Essential to do list with one day in Naples?
 

Hello, my parents and I will be traveling the Amalfi coast for about a week and will probably have no more than one full day in Naples. Reading the guides, so many things sound essential, I would love some tailor-made advice! With only one day, we don't want to "sight-hop," I'd rather hone in on one neighborhood we can explore and get lost in. Even if it means skipping the best museum, we prefer just walking around and getting a feel for a place, hopefully visiting a beautiful historical sight or two along the way, but also just getting a feel for the city. Also, I would note that I am a much bigger fan of Medieval/Renaissance architecture than Baroque.

With a full day I guess we could do one neighborhood in the morning and another in the afternoon, are there any recommended walking tours for us? And of course recs. for down-to-earth trattorias or pizzerie would be very welcome.

Thanks!

mp413

Darn...I forgot to mention that our full day can occur either on a Sunday or a Friday (depending if we stay there the day after arriving or the day before leaving). Which day would be the better day to see Naples?

mp, we followed Rick Steve's walking tour of Naples. It gave clear directions and took us to many of the highlights. We started with a visit to the Museo Acheologico Nazionale and then walked through the Spaccanapoli area. Veiled Christ at Cappella Sansevero is incredible. Friday would be a better day to see any of the churches and museums because the churches have shorter opening times on Sunday. Deborah

Visit to the Museum Acherologico to see the Pompeii Stuff,
Coffee at Caffe Gambrinus http://www.caffegambrinus.com/
Then a stroll around this older neighborhood
quick visit to Herculanum can be done in 2-3 hours with ease.

We also had just one day in Naples out of our week in that area. Here's what I wrote from my trip report:

Napoli – You either love it or hate it, most people seem to hate it. I found it really interesting, am very glad I went, and am equally glad I didn’t stay there or spend more than one day. We were there about 7 hours including lunch, and that was a good amount of time. I was ready to leave by then. We took the train there, did the “historical walk” that I put together from Fodors, Frommers and Rick Steeves, spent just over an hour in the Archaeological Museum, had pizza at a little café, saw Galleria Umberto I, Piazza Plebiscito, and Castel Nuovo and took the boat back to Sorrento.

I have to say I didn’t expect some of the magnificent buildings – you read so much about the narrow streets with laundry flapping in the breeze (of which there are plenty) and the churches but there are some really impressive buildings. Galleria Umberto was amazing – much better than it’s equals in Paris or London. But there was another galleria, right across from the Archaeological museum that I had not even read about that was just beautiful. Chiesa Santa Chiara’s tiled cloister is fabulous. The pizza really is the best I have ever eaten (and I’m originally from New York). The traffic is really as awful as everyone says – the only way to cross a street is to wait till a local is going and stick right next to them. The cars will not stop until you are actually in the street in front of them. And I guess you just have to have faith that they are not too busy texting someone to notice that you stepped in front of them. I guess I consider Naples a “site” like Pompeii – something to experience, to see – but not exactly a place to linger or enjoy. But I don’t really think you can say you experience southern Italy without it (just like I don’t think you can say you experience Sicily without Palermo, which by comparison with Napoli is rather subdued).

Rest of the trip report is here: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rful-weeks.cfm

Naples is our nearest big city, and we're there fairly often - but had a particularly enjoyable Sunday visit with a friend who was staying with us at the time.

For a sight of the local people at play, such as few visitors ever get, try the "Sunday in Mergellina" gallery here...
http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/mainlynaples

And if you wanted something else to see as well as the small but historic Aquarium and the Castel dell'Ovo, just behind the 'Villa Comunale' gardens, there's also....

http://www.incampania.com/en/benicul...3&Info_ID=4295

(Closing time is around 13:30/14:00. Most sources have it closed on Tuesdays but a few say it's Wednesdays?)

Peter

PS - Just in case you've not found them, for the Region's tourism website (better in some parts than others), see...

http://www.incampania.com/en/index.cfm

...and the city's own one starts here...

http://www.comune.napoli.it/flex/cm/...IDPagina/13548

Thanks so much for this very useful information. I made a mistake, our choice is between a Friday or Saturday. Which would make more sense for a day to spend in the city? I am thinking Friday is probably hectic with everyone running around to work/errands, while Saturday may be a bit calmer assuming a lot of people leave town for the wknd? Any advice would be very appreciated.

I definitely want to walk through Spaccanapoli, the Spanish Quarter, if we are going to spend a day at Pompeii should we still spend time in the Naples Archeological museum?

I'm glad to hear that with a full day/night we're not doing Naples to much injustice, at least we can hopefully come away feeling like we got a good feel for it!

Thanks again,

mp413

On our first trip to Naples we found a week not long enough !

IMO with only one day you should just concentrate on the historic centre around Spaccanapoli as the heart and essence of the place. In addition to just wandering round plus visiting the Capello Sansevero as already recommended, I suggest (as the sights in the historic centre which I found most interesting) the Duomo including baptistry & excavations, the church & gallery of Pio Monte della Misercordia (has a fab Caravaggio) and the church of San Lorenzo Maggiore including excavations. The Castel Nuovo is also worth visiting. If you are interested in contemporary art, MADRE is also worth a visit.

In the Spanish Quarter you may enjoy the via Pignasecca market, especially if you don't have street markets at home.

Personally I was underwhelmed by the Archaeological Museum.

If you think you have time, the most interesting sight of all IMO are the Catacombe di San Gennaro but they are out of the centre, up towards Capodimonte. (We got the bus.)

Have lunch at the Antica Pizzeria Da Michele for the most authentic experience & it's ridiculously cheap - €5 for a pizza & a beer when we were there (take a ticket & tell the person on the door how many you are, to reserve your place in the queue – we waited c.15-20 minutes at lunchtime). And drink a Negroni from one of the bars and eat pastries from the bakery in the Piazza San Domenico Maggiore.

Re Friday/Saturday, I'd just check the opening hours of the places I want to visit, to see if one is better than the other. (When it was Fri/Sun I would have agreed with Deborah as Sunday is not so good for churches.)

Hi mp,

If nothing else, visit the Veiled Christ at Cappella Sansevero.

http://www.museosansevero.it/index_ing.html

((I))