Planning a trip to Naples

Getting There

Naples’s Aeroporto Capodichino (www.gesac.it; 📞 081-7896259 and 081-7896255), is only 7km (4 miles) from the city center. It receives flights from Italian and European cities, plus a few intercontinental flights. From the airport, you can take a taxi into town (make sure it is an official white taxi with the Naples municipal logo); the flat rate for the 15-minute trip to the station is 16€ and to Molo Beverello for ferries to the islands 19€. There is a convenient bus service to Piazza Municipio and Piazza Garibaldi, called the Alibus, run by the ANM bus company (www.anm.it; 📞 800-639-525; 3€ one-way). The bus runs every 30 minutes from the airport (6:30am–11:50pm) and from Piazza Municipio (6am–midnight).

Naples is on the main southern rail corridor and is served by frequent and fast train service from most Italian and European cities and towns. EuroStar trains (ES) make very limited stops, InterCity trains (IC) make limited stops, and AltaVelocità (AV) trains are high-speed express trains. Regular trains take between 2 and 2 1/2 hours between Rome and Naples, while the AV train takes only 87 minutes, making it by far the best method of transport between the two cities. The fare is 44€ one-way, but varies, and specials are often available, as are lower rates for advance booking. The same journey on an InterCity train will cost about 22€. Unfortunately for travelers trying to save money, InterCity trains run with less frequency than AV trains do, making cheaper transport quite inconvenient at times. Rail Europe and Eurail pass holders should note that AV trains require a reservation and an extra fee (10€). Contact Trenitalia (www.trenitalia.it; 📞 892-021) for information, reservations, and fares.

The city has two main rail terminals: Stazione Centrale, at Piazza Garibaldi, and Stazione Mergellina, at Piazza Piedigrotta. Most travelers will arrive at Stazione Central. Nearby, on Corso Garibaldi, is Stazione Circumvesuviana Napoli-Porta Nolana (www.vesuviana.it; 📞 800-053939), the starting point for commuter lines serving the Vesuvian and coastal area south of Naples, including Sorrento, Pompeii, and Ercolano.

Although driving in Naples is a nightmare, driving to Naples is easy. The Rome-Naples autostrada (A2) passes Caserta 29km (18 miles) north of Naples. The Naples–Reggio di Calabria autostrada (A3) runs by Salerno, 53km (33 miles) north of Naples.

From Palermo you can take a ferry to Naples that’s run by Tirrenia Lines (www.tirrenia.it; 📞 892-123), Via Pontile Vittorio Veneto 1, in Palermo’s port area. A one-way ticket costs 35€ to 55€ per person for an armchair in first class and 50€ to 70€ per person for a first-class cabin for the 11-hour trip.

Getting Around

The Metropolitana (subway) has two lines: line 1 from Piazza Dante to the Vomero and beyond and line 2 from Pozzuoli to Piazza Garibaldi and beyond. Several new stations have opened in recent years, with more under way. You can also use the urban section of the Cumana railroad from Montesanto, which is convenient to Mergellina and other coastal locations north of the city center.

Taxis are an excellent, relatively inexpensive way to get around the city, and are very reliable and strictly regulated. Official taxis are painted white and marked by the comune di napoli. Inside, you’ll find a sign listing official flat rates to the seaports, central hotels, and major attractions; don’t fret if your driver doesn’t use the meter—not using the meter is legal for all rides that have established flat rates. Taxis do not cruise but are found at the many taxi stands around town, or, for an extra 1€ surcharge, can be called by phone ((tel) 081-444-444 or 081-555-5555).

As for driving around Naples, we have one word: Don’t. If you’re tempted, take a look at the cars on the street. In the rest of Italy, even the simplest models are kept in pristine condition; here, cars look like they’re used in demolition derbies.

Funiculars take passengers up and down the steep hills of Naples. The Funicolare Centrale (www.metro.na.it; (tel) 800-568-866) connects the lower part of the city to Vomero. Daily departures (6:30am–12:30am) are from Piazzetta Duca d’Aosta just off Via Roma. Be careful not to get stranded by missing the last car back. The same tickets valid for buses and the Metro are good for the funicular.

While walking, remember: For Neapolitan drivers, red lights are mere suggestions; cross busy streets carefully, and stick with a crowd if possible. Always look both ways when crossing a street, because a lot of driver’s scoff at the notion of a one-way street. The zebra stripes (white lines) in the street meant to indicate pedestrians have the right of way mean absolutely nothing here.

Fast Facts

Consulates -- The U.S. Consulate is on Piazza della Repubblica 1 (http://naples.usconsulate.gov; (tel) 081-5838111; Metro: Mergellina, tram: 1). Consular services are open Monday to Friday 8am to noon. The U.K. Consulate, Via Dei Mille 40 ((tel) 081-4238911; Metro: Amedeo), is open Monday to Friday (9:30am–12:30pm and 2–4pm). The Canadian Consulate, at Via Carducci 29 (www.canada.it; (tel) 081-401338; Metro: Amedeo), is open Monday to Friday (9am–1:30pm). Citizens of Australia and New Zealand need to go to the embassies or consulates in Rome.

Drugstores -- There are several pharmacies open weekday nights and taking turns on weekend nights. A good one is located in the Stazione Centrale (Piazza Garibaldi 11; (tel) 081-440211; Metro: Piazza Garibaldi).

Emergencies -- If you have an emergency, dial (tel) 113 to reach the police. For medical care, dial (tel) 118, but only in an emergency. To find the local Guardia Medica Permanente, ask for directions at your hotel.

Safety -- The Camorra-related crime for which Naples is infamous will have little bearing on your visit. Street crime is another story and it’s best to err on the side of caution in this city with catastrophically high unemployment, a big drug problem, and lots of dark, empty streets. If you have a money belt, by all means use it. Also use common sense. Do not carry a lot of cash, wear expensive jewelry, walk around with a fancy camera hanging from your neck, place your smartphone on cafe tables, or plunge down dark, deserted lanes at night. Do leave your valuables in a safe at your hotel (most rooms are equipped with them). When going out for a meal or excursion, carry only as much cash as you are going to need and only the credit card you will be using, and leave the others behind (including your debit/cash cards unless you need to make a withdrawal). Beware of pickpockets in crowds and on the subways and commuter trains—they’re crafty. Do not carry a wallet in your back pocket, of course, or even in your inside jacket pocket, where someone brushing against you can easily get to it. When walking, carry any bags on the side away from the street to thwart thieves whizzing past on motorbikes.

Neighborhoods in Brief

Chiaia -- Naples cleans itself up a bit in this seaside and hillside enclave that stretches from Piazza del Plebiscito west along the bay, skirting the seaside park, Villa Communale. By day, strollers follow the bay along the Lungomare di Chiaia all the way to similarly genteel Mergelina. Come evening, crowds head inland for a passegiata along Via Chiaia. To join them, just move along with the flow west from Piazza Plebiscito. Before you leave this lovely expanse, find the two bronze equestrian statues, turn your back to the Palazzo Reale, close your eyes, and try to walk between them (it’s a local thing—hard to do, but success brings good fortune, along with some stares).

Historical Center -- This warren of many tight lanes, a few avenues, and some boisterous piazzas is also known as the Decumani, and just as often as Spaccanapoli (that’s the name of the street that runs straight through the center of the neighborhood, as it has ever since the Greeks established a colony here). Roughly, the heart of Naples extends north from seaside Castel Nuovo to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, and east from Via Toledo and Quartieri Spagnoli to the Porta Nolona Fish Market. On the edges of this neighborhood are two of Naples’ grandest landmarks, opposite each just off the Piazza Trieste e Trento. The stately Teatro San Carlo is one of the world’s finest opera houses, awash in acres of gilded stucco and plush red velvet. Galleria Umberto is one of the world’s first shopping malls, a beautiful late-19th-century concoction of domes and steel girding, where commerce transpires in style on beautifully tiled promenades beneath glass arcades.

Piazza Garibaldi -- No need to linger in this decidedly unsavory quarter of grungy streets and some decidedly unsavory denizens. The train station is here, as is a station of the Circumvesuviana line for Pompeii and Sorrento. Descend into the flashy subway station for the metro and Circumflegrea line. The perpetually torn-up piazza is also a stop on many bus and tram lines, but you’ll need to summon the ancient oracle of Cumae to find the right stop—short of her, check with the friendly folks in the tourist office in the train station if they’re on duty.

Santa Lucia -- It’s been a while since anyone but yachters set sail from this old fisherman’s quarter made famous by the song. Neapolitans come here to stroll along seaside Via Mazzuro Sauro and Via Partenope (both closed to traffic) and gaze across the bay toward Capri. The nautical atmosphere cranks up a notch or two once you cross the bridge to Borgo Marinari, the little island where old houses huddle alongside Castel dell’Ovo.

Quartieri Spagnoli -- This is the real Naples, where age-old rituals of city life hang on—just like the laundry that perpetually hangs across the narrow streets. It’s not street life you’re witnessing but just plain Neapolitan life, because everything seems to transpire in narrow, gridlike streets wedged between Via Toledo on the east and the San Martino hill on the west. Residents talk to one another from balconies, guys in T-shirts lower baskets from windows and haul up cigarettes, and kids play amid street stalls selling everything from fish to votive candles. If it all gets to be a bit much, just keep heading south (toward the bay) and you’ll emerge in airy, semicircular Piazza del Plebiscito, where the huge Chiesa di San Francesco di Paola, copied on the Pantheon in Rome, faces the Palazzo Reale.

Vomero -- Life in Naples never really becomes too gentrified, but it calms down quite a bit in the hilltop enclave of the Napoli bene (the city’s middle and upper classes). Aside from fresh air and spectacular views, the big draws in this quarter of some elegant 19th- and early-20th-century villas and one too many banal apartment houses are the Castel Sant’Elmo and Certosa San Martino. The trip up here from the center is on the Centrale and Montesanto funiculars.