Tours in Napoli

Naples is loud, steep and layered. Tours in Naples mostly run two ways: into the old town, or out to Pompeii and the coast. The old centre has UNESCO status and still follows the grid of Greek Neapolis.

The old town, street by street

Spaccanapoli follows the lower decumanus of that grid. The first three stops sit between the two main streets.

• Sansevero Chapel. The Veiled Christ, a minute from Via dei Tribunali.
• Santa Chiara. A majolica cloister beside Piazza del Gesù.
• Underground Naples. Greek tufa quarries, Roman aqueduct, later wartime shelter, forty metres below the street.
• Plebiscito and the sea. The Royal Palace, Galleria Umberto I, and Castel dell'Ovo at the water.

Two museums, two sets of rules

Sansevero and the Archaeological Museum both close on Tuesdays. Pompeii stays open.

• Sansevero, by slot. Every visit is a booked half-hour slot, released two months ahead, with more tickets two days before. Ten minutes late, the slot lapses.
• The Archaeological Museum. Last entry is 18:30. Pick the Farnese sculptures and the Pompeii frescoes, and go straight there. Rooms close for works; check the schedule that day.
• First Sunday. State museums are free, this one included, but its Egyptian rooms and Secret Cabinet shut. Sansevero charges 12 euros every day.

Pizza, and the paper cone

Pizza is not only dinner. The historic Da Michele opens at eleven daily and takes no bookings. The queue is the booking.

• Four pizzas. Margherita, marinara, cosacca and marita, which is half of each of the first two.
• The bill. A margherita is about six and a half euros, with a one-euro coperto. Half a litre of water is two.
• The rules. EU law protects the name: wood oven, 485C, 60 to 90 seconds.
• Street counters. A cuoppo is a paper cone of fried fish or small mozzarella bites. Pizza a portafoglio is the folded, wallet-style one.

Leaving Naples for the day

Group minivans collect at the port and a hotel, around eight.

• Pompeii, Herculaneum and Vesuvius. Some group prices cover Vesuvius but not the two sites.
• Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi. Eight hours by minivan: ninety minutes in Sorrento, one hour in Positano, ninety in Amalfi. The rest is road.
• Capri. By hydrofoil from the port, close to an hour each way, or by boat from Piano di Sorrento after a road transfer.
• Onward by car. Private transfers with a sightseeing stop run on to Matera, Lecce and Florence.

Practical

• Weather. July and August highs reach 30C and 31C. January is 13C by day and 5C at night. October to December is the wet stretch, 110 to 150 mm a month.
• Airport. The Alibus costs 5 euros and links the central station and the port, with the last bus from the airport at midnight.
• Tips. At Da Michele the menu calls service free and a tip optional.
• Theft. Watch bags in stations and on crowded trains.
• Traffic. The old town is a ZTL: cameras fine cars that enter without a pass.
• Day-trip tickets. Pompeii tickets carry a name and daily entries are capped. The Vesuvius crater path sells timed tickets online only.