Hotels in Naples

- I like Naples even more than Florence! - The local people are so friendly and eager to help! - As the museums and sights are great and I took a photo from each angle of an excellent object, I just managed to visit between one and three major places each day. - Contrary to popular belief, Napoli is reasonably clean with many rubbish bins around. It's very easy to travel around. The Artecards save tourists lots of money and trouble. - Ercolano is much better than Pompeii, partly because, I guess, lots of artworks have been removed and put in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, (which you mustn't miss!). I went to both on the same day. - Museo Cappella Sansevero is highly recommended in many guides, but the ticket is 7 euros (5 euros with the Artecard) as it's a private museum, and the great marble sculpture advertised in many places is truly amazing, but then it's the only major thing to be seen in this surprisingly small museum. - Teatro di San Carlo is another sight which isn't good value. It's 6 euros but you just went in and stayed at a place listening to introductions (The staff member introduced the place in both English and Italian. The English version was obviously much shorter than the Italian one) and moved to two other parts and did the same thing. It's a magnificient place but it's just a limited access tour of about 40 minutes. - The other places that I visited were all awe-inspiring, breathtaking and eye-openers: Besides those mentioned above, great tourist spots include Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Castel Sant' Elmo, Castel Nuovo, Caserta Palace and Capri Island. The metro stations of Toledo and Universita are both marvellous!

The southern part of the city (where we stayed) is lot safer, cleaner, and tourist friendly. Take a walk along the boulevard, Castel dell'Ovo, Plebiscito, Castel Nuovo, Via Chiaia, Via Toledo etc. Lots of restaurants and shops too in this area. The historic center is the old part, and also looks less well maintained. Worth a visit to the archeaological museum, and the famous Gino Sorbillo pizzeria where you need to queue up for a table. (If you cannot make it, they have a newer outlet on the boulevard in Via Partenope). The trains/metro are old and crappy but they help to get to all places. Just be careful of pickpockets when travelling in them. Naples is a working city, and I did'nt see a lot many tourists (atleast not in early december). Take the Circumvesuviana train and make a day trip to Pompei and take the guided tour there. It costs 13 eur p.p + 11 euro entry ticket p.p and takes 2 hours. In the afternoon visit the Vesuvius which involves a short hike to the top of the crater. Another day trip we took was to Capri. The high-speed ferry from Molo beverllo costs 19 euro p.p one way. In Capri a variety of things can be done, like taking the boat ride of the island, and visiting the Blue Grotto. When we visited the Blue Grotto closed at 12.30 pm and we were just too late. So we went up the funiculaire, got out at Piazza Umberto I, and hiked down via Tragara to the beautiful Faraglioni rocks. The route is well signposted, and involves roughly 15 minutes of moderate hiking. In the afternoon you can take the ferry to Sorrento, which is a beautiful town, with a variety of shops, some nice views, and restaurants more affordable than Capri. For us food was the biggest highlight. Great food at great prices. You will never go hungry anywhere in Naples.

Naples is 'crazy beautiful'. It is easy to walk around and if you have heard only bad things about the city, then have your mind changed and explore the beautiful areas of Chiaia and the Lungomare, as well as the historic centre around 'Spaccanapoli'. Walk along Via Chiaia and Via Toledo and go right up any of the side streets to see the 'Quartieri Spagnoli' and traditional urban Naples. Seek out the national art gallery on Via Toledo. Visit any of the underground tours - the Bourbon Tunnel, San Lorenzo Church or the Napoli Sotteranea tour for an insight into how ancient the city is. The Museo Archeologico is great if you have been to Pompei or Herculaneum as many artefacts are there. Get the funicular up to Vomero and visit the Castel Sant'Elmo for the most incredible views of Naples. Do a tour of the San Carlo opera house and try to get tickets to see an opera there, it is a great experience. You can walk to most places, although there is a good hop on hop off city sightseeing tour that leaves from Castel Nuovo. A must for eating is a pizza from any of the smaller, traditional pizza places you see dotted around!

When we came into the town on the airport bus everything looked dirty and uncared for, and there is clearly a lot of poverty. But the people were without exception friendly and helpful, and we had no difficulty enjoying ourselves. The highlight of our 3 day trip was the visit to Herculaneum - there's so much to see without it being too tiring - you get a good sense of Roman life before the eruption. It's worth following this up with a visit to the frescoes from Herculaneum and Pompeii on the first floor of the National Archaeological Museum. We also loved the Santa Chiara cloister, the Certosa di San Martino and its superb views (go by the funicular railway) ,and the guided visit around the Teatro di San Carlo. Travelling around was easy. We stayed near the Toledo metro and found that line 1 takes you to most of these places. We struck lucky with food: the Osteria da Carmela had a huge menu and everything we tried tasted great (especially the sea bass) and prices were moderate for the quality. A Cucina Ra Ca Mia was very friendly and offered good fresh produce cooked really well, Trattoria e Pizzeria Antica Capri had rock bottom prices but very good pasta, pizza and vegetable dishes, and very nice staff. Nennella was even cheaper - the food wasn't so good but the atmosphere was joyous! Worth going for just this.

Naples is a unique place, gritty, hectic, crazily busy and yet has some amazing sights, sounds and experiences that you wouldn't want to miss. Yes, you take your life in your hands crossing roads as no one takes any notice of road signs, crossings or even red lights, but if you survive getting to the sights, then they are well worth seeing. Being the home of pizza, you would have to be very unlucky to have a bad meal in any of the hundreds of pizzerias located everywhere. Naples may sometimes be considered a bit of a poor relation to Rome, and if you look closely, you can see why, there really are some areas of the city that are not pretty, but it is all part of the experience. Go and see it and make up your own mind.

Let me start by saying that the people of Naples mostly seem lovely with lots of character against the odds, so this is in no way a slight on them. But Naples is filthy, noisy, frenetic and hassly. Scooters blast past you, beeping every 30 seconds, cars drive down tiny alleyways that they have no business even looking at, and trying to pull a suitcase through the town centre is dicing with death. If you're poor and you want to top up on cheap clothes then Naples is the place to go, but the whole city seems to have been neglected by central government. Admittedly the old town centre hasn't been gentrified for tourists, which is refreshing, but it doesn't make it any less intimidating. All the buses are crammed full, as well as the trains, which makes walking (not advised, especially if you are a woman due to the presence of so many pervy looking men) or taxi the only option. Apparently Naples is the birthplace of the pizza. But we're vegan, so that doesn't hold much sway for us. It was probably never meant to be.