Is Naples Safe? Is Naples Safe at Night?

And in that vein, is the Naples train station safe at night?

Without milking this too much, yes. Naples is safe. Naples is also safe at night. And, with a few caveats, Naples train station (Napoli Centrale) is safe at night.

The coast of Naples at night.

Starting off with safety, is Naples safe?

Yes, Naples is safe. There are, of course, a lot of definitions around safety, but to me, I mean personal safety. And when you're anywhere in Italy, Naples included, it's highly unlikely that you'll find yourself in a situation where bodily harm is threatened.

Pickpocketing, however, is a concern, but I so want to relieve some of your fears and let you know that it can be mitigated and avoided with proper planning.

How to protect yourself from pickpockets in Naples

Unfortunately, being a pickpocket in Italy is a great way to make a living. Tons of people, massive crowds, a low police presence except for major areas, very minor consequences, and easy getaways.

Now, some of this is split up into "I took it because it was there" and "I sought out a mark to steal from".

Believe it or not, a lot of people will walk away from tables leaving the open bags, cameras, or phones on the table. While no one should ever take them, like any other country, there are people here who lack morals and might take the opportunity.

To be clear, this isn't an attack on the victim or blaming them. The quote "this is why we can't have nice things" enters my mind any time I hear about a pickpocket or thief in Italy. Because for every ninety-nine people who will stop the bus, run out, and hand you back the wallet that fell out of your pocket, there's the one who won't.

So apart from not leaving your bags unattended, the best thing you can do is wear your bag defensively.

Sling-bags—shoulder bags that are worn with the pouch in the front—or backpacks worn on the front rather than the back, work well to dissuade anyone from dipping into an open zipper. While it might sound counter-intuitive, I've always found it better to keep my wallet and phone in an inner pocket in the bag, and the bag firmly on my chest.

We also recommend using a "travel wallet".

A travel wallet is a different wallet that is, in essence, empty apart from a single credit card, debit card, and driver's license (if you're driving, otherwise it might be easier to leave it in the hotel). You don't have to use a new or different wallet, however, if you're like me, you might have fond memories around your day-to-day wallet, so it'd be kind of a bummer to lose that, especially if you have photos, notes, or any other memorabilia in it.

So, let's move on!

Is Naples safe at night?

Naples is a late city. Things start late, they end late, and if there were ever a city that truly feels like it never sleeps, it's Naples. Kids will be playing soccer in some tiny piazza until two in the morning, people will be hanging out of their windows and smoking even later than that. That's if there isn't a parade, procession, celebration, or other event happening, in which case no one will sleep until dawn, when it starts all over again with an espresso and probably a cigarette. Naples has a heartbeat that simply never slows.

Part of this lateness is due to dinner time. I'll warn you now, if you're an early dinner-eater, you might not have such a good time in Naples.

Restaurants won't open their doors until 7:30 at the very earliest. And while you can eat there then, you won't see anyone else until 9:30, the normal dinnertime in Naples (and most of southern Italy).

This has the benefit of keeping Naples fairly safe late into the evening. After all, if you're starting dinner at 9:30, chances are you won't leave until midnight. This goes for families with children as well, so there's a sense that, if there are families still out, then the evening is pretty safe.

Another consideration is weather. In the summer, especially when the scirocco blows the hot and sandy wind from the Sahara, people will be outside until well past midnight—when it finally cools down enough to sleep.

This can have both a benefit and drawback. On one hand, there are more people milling about and hanging around. On the other, and this is purely anecdotal experience, there's a little more of a angry/annoyed feeling during some of those summer nights, like people are angry that it's so hot, that they can't sleep, so they're looking for violence. It's never erupted into anything that I've seen, but it's not uncommon (especially after a soccer game) for a little brawl to occur where everyone wants to let off some steam.

Are there any places to avoid at night?

Avoid is a pretty firm word, but "be super extra cautious around" might be a more apt description. In all my time visiting Naples, the only place that felt a little risky in the nights was around the main train station—Stazione Centrale or Stazione Garibaldi. When I say "nights", I mean two or three in the morning.

It's the only place I've seen cop cars fly through multiple times with nights on, or stop near with their lights on.

Likewise, to the east of the train station, sort of past the train station, some people consider it to be rough in the wee hours of the morning, but this area doesn't have much in the way of hotels (or sights to see), so it's unlikely you'll be over there late at night.

Like Rome and Florence, or any city in Italy, the train station is a pretty safe place to sleep around if you're un-housed as it's lit 24/7, there are external security cameras, and there are always a lot of people around. This means there are often people there picking fights which can easily deteriorate into violence. Again, it seems like apart from a few isolated incidences, most tourists have no issues staying around the train station.

Last Thoughts

One of our biggest tips is to trust your gut, and even then, it can be wrong. Sometimes Darcy and I have ended up in a bad situation and our guts did absolutely nothing to warn us about it. Other times, both of us got a really weird feeling when nothing happened.

Naples is a city where your gut can easily make you think "this is a super dangerous area" when, in fact, it's not. We once visited Naples with Darcy's mom and, while walking to the hotel, we had to go down a pretty dark street without much int he way of lighting, and then into an even darker alleyway to find the entrance to this staircase. To Darcy and I, this was classic Naples. To her mom, this was a classic scam. She was thinking the hotel didn't exist, that we fell for some elaborate online mugging scam, and she was sure we wouldn't headed towards any place that resembled the photos we saw online.

Of course, we found the hotel, exactly as the photos described. However, this was a valuable lesson in understanding that what can scream "dangerous area" in literally any other city on Earth is just another alleyway in Naples.