# Naples: map, what to do and when to go

Naples is the capital of Campania, a baroque, noisy city on the bay, 40 minutes by train from Pompeii. It was the capital of a kingdom from 1266 to 1860, keeps a 2,500-year-old Greek grid at its center and sits between two active volcanoes, Vesuvius and the Campi Flegrei.

Canonical: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/napoles/
Language: en. Extended author commentary and itinerary notes may remain in Portuguese. Dates below belong to individual sources; this is not live availability.

## Direct answer
- **Naples: Do I need to buy the Pompeii ticket in advance?** Yes.
- **Naples: Does the metro reach the airport yet?** Not yet: the airport metro station's construction is over 95% complete, with opening announced for between late 2026 and 2027.
- **Naples: How much does it cost per day?** Plan on €60 to 100 a day on a budget and €130 to 200 in comfort, outside July and August.

## The Greek streets and the baroque center
Start the day at 9am at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale: the Alexander Mosaic, the bronzes from the Villa dei Papiri, the Farnese Bull and the Gabinetto Segreto; set aside 2 hours 30 minutes.
- Cappella Sansevero
- Museo Archeologico Nazionale (MANN)

## Vomero, Sanità and the underground
Take the funicular up to Vomero and start at the Certosa di San Martino, with Fanzago's cloister and the nativity-scene collection.
- Duomo and the Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro
- Certosa e Museo di San Martino and Castel Sant'Elmo
- Napoli Sotterranea and Galleria Borbonica
- Catacombs of San Gennaro

## Royal Palace, Capodimonte and the waterfront
Start at Piazza del Plebiscito with the Palazzo Reale and its monumental staircase; if a tour is running, step into the 1737 Teatro San Carlo.
- Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte
- Palazzo Reale, Galleria Umberto I, and Teatro San Carlo
- Castel dell'Ovo and Lungomare Caracciolo

## Cappella Sansevero
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/napoles/#g-lugar-cappella-sansevero
Nápoles
A funerary chapel remodeled by Raimondo di Sangro between 1749 and 1766, with the Veiled Christ carved by Giuseppe Sanmartino in 1753 from a single block of marble. Entry by timed slot on the museum's website; €12 full price, €8 for ages 18 to 26 and €6 for ages 10 to 17, and the most sought-after slots sell out days ahead.
Check access

## Museo Archeologico Nazionale (MANN)
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/napoles/#g-lugar-museo-archeologico-nazionale
Nápoles
Holds the Farnese collection (including the Farnese Bull, the largest ancient sculptural group ever found) and nearly everything that came out of Pompeii and Herculaneum: the Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun, the bronzes from the Villa dei Papiri, and the Gabinetto Segreto of Roman erotic art, open to the public only since 2000. Free admission on the first Sunday of the month.
Check access

## Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/napoles/#g-lugar-museo
Nápoles
A Bourbon palace begun in 1738, with more than 160 rooms and a 134-hectare park. Home to Caravaggio's Flagellation (1607–1610), Parmigianino's Antea, Titian, Masaccio, and the Farnese painting collection; tickets from about €8. It's 4 km north of the center, a bus ride uphill.
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## Duomo and the Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/napoles/#g-lugar-duomo
Nápoles · Up to half an hour
A Gothic cathedral commissioned by Charles I of Anjou, who died in 1285, and built mostly during the reign of his son, Charles II, with work underway in 1294. On its left side it incorporates the Basilica of Santa Restituta, from the 4th century. The baroque chapel of the patron saint holds the ampoules whose blood is the object of the liquefaction rite, three times a year, and the adjoining treasury has more goldsmith's work than many European crowns.
Check access

## Certosa e Museo di San Martino and Castel Sant'Elmo
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/napoles/#g-lugar-certosa
Nápoles
A charterhouse founded in 1325 and rebuilt in baroque style in the 17th century, high up in Vomero, with Cosimo Fanzago's cloister and its nativity-scene collection, including the Presepe Cuciniello, with more than 700 figures. Next door, Castel Sant'Elmo, a star fort from 1537, gives the most complete view of the city and the gulf.
Check access

## Napoli Sotterranea and Galleria Borbonica
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/napoles/#g-lugar-napoli-sotterranea
Nápoles
Two entrances into the same tuff subsoil: the first, on Via dei Tribunali, drops about 40 meters through the Greek-Roman aqueduct and air-raid shelters, with narrow candlelit stretches; the second, from Chiaia, runs through the military tunnel ordered by Ferdinand II in 1853, with cars and motorbikes abandoned there in the 1970s.
Check access

## Catacombs of San Gennaro
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/napoles/#g-lugar-catacumbas-de-san-gennaro
Nápoles
The largest early Christian cemetery in southern Italy, on two levels dug into the tuff from the 2nd century on, with 5th-century frescoes and San Gennaro's earliest known tomb. Run since 2006 by a youth cooperative from Rione Sanità, and the ticket usually includes the catacombs of San Gaudioso too.
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## Pio Monte della Misericordia
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/napoles/#g-lugar-pio-monte-della-misericordia
Nápoles
A charitable institution founded in 1602 and still active, whose octagonal church holds on its high altar The Seven Works of Mercy, painted by Caravaggio in 1607 for that exact spot. The canvas is one of the painter's few works that have never left their original setting. The picture gallery upstairs is small and almost always empty.
Check access

## Palazzo Reale, Galleria Umberto I, and Teatro San Carlo
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/napoles/#g-lugar-palazzo-reale-galleria-umberto-i
Nápoles · Up to half an hour
A group around Piazza del Plebiscito: the 1600 palace, designed by Domenico Fontana, with its monumental staircase and royal apartments; the opera house inaugurated in 1737, Europe's oldest in continuous operation, visitable on a guided tour; and the 1887–1890 iron-and-glass shopping arcade, with a 57-meter-high cross under its dome.
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## Castel dell'Ovo and Lungomare Caracciolo
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/napoles/#g-lugar-castel-dell-ovo
Nápoles
The city's oldest castle, on the small tuff islet of Megaride where the Greeks landed, with Norman and Aragonese fortifications and free admission. A short bridge connects it to Borgo Marinari, and from there run about 3 km of waterfront closed to traffic since 2012, between Santa Lucia and Mergellina.
Check access

**Naples: Do I need to buy the Pompeii ticket in advance?**
Yes. Since November 2024 the Pompeii ticket is named and capped at 20,000 visitors a day, with time slots in high season, so buy online days ahead.

**Naples: Does the metro reach the airport yet?**
Not yet: the airport metro station's construction is over 95% complete, with opening announced for between late 2026 and 2027. Until it opens, ANM's Alibus leaves every 20 minutes and takes 15 to 25 minutes to Piazza Garibaldi and the port.

**Naples: How much does it cost per day?**
Plan on €60 to 100 a day on a budget and €130 to 200 in comfort, outside July and August. An espresso at the counter costs about €1.20, and the margherita runs €6 to 8 at a neighborhood pizzeria.

**Naples: When's the best time to go?**
From April to June and from September to October, with 18 to 28°C and the sea still good for swimming in September. August is the month to avoid, because of the heat above 30°C and neighborhood shops closed around Ferragosto.

**Naples: How do you drink coffee at the bar?**
At the bar, the order is to pay at the register, hand the receipt to the barista and drink standing at the counter, where espresso costs the least.


## In the Nilo app
- Plan these 2 days on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/guide/napoles/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-itinerary
- Mark your hotel on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/map/napoles/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-stay

## Full editorial guide (Portuguese)
https://nilopelomundo.com/llm/napoles.md