My husband and I are planning on spending two nights in Naples before heading to Capri and Sorrento. We are looking for a reasonably priced but nice hotel (Euro160 / 220 USD or less per night).

We are having a really difficult time deciding where to stay... near the ferry station making it easier to go to Capri or somewhere near the centre of the city? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

After a lot of study (like you're doing) we decided on two nights at the Mercure Napli Angionino Centro. We took the special bus from the airport to the Municipio stop, which is a block from the hotel and a block from the port. The hotel is not unlike a nice US business hotel, and was within your budget. In fact it seemed mainly to be Italian business people staying there. When we were headed out by boat (to Ischia) we merely pulled our suitcases the two blocks to the port and were on our way.

The hotel was well located for exploring the city. And there were a number of nice restaurants in the area. The included breakfast was quite good also.

I would recommend Napoliday ( www.napoliday.it). It is technically a B&B, although we found it more like a boutique hotel. It is in a great location in the Chiaia area - in the middle of great restaurants, nightlife, shopping, etc. - and you can walk almost anywhere from there. The people are great at Napoliday. It runs about 120 Euro per night.

I am also confused by the various neighborhoods in Naples as far as where to stay. Many books recommend the seafront area..Via Partenope, etc. Is this a convenient area for sights as well?

ekscruncy, we stayed in the historic center (Costantinopoli 104) because our primary purpose in visiting Naples was to see the archaeology museum and Pompeii. In retrospect, being a bit of a claustrophobe, I wish we had stayed either up on the hill or down by the water so I could see out, have a sense of space. We were there only three nights so the location was perfect for what we wanted to do, however.

Sara and Eckscrunchy,

I was very happy with Hotel Pinto Storey, a 3* in the Chiaia district. Right across Piazza Amadeus from the metro stop of the same name. In an historic building on the 5th floor and very nicely renovated.

Fresh squeezed blood orange juice with breakfast, A/C, and double paned windows for quiet. In Sept my single room was 85E + 11E for A/C which had been turned off for the season.

Buon viaggio!

Thanks to both of you. Ann Marie: I am very impressed by the review of the hotel you stayed at. (Constantinopoli 104)

Did the area feel safe at night?

I stayed at the Hotel Rex
http://www.hotel-rex.it/en/index.htm
I was just there for one day/night, but the location was perfect, very close to the water and within walking distance to everything I wanted to see. Highly recommend the hotel and the area of Santa Lucia.

I stayed in November at the Chiaja Hotel de Charme, listed in KarenBrown.com Italy hotels. It's in the Chiaja district, a little quieter, a walking street. the center of naples is noisy, crazy, hustle bustle, not unsafe. From here we ate great pizza at Mattozi, and could walk to the water area, and ate great fish one night down by the castle and water. Need to take a taxi from the train station or airport to get there. the hotel is converted from a prince's palace, quite nice, attractive, rooms open onto a kind of courtyard between buildings, can kind of hear kids playing, but pleasant local feeling.

ekscrunchy, we did feel safe at night and would walk around the area of where we stayed after dinner. I'm sorry we didn't devote more time to Naples and hope some day to return. And yes the hotel is wonderful and a quiet respite from the bustling city.

Thanks everyone for your replies...much appreciated. Now, I need to narrow down and make a choice from all of your great ideas!!

Yes, thanks to all...

We stayed last year for a week at the Executive and were very pleased with it, largely due to the convenient location - on the edge of the historic centre, a short walk to the ferry port & the Teatro San Carlo & near a good street for getting buses. I did spend a lot of time researching exactly where to stay, including buying a very large scale street map.

The Santa Lucia/Partenope area is where the grand old hotels are but to me it felt a bit cut off from the centre - I get the impression that a lot of people who stay there only dine around there as they think it's unsafe to go into the centre. Chiaia was nice but I preferred being more central.

Here's a link to my trip report in case it helps - http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34830452

My husband and I really enjoyed the Constantinopoli 104. I thought the location was just about perfect, as it was very central and yet very safe. The hotel was lovely. Here is my trip report - I discuss the hotel in it.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34864603

Sally