trip to Capri
Naples is a port town, which means its easy to get to lots of the surrounding islands and towns by ferry. One of the most popular destinations for day trips from Naples is Capri, which takes about 50 minutes by boat.
Capri lives up to the hype. Despite being a tourist hotspot, the island is beautiful and peaceful. The streets of Capri town can get busy, and the restaurants are unsurprisingly a lot more expensive than those in Naples, but it is definitely worth a visit.
We caught an SNAV ferry in the morning and spent most of our day exploring Capri, before getting another ferry to Sorrento and catching a train back to Naples from there. The area is so well connected and the transport is very affordable.
Found out more about our day trip from Naples to Capri here.
Day trip to Sorrento
We included our trip to Sorrento in our day trip to Capri, but you could easily make this one day on its own. Sorrento is a beautiful town south of Naples just on the edge of what is considered the Amalfi coast.
From Naples, you can catch the number 13 train, which takes 1 hour 10 minutes and runs very frequently. Sorrento has plenty of bars and restaurants, shopping streets, and private beach areas to explore. For us, a day trip was plenty of time to get a feel for the town without needing to stay longer, but it’s also a very popular holiday destination in its own right – however it is much more expensive than Naples so making Naples your base makes a trip to Sorrento more affordable!
Day trip to Pompeii
The ancient town of Pompeii is just 30 minutes from Naples on the 13 train. The city was buried under ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD and the excavation site is incredibly well preserved. I wasn’t prepared for quite how big it would be, either! The site is huge and you can see everything from bath houses and brothels to fully preserved murals and even the encased bodies of victims at the site.
It’s definitely worth a trip to Pompeii from Naples, but be aware that there are very few signs on the site so following some sort of guide is recommended.
Find out more about our day trip to Pompeii from Naples here.
Eat and drink
The food and drink scene in Naples is incredible, and also very affordable. The city is the birthplace of pizza, so obviously you’ll find some amazing Neapolitan pizzas on every corner. But there are also some incredible pasta and seafood spots and vendors selling smaller, fried snacks all over the place as well. I could easily have spent a full day exploring the culinary options in Naples.
Find out more about our favourite places to eat and drink in Naples here.