What To Do In Naples, Italy?

Best things to see in Naples, Italy

Rome has the Colosseum and the Foro Italico, Florence has the Duomo and the Uffizi, Siena the Piazza del Campo, Pisa the Leaning Tower, and Naples the... Huh. What is there to do in Naples?

A statue of Dante in Naples.

This is the question that is asked a few thousand times a year because while we're all told to "check out Naples, you won't be disappointed", no one can really tell you why to check out Naples.

And honestly, that's fair. There isn't the one thing about Naples like there is about nearly every other Italian city.

First things first, if you're looking at this article because you want to plan a little day-trip from Rome, I can't urge you strongly enough to reconsider. Naples is many things, but it is not an achievable day-trip, unless you really just want to chill out near the train station. Pompeii is, arguably, doable with the recent addition of the Frecciarossa from Rome to Pompeii, but Naples?

Naples is an undefinable city in Southern Italy. Perhaps the undefinable city of Italy. I can think of no better example of "true Italy" that exists in Italy. It's noisy, chaotic, untethered, and apologetically itself. In the past ten years, tourism has boomed, and while they've tried to give different parts of the city a facelift, it's a three thousand year old city that's been building upon itself for the entire time—no facelift in the world can change it, and none should. The graffiti you see carved into the walls today might have been put there yesterday, forty years ago, or when the city was Greek.

In my opinion, there's no other city like it in Italy.

So, now that I've offered the amuse-bouche:

What is there to do in Naples, Italy?

Plenty! And at the same time, less than it can look like at first glance. Some of the magic of Naples is simply being there. Standing on Via Toledo as the crowds swarm past, or waiting for table at 10pm while a small street band plays on the street alongside you. While it's hard to point to any of this and say "This is why you should fly halfway around the world to see Naples", it's an integral part of the experience.

Which brings me to...

Walk around the Centro Storico in Naples

It can often feel like a cop-out when someone says, "the best part of being in "insert literally any city here" is just walking around." However, I've personally felt this is true, especially of cities like New York City, Naples, Paris, even Shanghai. While there are museums, galleries, cultural sites, and a whole host of must-sees, I've often felt like nothing beats a walk around the city, just getting a feel for it.

Walking around the Old Town (the Centro Storico) is not unlike, I imagine, stepping into the past. Not necessarily in the same way seeing the Colosseum is, but there's a sense that people are doing things today in the way they've always done things. There are street concerts, random parades, markets, buskers, a man singing opera from his balcony and lowering a bucket for tips, mopeds whipping past while the driver texts, and everything is covered in the aforementioned graffiti.

Insider Tip: If there were a city to challenge New York City's title of "The City that Never Sleeps" it would be Naples. Sometimes, such as when the Naples soccer team wins Serie A, the partying can continue deep into the night and then all over again the next morning. This means that finding a quiet hotel in the Centro Storico can often be difficult, but not impossible, especially if you get an inner-courtyard-facing room.

The Famous Spanish Quarter

This shows up on every list of "things you must see in Naples".

It was originally the barracks for the Spanish Army (Naples having gone through many monarchs in its time, the Spanish just one of many) and later converted into apartment buildings.

In my opinion, visiting the Spanish Quarter is not unlike visiting Venice. They're very different places, of course, but some traveler can get a sense that it's a theme park. There are campy decorations (usually around restaurants), massive murals (most of them depicting Maradona), streamers, strung lights, mopeds racing past on impossibly tight streets, and this strange sense that the entire area is carefully curated.

Strangely, it isn't. And if you were to go a little deeper into the Spanish Quarter, you would see what I mean. Apartments, especially the ground-floor ones, are tiny, devoid of light and space. And in the summer, they turn into ovens. So as I mentioned before, Napoletani are living their lives outside, eating lunch and dinner on tables outside their front doors, drying laundry on racks along the street, playing scopa or some other card game. Don't take photos, don't ask to join in, just say hello as you pass and imagine how life hasn't changed in the past few centuries.

Galleria Umberto

The view from the "porch" of the hotel room in the Galleria Umberto.

While the Galleria Umberto isn't actually in the Spanish Quarter, I still think it's emblematic of the "new" Naples. When we first visited back in 2015, we stayed in a brand-new hotel (Hotel Art Resort Galleria Umberto) that was on the third floor, and the Galleria itself was nearly empty. Some of the glass was missing from the panes, there was only a shop or two, and there was a serious uneasy feeling.

Today, it has a MacDonald's (a sign of civilization if ever there was one), a ton of shops, people walking around constantly, and they've gotten around to renovating and refreshing it, so now that somewhat grungy color you see in the photo is now bright white and yellow. And the best part is, you can still stay in the Galleria, and even better, you can get a view of the entire Galleria from the "porch" of one of the rooms.

There isn't much else to "do" once you're at the Galleria, but it makes both an easy meeting point and "home base" as it's close to most things in Naples.

If you're curious about the Hotel Art Resort Galleria Umberto, you can click the link. The photo was actually taken in one of their sister sites called "B&B Art Suite Santa Brigida". These are affiliate links and while we're not associated with the hotel, we receive a small commission if you book through our link which goes towards supporting Only a Bag. We appreciate the support.

Via Toledo

To round out this trifecta all located within feet of each other is Via Toledo, or Toledo Street. Known mainly for its shopping and being one of the two main arteries of Naples (the other being Corso Umberto), Via Toledo is partially pedestrian-only (only past the Toledo Metro stop) and worth a few hours of your time.

While most of the shops along Via Toledo are, admittedly, not Napoletano, it's still a fantastic place to get a sense of the movement of Naples. It's also where a number of street performers will show up, or parades will snake through.

You can also take it to the very end and you'll end up in Chiaia, a fairly well-off part of Naples with boutique stores, cute restaurants, and the famous Cafe Gambrinus.

If you're interested in a tour of the Spanish Quarter, you can check out some of our favorite ones below! These are affiliate links and while we're not associated by the companies mentioned, we do receive a small commission if you use the links which goes towards supporting Only a Bag.

Museums in Naples, Italy

Of course, if you are in Italy, you should probably go to at least a few museums. And while a museum like the Uffizi is fantastic for art, nothing beats the Archeological Museum in Naples for history.

National Archeological Museum

If you're looking for Pompeii without actually visiting Pompeii, then you're looking for the National Archeological Museum.

In essence, it's a massive collection of Roman and Greek antiquities, some from Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabia, and the rest from various collections (like half of the Farnese collection of sculptures and engraved gems, or the Medici collection) and donations over the past few centuries.

Of course, one of the main draws of the National Archeological Museum is the famed "Secret Cabinet" which is a room packed to the rafters with all sorts of erotic and sexual items. If you think people are risque now, you'll love to know what your great-great-great-great-grandparents got up to. (Okay, probably a few more greats than that.)

Museum of Capodimonte

While it might sound repetitive to say "while not as famous as...", you might see that a lot in this article since so much of what is in Naples is far less famous than what's in other Italian cities but no less impressive or large.

The Capodimonte Museum falls into this category. It's one of the largest museums in Italy with an astounding collection of paintings by artists such as Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Vasari, and Gentileschi. It also has the other half of the Farnese collection of statues, and a massive collection of the Neapolitan School of Art (think Caravaggio-style).

If you're trying to hit up most of the art museums in Italy, make sure Capodimonte is on that list!

Theater of San Carlo

Have you ever wanted to go to the opera? Feel for a moment like you're in an episode of Bridgerton: Italian Edition? Wear a cape without anyone judging? You can! And not just in Naples, but anywhere! Who will judge you for wearing a cape?

But if you did want to go to the opera, look no further than the Teatro di San Carlo. While it's not as famous as Milan's La Scala, it's actually decades older, making it the longest continuously-running opera house in the world.

Not only can you catch a show (during the opera season, of course), for those who don't want to dish out a few hundred euros to be screamed at in another language (can you tell I don't know that much about opera?) you can take a tour, instead! The dress code for the tour is far more lax (shorts allowed) and you'll still get a sense of the grandiose.

Naples Underground

Naples isn't just about what's above ground, it's also about what's hidden just below the surface. Okay, that's not exactly true, but it's a great tagline, isn't it?

The truth is, Naples is built upon itself, which means there are layers and layers of history, one on top of another. It also means it's nearly impossible to build a basement in Naples without first getting the approval of every archeologist in the city followed by a twenty-year excavation.

The Catacombs of Naples

So, in fact, there are a few different catacombs in Naples, but when people say "Naples catacombs" they usually mean the Catacombs of San Gennaro. Unlike the Parisian catacombs (mostly just caves then used to bury bodies during the Plague) the catacombs in Naples are carved from tuff stone, so there's a sense of being in an underground city.

Likewise, these catacombs date back to the early Christian era, meaning they're much older than the Plague, and they're even two-story!

The Catacombs are below the Church of San Gennaro extra Moenia (beyond the walls) and up near the Capodimonte Museum, so if you're looking to stay in that area on a hot day, you can hop from the Museum to the catacombs and stay cool!

If you'd like to take a tour, you can check out our link to GetYourGuide where you can purchase entry tickets! This is an affiliate link and while we're not associated with the company, we receive a small commission which helps keep Only a Bag going. We appreciate your support!

Galleria Borbonica

Also known as the "Bourbon Tunnel" in English, this tunnel was first created to connect the military barracks with the Royal Palace. In essence, the king at the time (Ferdinand II) was terrified that the population of Naples would get fed up with him (fair, Naples hates monarchs) and revolt, so he built an escape route/troop deployment tunnel just in case.

More interestingly, during WW2, the tunnel was used as a bomb shelter. Though not always a temporary one as once people moved down there, a number of them stayed until the war ended. Today, you can take a tour and see the cars, scooters, cooking equipment, and signs of life left behind (and mostly intact) from then.

And that's just to get you started! Truth is, there's so much more in Naples that could fit into a single article, and that isn't to mention the mountain of day trips in the area. We hope you enjoy your time there!