Naples on your own or with a tour?

We'll be in Naples in June 2013 for a day on our cruise. We sailed through in 2007 and at the time did a ship-sponsored tour that went to the Isle of Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii - an excellent tour all the way around. This time, though, we'd like to see a bit of Naples - and try some local pizza :) Because this is part of a back-to-back cruise and we'll have some ports where we know we'll spend a lot for shore excursions, we want to do some of the ports on our own. Because we have seen the "away from port" things in the Naples area that are often highlighted, we are considering whether Naples would be a good port to do on our own. We understand that there are always safety concerns but are hoping someone can share their tips and experiences in touring Naples via local transportation or local tour guides.

Thanks.

There is a great deal to see and do right in Naples, and most of it is within walking distance of the ship.

Naples has two world class museums, the Archeology museum (http://museoarcheologico****onale.campaniabeniculturali.it/) and the Capodimonte art museum (http://museodicapodimonte.campaniabeniculturali.it/) in addition to a variety of excellent smaller ones. My favorite is the Certosa di San Martino (museosanmartino.campaniabeniculturali.it), on the hill overlooking the cruise port.

There are also the amazing sculptures, including the famous "Veiled Christ" at the Cappella San Severo (http://www.museosansevero.it/).

For something different, there are the underground tours. I've done this one (http://www.napolisotterranea.org/naples-underground/?lang=en) a couple of times.

For some lovely peace and quiet in the middle of the city as well as well excavated ruins, there is the museum and cloisters of Santa Chiara (http://www.santachiara.info/ver_en/index.htm).

Just steps from the cruise port are three interesting sites to visit; the royal palace, the Teatro San Carlo opera house (http://www.teatrosancarlo.it/teatro/visita-il-san-carlo), and the civic museum at Castel Nuovo.

You can read about lots more on the city's tourism web site here: http://www.comune.napoli.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/EN/IDPagina/16991?5058747788153

euro_cruiser - thanks so much for the descriptions and the links! This is helpful. We are a family of four, two adults, two teenagers, so walking to places is absolutely doable. The underground tours sound interesting!

Most of the time we are in ports, we tend to either have an excursion that includes a local lunch or else we're back on the ship before we eat. In Naples, I want to try some local pizza after having seen a food show on tv several years ago about how they make the pizza there. So my quest will be to find a local place for lunch. If anyone has any recommendations, I'd love to hear it.

There's lots of great pizza in Naples. In the historic center, near the Archeology museum, Spaccanapoli, San Severo, etc. are Di Matteo (http://www.facebook.com/pages/PIZZERIA-DI-MATTEO/391814210598) and del Presidente (http://www.ilpizzaiolodelpresidente.it/). Closer to the train station is da Michele (http://damichele.net/?lang=en) and near the royal palace/Chiaia area is Porta Napoli, on Via Chiatamone, a one mile walk from the cruise port (no web site that I can find).

Last winter when I took the underground tour with our 23-year-old the rest of our group was a high school class from northern Virginia. Kids love it down there. Its also a great place to go in the summer as it's about 20 degrees cooler down there than at street level.

euro_cruiser - thanks so much for the descriptions and the links! This is helpful. We are a family of four, two adults, two teenagers, so walking to places is absolutely doable. The underground tours sound interesting!

 

Most of the time we are in ports, we tend to either have an excursion that includes a local lunch or else we're back on the ship before we eat. In Naples, I want to try some local pizza after having seen a food show on tv several years ago about how they make the pizza there. So my quest will be to find a local place for lunch. If anyone has any recommendations, I'd love to hear it.

Around the corner from Capella San Severo (Via Tribunale) are a bunch of restaurants lining the street. Sorbillo is an established pizza place, and it has another smaller restaurant a few doors down where the guy is cutting the dough, shaping it and putting it into the oven.... Also, stop and get from the street vendor for about 1.4 euro, a pastry--it's a sfa---something like that--or sp something or other--can't remember the long name, but my husband wants one right now....

We did the Palazzo Reale, (wanted to go to the Teatro San Carlo, but it was closed..do this--it's first before the Palazzo). Then we took an 8 euro cab ride (trust me---u won't find it on foot) to the Capella San Severo, walked around the corner (see above), found Spaccanapoli, then went back to the ship....I really highly recommend the Archaeological museum if u can fit it in. It is a masterpiece well worth visiting. Naples gets a bad rap, unfortuantely.

We did the

Thanks for the great tips! See, this is what's so great about trip planning - you can learn from people who have been there about things to do - and the details of info such as take the cab ride to find it is exactly the kind of planning tips I need! My Naples list is growing!

I would figure out how to get out of Naples. We decided to walk around a bit on our last cruise there. And if you search you may see a number of negative posts on Naples. The place is dirty, full of litter and garbage, smokers, unsavory characters, gangs of kids, loaded with flies and bugs (cockroaches), unfriendly people and vendors etc. After about 20 minutes we turned around and headed back to the ship. We also bumped in to a bartender we got to know from the ship. He was heading back to the ship too in disgust. So hire a driver or take a tour. We had done everything else previously in the area, so we thought a nice walk was in order. Big mistake.

One of the dangers of wandering off in any port without planning is that if you don't know where you are or where you're going, you run the risk of finding yourself in boring, or worse, parts of the town.

Naples isn't to everyone's taste, but it's been one of the major cities of Europe for thousands of years. There's a lot of history and art to be found there, if you know where to look.

Around the corner from Capella San Severo (Via Tribunale) are a bunch of restaurants lining the street. Sorbillo is an established pizza place, and it has another smaller restaurant a few doors down where the guy is cutting the dough, shaping it and putting it into the oven.... Also, stop and get from the street vendor for about 1.4 euro, a pastry--it's a sfa---something like that--or sp something or other--can't remember the long name, but my husband wants one right now....

Going through the links today and came across this:

sfogliatella (pronounced zfohl|yah|TELL|ah).

with a delightful picture that looks delicious! Adding this to our list!

A good place to find sfogliatelle (plural, assuming you'll have more than one) is in the Galleria, a shopping arcade across the street from the San Carlo opera house (less than a half mile walk from the cruise port). The shop is called Mary's, and it's right at the Via Toledo entrance to the Galleria (the Galleria is like a big cross, with four entrances).

Pictures that will help you locate Sfogliatella Mary can be found here: http://www.amoitaly.com/napoli/sfogliatella_mary.html

Thanks so much!

Our time in port is 7:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

If I had to put a plan in place today, here's what I think we would do:

1. Underground Tour. Starts at 10 a.m. and lasts 2 hours.

2. Pizza (allow an hour) somewhere between the underground tour and the archaeology museum

3. Archaeology Museum (allow 2 hours which I know isn't enough but probably all the teenagers will want to spend at this point in our trip - leave by 3:30)

4. Sfogliatelle at Mary's (because of course we have to have more than one!) - on the way back to the ship.

5. Walk back to the ship, arriving at least 30 minutes prior to sailing time.

I emailed the underground tour people today to get information on pricing and exact tour meeting location and also asked for a recommendation for pizza near there :) I'm also going to plot the other pizzerias to see which one(s) fall within our route.

Of course this is all subject to change :)

You've laid out a very doable day, and one that you can easily walk the entire way.

From the cruise port I would walk alongside Piazza Municipio to Via Medina, then take that to Via Monteoliveto, to Calata Trinita Maggiore, which brings you to Piazza Gesu Nuovo. This is one of the most important churches in Naples, and worth poking your head in for a moment or two.

From there I would continue down Via Bendetto Croce, past Santa Chiara and stay on this road (it's a pedestrian route), which is the heart of the section known as Spaccanapoli, until you get to Via San Gregory Armeno. Turn left and walk up this street, which is where many of the sellers of the famous Naples nativity scenes are located. It's fun to check out all of their pieces, which include lots of US politicians you can put in your nativity scene.

When you get to the next main cross street, Via Tribulani, you'll be at the entrance to the underground. The total walk as I've laid it out is 1.2 miles, the last half of which is on primarily pedestrian only roads.

Two of the pizza places I suggested, di Matteo (at # 94) and Il Presidente (at # 120), are located right on the same street, Via Tribulani, and so would be very easy to get to after your tour is over.

From there to the Archeology museum is about a half mile. You'll notice lots of students as you walk because there are several universities and a music conservatory in the area.

After the museum, the walk down Via Toldeo is a gentle downhill slope. You'll pass right by Sfogliatella Mary as you make your way back to the ship.

Going through the links today and came across this:

sfogliatella (pronounced zfohl|yah|TELL|ah).

with a delightful picture that looks delicious! Adding this to our list!

Yup!!! That's it! It's a very plain pastry with ricotta filling on the inside. Get 2--they go fast!

You've laid out a very doable day, and one that you can easily walk the entire way.

 

From the cruise port I would walk alongside Piazza Municipio to Via Medina, then take that to Via Monteoliveto, to Calata Trinita Maggiore, which brings you to Piazza Gesu Nuovo. This is one of the most important churches in Naples, and worth poking your head in for a moment or two.

 

From there I would continue down Via Bendetto Croce, past Santa Chiara and stay on this road (it's a pedestrian route), which is the heart of the section known as Spaccanapoli, until you get to Via San Gregory Armeno. Turn left and walk up this street, which is where many of the sellers of the famous Naples nativity scenes are located. It's fun to check out all of their pieces, which include lots of US politicians you can put in your nativity scene.

 

When you get to the next main cross street, Via Tribulani, you'll be at the entrance to the underground. The total walk as I've laid it out is 1.2 miles, the last half of which is on primarily pedestrian only roads.

 

Two of the pizza places I suggested, di Matteo (at # 94) and Il Presidente (at # 120), are located right on the same street, Via Tribulani, and so would be very easy to get to after your tour is over.

 

From there to the Archeology museum is about a half mile. You'll notice lots of students as you walk because there are several universities and a music conservatory in the area.

 

After the museum, the walk down Via Toldeo is a gentle downhill slope. You'll pass right by Sfogliatella Mary as you make your way back to the ship.

Thanks so much for this - because the one thing I forgot was to make sure we had a little time for souvenir shopping! We'll have to take a look at the politician nativity figures - hilarious. We were in St. Petersburg in 2010 and they had Matryoshka dolls that were various political figures over time. We chose to spend our money on a more traditional collection but they were fun to look at!

Which leads me to ask - is there something "traditional" that Naples is known for in terms of shopping - like Venice for glass?

Besides food items, the nativity cribs, or presepe in Italian, are what Naples is famous for. There are gigantic ones at the Certosa di San Martino museum as well as at the royal palace at Caserta.

You can read a bit more about them here (http://www.portanapoli.com/Eng/naples/san-gregorio-armeno.html) and here (http://www.italiannotebook.com/local-interest/presepe-napoli/).

There was 1 street we wandered down, and they had LOTS of little shops selling figurines with pizza ovens....

Spend $10 on the Rick Steves Italy book and you will be all set.

I would figure out how to get out of Naples. We decided to walk around a bit on our last cruise there. And if you search you may see a number of negative posts on Naples. The place is dirty, full of litter and garbage, smokers, unsavory characters, gangs of kids, loaded with flies and bugs (cockroaches), unfriendly people and vendors etc. After about 20 minutes we turned around and headed back to the ship. We also bumped in to a bartender we got to know from the ship. He was heading back to the ship too in disgust. So hire a driver or take a tour. We had done everything else previously in the area, so we thought a nice walk was in order. Big mistake.

WOW! Have been to Naples many times and recently (April 21) spent the entire day walking around town and also took the funicular to the upper (classier) part of the city. We must have done something horribly wrong because we missed the bugs, gangs of kids, unfriendly people and vendors. In fact, we had a lovely day, stopped for a few nice cups of Capuccino, had very good pizza for lunch, enjoyed chatting with some of the locals, etc. We will be back for 3 days this fall and might even spend one of those days again walking around the city looking for all this horrible stuff you describe.

Of course like any very old large city they do have their issues, too much grafitti, etc. Of course we have never have problems in US cities so this is all a new experience for us :)

Hank

Spend $10 on the Rick Steves Italy book and you will be all set.

We do have the Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise book and plan to take that with us.

WOW! Have been to Naples many times and recently (April 21) spent the entire day walking around town and also took the funicular to the upper (classier) part of the city.

Ooohhh, funicular... we'll have to look at that.

Having been in Naples twice, we would asvise booking a guide, especially if you want to see a lot, not walk a lot, and be told what you are looking at. We booked Marcello who owns "seesorrento". The tours were great and we were able to customize what we wanted to see in addition to what Marcello thought we should see.

... We were in St. Petersburg in 2010 and they had Matryoshka dolls that were various political figures over time. We chose to spend our money on a more traditional collection but they were fun to look at!...

When studying in preparation for our St. Petersburg visit in 2011, I found out that The Hermitage refuses to sell Matryoshka dolls because these dolls originated in China, not Russia.

WOW! Have been to Naples many times and recently (April 21) spent the entire day walking around town and also took the funicular to the upper (classier) part of the city. We must have done something horribly wrong because we missed the bugs, gangs of kids, unfriendly people and vendors. In fact, we had a lovely day, stopped for a few nice cups of Capuccino, had very good pizza for lunch, enjoyed chatting with some of the locals, etc. We will be back for 3 days this fall and might even spend one of those days again walking around the city looking for all this horrible stuff you describe.

 

Of course like any very old large city they do have their issues, too much grafitti, etc. Of course we have never have problems in US cities so this is all a new experience for us :)

 

Hank

Be still my heart, Hank is coming to the defense of Naples! (I hear the Hallelujah Chorus playing in the background.) One of these days Hank, you and I are going to be in Naples at the same time ... lunch or dinner at Il Garum (http://ilgarum.it/) will be in order.

Be still my heart, Hank is coming to the defense of Naples! (I hear the Hallelujah Chorus playing in the background.) One of these days Hank, you and I are going to be in Naples at the same time ... lunch or dinner at Il Garum (http://ilgarum.it/) will be in order.

LOL Euro. It almost "pains me" (not sure this makes sense) to defend your beloved Naples but our recent experience was pretty darn good. You would have been proud. DW and I walked for miles (we had a gorgeous day), strolled all the way to the Archeological Museum (the oft closed Pompeii collection had an open house) and later walked all the way into the center of town to get the funicular and then explored the upper part of town (they should call this the upper city). We even stumbled on a pretty good pizza place (it was crowded with locals so we figured it would be good) although DW still swears that the best pizza on earth is in New York City :)

Hank

Thanks again for all the great ideas and tips! I have marked this thread so after we are back next summer, I'll follow-up with what we actually end up doing in Naples.

One other thought I had this morning - we will be in search of some free wi-fi during our trip and I was thinking that some of the "on our own" days would be good days to do that. We're doing B2B cruises and Naples is on the second itinerary. We don't spend a lot of time "online" while traveling but we do like to check email and check in with family from the road (or the sea, in this case).

So any idea of how available free wifi hotspots are in Naples in the area we are looking at?

Oh, the Underground Tours people emailed me back that the tour prices are currently 9,30 Euro and they don't take reservations. We'll be in Naples on a Monday.

I have not found free wi-fi in Naples, so I use an internet cafe off of Via Toledo. It's pretty cheap, about 4 Euro for an hour. When we were there in March this year our oldest tried, without success, to connect to the wi-fi at the McDonald's near the port. You had to buy something and the code for the wi-fi was printed on your receipt, but even with that he was unable to connect.