Naples is the third largest city in Italy after Rome and Milan. It’s a wonderful city to explore, steeped in history with an abundance of churches and museums. It is also the perfect base to explore The Amalfi Coast and Sorrento as well the the ancient Roman sites of Herculaneum and Pompeii.
The city has several districts including – Copodimonte and I Virgini, Castel Dell’ovo and Chiaia. When we visited we focused mainly on Toledo and Castel Nuovo, Spaccanapoli, Vomero and Decumano Maggiore. There is so much to see and do that a few days is only enough to get a taste of what the city has to offer.
It’s a city of contrasts – Churches dripping with gold on the inside but covered in grafitti on the outside, wonderful architecture and crumbling buildings, large boulevards and narrow streets. There is also alot of dogs mess on the pavements, so keep your eyes peeled. Poverty, beggars and homelessness are also evident which is sad. The city does have a poor [or good] reputation for pickpockets, you should take care especially at night time in areas such as Quartieri Spagnoli and the train station. We had no problems on our visit and had a lovely time but it’s worth being vigilant.
Airport Transfer
We hopped on to the Alibus to Napoli Centrale Train Station. There are buses every 20 minutes or so and the journey time is around 30 minutes.
Getting around
There are Metro lines, buses, trams and taxis, so there are plenty of options to get around the city. We used the Metro a fair amount and our leggies! Some of the Metro stations were visually stunning.
There are also four Funicular railways which are the most fun way to travel up the steep hills in Naples. We used the Circumvesuviana commuter train service for our trips to Pompeii and Herculaneum which are on the Sorrento line. The main terminal is on Corso Garibaldi, just around the corner from Stazione Centrale.
Accomodation
As one would expect there are a huge range of accommodation options. We stayed at the centrally located Correra 241 Lifestyle Hotel a rather eccentrically decorated small hotel centrally located near Dante Metro station. The entrance was not very grand but we enjoyed our stay here which was enhanced by the fact that it was built into volcanic rock and had access to an ancient Greek/Roman aquaduct.
Click on the links below for more information on Naples and surrounding area.
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