You need to state your budget.

I've seen good recommendations for hotels right around the archeological museum in Napoli. Don't forget to check venere.com for user reviews, and they have helpful maps as well.

Totally agree with the Naples crowd...Sorrento would be redundant to what you have already seen and has nothing new to offer you after the rest of your vacation is taken into account.

SO much easier to manage an early flight from Naples, and you can find an area of town that suits your needs and your budget.

I am a big fan of Naples, BTW and find it is often put down as a destination when it actually has amazing vistas, wonderful welcoming people, fine architecture, hotels and history. The pizzas not bad, either.

By the way, you won't need "protection." Napoli is not dangerous for tourists. At all! (Barcelona and NYC are worse. Truly). But you do need to watch your wallet. Don't carry anything that can't be replaced. Carry only a copy of your passport.

Some years ago a young male tourist was taking pictures in one of the oldest, poorest, most-alley ridden parts of Napoli. Somebody yanked his expensive digital camera out of his hands. He chased the thief -- which provoked neighborhood youths to take sides against him, and he got a beating (and not his camera back). So there you've heard the worst of it. Tell your son not to take on the local street toughs.

But I wouldn't hesitate to go to Napoli by myself. If I thought I'd needed help, I'd ask a Neopolitan. They're very chivalrous.

So is the area around the museum pretty good? There were some well ranked hotels there, but I thought it was very close to the train station, and therefore not recommended. I remember reading BobtheNavigator's trip report, and it seems to me he stayed near the bay. I would hope to spend no more than 150E per night and am more comfortable with 120E. Have you rented a car in Naples? My understanding is that you don't want to drive in Naples. Period. How do you avoid that if you rent a car?

To clarify - I mean when it comes time to leave Naples, we will rent a car. So it is just a matter of getting out of the city.

Don't drive a car in Napoli. Period.

The standard advice is to stay near the bay in Napoli. It's the wealthiest part of the city. It is the one most kitted-out for foreign tourists. It has high-end shopping. Some hotels there have shuttles to the train station (I think the Mercure does).

But you need to stay there, and other parts of the city, near the theatre, and near the museum, are just as safe. User reviews on tripadvisor and venere usually talk about whether people felt comfortable there. 150E per night is a generous budget for Napoli.

There is one piazza directly facing the train station that is the locus of many poor immigrants, street vendors, street chaos, often dirty. That's what is unnerving. But even that is not dangerous. No one will attack you. But most people prefer to bed in places that give them a greater sense of well-being.

If your comfort zone is about something a little bit visibly affluent, hint of stability, then head for the beach. Organized crime owns the waterfront, but that's another story, and it's probably why it has a little more dough than the rest of town. But if are close to the older center of town, you'll be just as safe, and you'll save a few steps to the museum and a euro on your taxi fare.

Where are you going after Napoli?

TYPO ALERT: I should have typed you "DON"T NEED" to stay near the bay.

Nancy, I strongly recommend Decumani Hotel de Charme.

http://www.decumani.it/en/

Very inexpensive, beautiful rooms, great staff and best of all a perfect location: smack in the middle of the historic center in a pedestrian area. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Agree w/ zeppole again: the waterfront area is NOT where you want to say.

Also, the Decumani is right near the museum.

Also the Decumani website doesn't do it rooms justice. Not only very nice, but BIG (including 15-20 ft. ceilings). Check out the photos in the "Room and Rate" section. I've never stayed in a nicer (room or location) €100/night hotel.

I will definitely check the hotel out - as I recall it was very favorably reviewed on TripAdvisor.
We are considering two options upon leaving Naples. If we stay in Naples three nights, we would head to Tuscany. The other option is to stay in Naples only two nights, and then go south to Paestum area for one night, before heading up to Tuscany. I really want to see Paestum, and can't figure whether it would be better as a day trip from Naples, or to do in the car, and then go on from there.

If you are going to Paestum (great idea), simply take the train from Napoli to Salerno and rent your car in Salerno (and use it go to Paestum, then on to Toscana).

Sounds like a great plan. I have just re-read my posts and your answers from 2 months ago Zeppole, addressing many of the same issues. I keep putting the planning of this down, and then picking it back up again, but I feel much more comfortable now in my decisions, and your input has been invaluable. There will surely be more questions, but I am happy with my resolve to stay in Naples.

Great. I hope you have a great trip with your son. Be sure to have some artichokes if you head to Paestum in the fall. That's prime artichoke season, and Paestum's are famous.