the city of San Gennaro and of the nativity scenes of San Gregorio Armeno, with the Greek ancient centre cut through by Spaccanapoli, the Archaeological Museum, Capodimonte, the Vomero above the gulf and Vesuvius always opposite
Naples is best understood from above: from Castel Sant'Elmo, on the top of the Vomero, you see a straight line cutting the old city from one side to the other, and that is Spaccanapoli, one of the streets of the Greek city that was called Neapolis here. The ancient centre, the centro antico, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995, is still laid out on its grid: three parallel decumani and the alleys that cut across them, with the Gothic churches of the Angevins, the Veiled Christ, the Caravaggios, the workshops of the nativity figure makers of San Gregorio Armeno and, under your feet, the tuff quarries and the Roman city. Around it is the Naples of the kings: the Archaeological Museum with the Farnese collections and the treasures of Pompeii, the royal palace and the wood of Capodimonte, the Palazzo Reale on piazza del Plebiscito, the Teatro di San Carlo, the castles by the sea. In winter it is the city of nativity scenes and of San Gennaro, whose blood is displayed three times a year, and the city waits for it to liquefy: on 16 December, on the Saturday before the first Sunday in May and on 19 September. By motorhome you do not drive through the centre: the motorhome stays at the municipal stopover of the Camaldoli, on the hill, and you go down by metro.
Sleeping
Stops and overnight stays
Naples has only one motorhome stopover, the municipal one in the Camaldoli park, on the hill north-west of the centre, reopened in 2025 with a new operator: thirty-six pitches with electricity, toilets and showers, close to the hospitals and the tangenziale ring road, and from there you get into the centre by bus and metro. Outside the city there are two alternatives: a private stopover between Pozzuoli and Quarto, in the Campi Flegrei, and a campsite in Pompeii next to the Circumvesuviana station, which takes you to Naples without moving the motorhome.
Area camper del Parco dei Camaldoli
via Comunale Guantai ad Orsolone 121, 80131 Napoli
the Comune's equipped stopover inside the Camaldoli urban park, one of the woods on the hill of Naples: thirty-six level pitches, each with 3 amp electricity. The stopover is lit at night, fenced, with CCTV and guarded, with the motorhome service point for cassettes, the water points, toilets, hot showers, a picnic area with a barbecue and the reception. People who stayed there found it open in every month of the winter of 2025-2026, but the Comune does not give the opening months. You arrive from the tangenziale, exit 7, Zona Ospedaliera, towards the Monaldi hospital, and at the roundabout take via Guantai ad Orsolone for three hundred metres. The C44 and 143 buses pass in front, and in the evening the gate is closed: if you come back late, ask for the code to get in. The Comune says that the buses and Line 1 of the metro link it to the historic centre; on foot, according to people who stayed there, Rione Alto station is about twenty minutes away, and the way back is uphill. The pitches along the road hear the traffic
The operator does not publish a price list that can be read; in December 2025 and in March 2026 people who stayed there paid 35 euros for 24 hours, electricity and showers included, and in October 2025 25 euros a night from the third night · 339 3030552 · sostacampernapoli.com
via vicinale del Castagnaro, località Montagna Spaccata, fra Pozzuoli e Quarto (NA)
a family-run private stopover, fenced and guarded, ten thousand square metres on the hill of the Montagna Spaccata, between Pozzuoli and Quarto, with showers, electricity, drinking water, wifi, wash tubs for doing laundry by hand and LPG for cooking; pets are allowed. You arrive from the tangenziale, exit 12, Pozzuoli via Campana: turn left onto the provincial road towards Quarto for three kilometres, and after the Montagna Spaccata cutting take the first on the left. The operator writes that the historic centre is twenty-five minutes away by metro, that Pompeii and Herculaneum are fifty minutes away and that ships for Ischia and Procida leave from Pozzuoli, but does not name the stations: ask on the phone which one to take and how far you have to walk. For the 2026 holidays it organises trips, from 27 December to 3 January, but it does not give the opening months: ask on the phone. It is in the Campi Flegrei, the Phlegraean Fields, where the ground rises and shakes: after the earthquake of 31 July 2026 the Cumana railway stopped, and the whole line started running again on 11 September, with the new Pozzuoli station
ElectricityWaterShowerWi-Fi
With the operator's "Listino 2025", 18 euros for a motorhome under 7 metres, 23 euros up to 8 metres and 25 euros up to 12; the price list does not say whether the price is per night or what it includes · 347 0312747 · castagnaroparking.it
a two hectare campsite in a citrus grove, on the edge of the Pompeii excavations, with electricity at the pitches, the motorhome service point for filling and emptying, renovated toilets, a coin-operated laundry, a bar, a reception open day and night and guarded parking; you arrive from 14:00 and leave the pitch by 11:00. You get there from the Pompei Ovest exit of the Naples-Salerno motorway. It is the stopover for those who want Naples without moving the motorhome: a hundred metres away is Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri station on the Circumvesuviana, and the Naples-Sorrento train reaches Porta Nolana and Garibaldi, next to the central station, in about forty minutes. The Pompeii excavations and Vesuvius have their own pages
ElectricityWaterGrey waterToiletsLaundryWi-Fi
The website does not publish the rates: you ask for availability · 081 8615320 · campingzeus.it
In Naples the motorhome stays at the stopover and you go in by public transport: the ancient centre is closed by ZTLs with cameras, a motorhome cannot get through the alleys, and no car park near the centre is designed for a long vehicle. In the city you walk, take the metro and ride the funicular up to the Vomero.
The tangenziale ring road runs north of the city and takes you to the stopovers without crossing it: for the Camaldoli leave at exit 7, Zona Ospedaliera, for the Castagnaro at exit 12, Pozzuoli via Campana. Pompeii is on the Naples-Salerno motorway, exit Pompei Ovest
The winter diesel ban: since 2021, every winter, the Comune has stopped some vehicles to protect air quality. The latest ordinance, no. 2079 of 24 November 2025, was valid until 31 March 2026, Monday to Friday from 8:30 to 18:30, across the whole city, for diesel cars and diesel commercial vehicles up to Euro 5, and for all Euro 0 and 1 vehicles. Motorhomes are not mentioned, the tangenziale is outside the ban, and vehicles registered to people who live outside Campania, with at least one person on board who does not live there, are exempt; for foreign number plates the exemption applies only to hire vehicles. In mid October the ordinance for the winter of 2026-2027 has not yet been issued: last year it came out on 24 November
The ZTLs close the ancient centre, with four camera gates active every day from 9:00 to 17:00, and via del Sole and via Mezzocannone until the evening; the Tarsia, Pignasecca and Dante ZTL, around piazza Dante, runs from 9:00 to 18:00. Every year from 8 December to 6 January it is joined by the ZTL of via Morelli, via Filangieri and via dei Mille, in Chiaia, on Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and the days before public holidays, from 10:00 to 14:00 and from 16:00 to 20:00. There are no permits for tourists: you cannot enter the centre with a motorhome
The metro you need is Line 1, which runs down from the hill to the port. The useful stops: Museo for the Archaeological Museum, Dante for the ancient centre, Toledo for via Toledo and the Quartieri Spagnoli, Municipio for Castel Nuovo, the port and the Plebiscito, Duomo for the Duomo, Vanvitelli for the Vomero, Garibaldi for the central station and the Circumvesuviana. Line 2, the railway line, stops at piazza Cavour, on the other side of the Archaeological Museum
Tickets, with the price list in force from 1 October 2026: in the city a single ride costs 1.50 euros on the metro and 1.30 euros on buses and funiculars, the ANM or EAV day ticket 4.50 euros and the weekly ticket 13.50. The UnicoNapoli integrated ticket, valid on all the city's public transport, costs 1.90 euros for an hour, 5.70 for a day, 10.80 for three days and 16.20 for seven
The funiculars: for the Vomero take the Centrale, which leaves from via Toledo next to the Galleria Umberto and arrives in piazza Fuga, or the Chiaia funicular, from Parco Margherita to via Cimarosa; from there you still walk up to San Martino and Sant'Elmo. The Montesanto funicular, the most convenient for the Certosa, has been closed since 15 May 2026 for its overhaul, and the news in the summer spoke of about nine months
Capodimonte has no metro: from piazza Museo, next to the Archaeological Museum, buses 3M, C63, C67, 168, 178 and 204 go there, and to the Catacombs of San Gennaro the 650 as well, in a quarter of an hour. On foot, from the Museum through the rione Sanità, it is about two kilometres and half an hour, all uphill
The EAV trains: the Circumvesuviana leaves from Porta Nolana and Garibaldi for Herculaneum, Pompeii and Sorrento; the Cumana runs from Montesanto to Pozzuoli and Torregaveta, and has been running along its whole length again since 11 September 2026, with the new Pozzuoli station in via Nicola Fasano
The Napoli Artecard for three days costs 27 euros, 16 from 18 to 25, with the price list in force since 30 November 2023: three free entries of your choice, reduced entry from the fourth, and the city's public transport, funiculars included. Under 18s get into the state museums free anyway, and for children it is rarely worth it. Since 2023 it has no longer been valid at Santa Chiara
Seeing
Sights
Three days on foot. The first in the ancient centre, from the Gesù Nuovo along Spaccanapoli to San Gregorio Armeno, up via dei Tribunali to the Duomo, and in the evening the Archaeological Museum. The second goes up by bus to the Catacombs and Capodimonte, comes down on foot through the rione Sanità and ends in via Toledo and the Quartieri Spagnoli. The third starts by funicular on the Vomero, with the Certosa di San Martino and Castel Sant'Elmo, and goes down to the Galleria Umberto, the San Carlo, the Plebiscito and the sea: with a clear sky it is worth doing it earlier, because from Sant'Elmo you can see the whole city you will walk round afterwards. Closing days overlap, and it is worth checking them first: on Tuesdays the Archaeological Museum, the Cappella Sansevero, San Martino and Sant'Elmo are closed; on Wednesdays the Palazzo Reale, Capodimonte and the Catacombs; on Sundays Castel Nuovo. On the first Sunday of the month the state museums, the Archaeological Museum, Capodimonte, the Palazzo Reale, San Martino and Sant'Elmo, are free; in 2026 they are free on 4 November too, which however is a Wednesday: Capodimonte and the Palazzo Reale are closed. Tap a marker on the map to open its entry below.
1
Piazza and church of the Gesù Nuovo
Church · 40.84762, 14.25180
piazza del Gesù Nuovo, 80134 Napoli
the gateway to the ancient centre. The façade of piperno stone, cut into diamond points, belonged to a fifteenth century palace, Palazzo Sanseverino, which became the Jesuits' church at the end of the sixteenth century: outside it is severe, inside it is full Baroque, with Solimena and Fanzago. In the rooms alongside, Saint Giuseppe Moscati, the saintly doctor, is remembered with ex-votos. In the middle of the square stands the guglia dell'Immacolata, the spire of the Immaculate Virgin, and at number 7 there is the Artecard infopoint. Spaccanapoli starts here, and Santa Chiara is across the street. The church's opening hours are not published in a readable form: you go in during the day, outside Mass times.
the great Gothic church built in the fourteenth century at the wish of Robert of Anjou and Queen Sancia of Majorca, with the Angevin tombs; burned in the bombing of 1943, it was rebuilt in its Gothic forms. Behind it is the place people remember: the cloister of the Poor Clares, which Domenico Antonio Vaccaro covered in majolica in 1742, with pergola pillars and benches painted with garlands, landscapes and scenes of eighteenth century life. The same ticket includes the museum, the remains of a Roman bath complex and an eighteenth century nativity scene, which in winter is one more reason to come. In May the procession of San Gennaro arrives here from the Duomo. An hour.
Opening hours the church every day 7:45-12:45 and 16:40-20:00; the cloister and the museum Monday to Saturday 9:30-17:00, Sunday 10:00-14:00. On Thursday 22 October 2026 the cloister is closed. Opening at Christmas and New Year is not published · the church is free; the cloister and the museum 7 euros, reduced 5 over 65 and for university students under 30, 4 euros from 7 to 17, free under 7. You can only pay at the complex's ticket office, and the Artecard is not valid · monasterodisantachiara.it
via Benedetto Croce e via San Biagio dei Librai, 80134 Napoli
the lower decumanus of the Greek city, running straight from piazza del Gesù Nuovo to via Duomo under the names of via Benedetto Croce and via San Biagio dei Librai: seen from up at Sant'Elmo it is the line that splits the city in two, hence the name, which means "split Naples". Halfway along is piazza San Domenico Maggiore, with its spire and its church, and a little further on the statue of the Nile, which Neapolitans call the body of Naples. The whole ancient centre is here: three parallel decumani, Spaccanapoli, via dei Tribunali and via Anticaglia, and the alleys that cut across them. You can walk it in half an hour, but it takes the whole morning.
the family chapel of the princes of Sangro, remade in the mid eighteenth century by Raimondo di Sangro, Prince of Sansevero, alchemist and freemason. You go in for the Veiled Christ, the Cristo velato by Giuseppe Sanmartino, of 1753: a marble veil so thin that it looks wet on the body. Around it are Antonio Corradini's Modesty, veiled too, and Francesco Queirolo's Disillusion, with the net carved in marble; in the underground chamber are the two anatomical machines, skeletons with their system of blood vessels, which older children remember. Always book online: tickets go on sale sixty days ahead, and entries are limited; since February 2026, because of works, the ticket office and the toilets have been a few steps away, at via Raimondo di Sangro 12. Half an hour, forty minutes.
Opening hours 9:00-19:00, closed on Tuesdays, last entry half an hour before closing. Special openings in 2026: 5, 6, 7 and 8 December 9:00-20:30; 24 and 31 December 9:00-14:00; closed on 25 December; 26 and 27 December 9:00-20:30. The January 2027 calendar has not yet been published · 12 euros; 8 from 18 to 26; 6 from 10 to 17; free up to age 9; audio guide 3.50 euros · 081 5524936 · museosansevero.it · info@museosansevero.it
the street of nativity scenes, the narrow cardo that joins Spaccanapoli to via dei Tribunali. The workshops of the craftsmen who make the pastori, the nativity figures, are open all year: terracotta and wooden figurines, houses, grottoes, fountains with real water, and beside the traditional figures, figurines of the people in the news that year. At the top is the church of San Gregorio Armeno, with its bell tower on the arch that spans the street. From November to Epiphany the street becomes the nativity scene fair, and on December weekends it is so crowded that the Comune makes it one-way for pedestrians: go from Monday to Thursday, in the morning.
two thousand five hundred years in a single place. The Gothic basilica of the Franciscans stands on via dei Tribunali, and underneath, going down, you walk on a paved Roman street, with shops on either side, the cryptoporticus and the market of the ancient city. Above are the frescoed fourteenth century chapter house, the refectory painted in the seventeenth century and a museum on four floors with finds from the excavations and the figures of an eighteenth century nativity scene. With children it is the place where you understand that the old city is built on top of another city. An hour and a half.
Opening hours the excavations and the museum every day 9:30-17:30; closing days and opening at Christmas and New Year are not published · the excavations and the museum 9 euros; 7 euros with the Artecard, for teachers, university students and over 65; 6 under 18; free under 6 · 081 2118060 · laneapolissotterrata.it
Point of interest · paid entry · 40.85093, 14.25744
piazza San Gaetano 69, 80138 Napoli
forty metres below via dei Tribunali, the tuff quarries dug by the Greeks, used for twenty-three centuries as cisterns for the aqueduct and as shelters during the bombing of the Second World War: the cisterns with water, the underground vegetable gardens, and a narrow tunnel you walk through by candlelight, only if you want to. The same ticket includes a part of the Roman theatre, which lies inside a basso, a ground-floor home, in vico Cinquesanti. You go down and back up more than a hundred and twenty low steps, pushchairs are left at the entrance and wheelchairs cannot get through; groups of fewer than ten people do not need to book. The entrance has white and blue flags, next to San Paolo Maggiore, and the operator warns that online maps put it in the wrong place. An hour, plus the theatre.
Opening hours guided tours leave every hour from 10:00 to 18:00, in Italian and in English; closing days and opening at Christmas and New Year are not published · 18 euros; 15 from 11 to 17; 10 from 5 to 10; free up to age 4 · 081 296944 · napolisotterranea.org · info@napolisotterranea.org
Duomo of Naples and the Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro
Church · free entry · 40.85251, 14.25955
via Duomo 147, 80138 Napoli
the Gothic cathedral of the Angevins, with its façade rebuilt at the end of the nineteenth century. Inside, on the left, is the older basilica of Santa Restituta, with the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte and its fifth century mosaics; on the right the Royal Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro, which the city had built after a vow during the plague of 1527, and where the phials with the saint's blood are kept. Three times a year the blood is displayed, everyone waits for it to liquefy, and the Duomo fills up. The rooftop tour climbs to forty metres, and is not suitable for people who have difficulty walking. The Museum of the Treasure of San Gennaro, next door at number 149, has its own ticket, but in October 2026 it has no website with hours and prices: ask on the spot. On Line 1, get off at the Duomo stop.
Opening hours free tours of Santa Restituta and the Baptistery leave every half hour, every day from 9:30 to 17:00, and last an hour; the cathedral's hours for services are not published · the cathedral and the tour of Santa Restituta and the Baptistery are free, with a voluntary offering; the rooftop tour starting from 6 euros · duomonapoli.it
a confraternity of Neapolitan nobles founded in 1602 to carry out the seven works of mercy, which still exists and funds its work with the ticket. On the high altar are Caravaggio's Seven Works of Mercy, of 1607, painted in Naples for this church and never moved: all seven in a single night scene in an alley, and finding them one by one is a good game with children. Upstairs is the picture gallery, with Luca Giordano and Battistello Caracciolo, and a window from which you can see the spire of San Gennaro. Rucksacks go in the lockers, free. Three quarters of an hour.
Opening hours Monday to Saturday 10:00-18:00, last entry at 17:30; Sunday 9:00-14:30, last entry at 14:00. Closed on 25 December and at Easter; on 31 December it closes at 14:30 · 10 euros; 8 under 25 and with the Artecard; family ticket, two adults and up to three children under 16, 20 euros; free up to age 6. The ticket includes the church and the picture gallery · 081 297108 · piomontedellamisericordia.it · segreteria@piomontedellamisericordia.it
the museum born from the Bourbon collections, the Farnese collection that Charles of Bourbon inherited from his mother and what came out of the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum, brought together in the palace at the end of the eighteenth century. On the ground floor are the Farnese sculptures, with the Farnese Bull and the Hercules; upstairs the frescoes from the cities of Vesuvius, the great model of Pompeii, the bronzes from the Villa of the Papyri and the Egyptian collection. Until 30 November 2026 the Mosaics, with the Alexander mosaic, and the Secret Cabinet are closed for the new layout, and the plan of the rooms from December has not yet been published. On the first Sunday of the month the free tickets cannot be booked, and for security some sections stay closed, among them the Egyptian and the Magna Graecia sections. Half a day; on Line 1, get off at the Museo stop.
Opening hours 9:00-19:30, the ticket office closes at 18:30; closed on Tuesdays, and when a Tuesday is a public holiday it opens and closes on the following Wednesday instead: open on Tuesday 8 December 2026, closed on Wednesday 9. Closed on 25 December and 1 January · 20 euros; 2 euros from 18 to 25 for citizens of the European Union; free under 18. Free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month, and in 2026 on 4 November too · 081 4422111 · museoarcheologiconapoli.it · man-na@cultura.gov.it
Point of interest · paid entry · 40.86418, 14.24762
via Capodimonte 13, 80136 Napoli
the largest Christian cemetery in the South, on two levels dug into the tuff from the second century, where the body of San Gennaro was brought in the fifth century: the frescoes and mosaics of the early Christians, the bishops' basilica and the oldest portrait of the saint. They were reopened by a cooperative started by young people from the rione Sanità, the Baroque district outside the walls that lies below, and walking down through the Sanità is part of the visit: the Palazzo dello Spagnolo, with its open staircase shaped like a falcon's wings, Palazzo Sanfelice, the basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità with the catacombs of San Gaudioso underneath, and a little further on the Cimitero delle Fontanelle. Inside the temperature is between 15 and 22 degrees; because of a landslide, in October 2026 people with mobility difficulties cannot enter. An hour for the visit, the morning with the Sanità.
Opening hours guided tours every hour from 10:00 to 17:00, booking required; in October 2026 the operator's page says closed on Wednesdays; closed on 25 December · 13 euros; 9 for students, over 65 and with the Artecard; 6 under 18; free under 6 · 081 7443714 · catacombedinapoli.it · info@catacombedinapoli.it
the royal palace that Charles of Bourbon had built from 1738 on top of the hill to house the Farnese collection, and around it a wood of a hundred and thirty-four hectares with avenues fanning out and a view over the gulf. Inside are the Farnese Gallery, with Titian, Parmigianino, Raphael and Bruegel, Caravaggio's Flagellation and seventeenth century Neapolitan painting, the royal apartment and Queen Maria Amalia's porcelain parlour. Part of the Armoury and of the nineteenth century collections are closed for works. The opening hours page says that the first floor also closes on Sundays and public holidays: phone before going on a Sunday. Half a day with the wood.
Opening hours the museum is closed on Wednesdays; the first floor and the porcelain 8:30-19:30, last entry at 18:30; the second floor 8:30-17:00, on Sundays and public holidays until 19:30. The Real Bosco every day from 7:00, until 17:00 in November, December and January and until 18:00 in October, February and March. Opening at Christmas and New Year is not published · 15 euros, 12 if the ticket is bought and validated between 8:30 and 9:30 or between 17:30 and 18:30; 2 euros from 18 to 25 for citizens of the European Union; free under 18. Free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month. The Real Bosco is free · 081 7499130 · capodimonte.cultura.gov.it · mu-cap@cultura.gov.it
the street that the viceroy Pedro de Toledo opened in 1536, from piazza Dante to piazza Trieste e Trento, almost a kilometre and a half of shops and palazzi: it is the city's promenade, crowded on Saturday afternoons and on December evenings. Underneath is Toledo station on Line 1, one of the art stations, designed by the Spanish architect Óscar Tusquets on the theme of water, because it is dug below the water table: the escalators go down under a great cone of blue mosaic that brings the light down. You see it with a metro ticket, and it is worth going down even without a train to catch.
fra via Toledo e corso Vittorio Emanuele, 80134 Napoli
the grid of narrow, steep alleys built in the sixteenth century to house the Spanish troops, west of via Toledo: washing hung from one balcony to the next, the bassi, ground-floor homes opening onto the street, the votive shrines and the scooters. The place everyone looks for is largo Maradona, in via Emanuele De Deo, with the great mural of the champion in the Napoli shirt, which after 2020 became a place of pilgrimage. You walk up from the Toledo stop, which has an exit in piazza Montecalvario, inside the Quartieri.
the charterhouse founded in 1325 by Charles, Duke of Calabria, son of Robert of Anjou, and remodelled in Baroque style by Cosimo Fanzago in the seventeenth century, on the top of the Vomero. The church with frescoes by Lanfranco and Ribera's Prophets, the great cloister with the monks' cemetery and the marble skulls on the balustrade, and the loggia of the Quarto del Priore, which looks over the whole gulf. In winter people come up for the Cuciniello nativity scene, inaugurated in 1879, with hundreds of figures and lights that take the day from dawn to night: children stay in front of it for a long time. In the same section is the Tavola Strozzi, the first view of Naples, from the fifteenth century. Take the Centrale funicular to piazza Fuga, then walk uphill. Two hours.
Opening hours every day except Tuesday 8:30-18:30, last entry at 17:30; the museum sections, among them the nativity scenes, open at 9:30, and the gardens close an hour earlier. Opening at Christmas and New Year is not published · 6 euros; 2 euros from 18 to 25; free under 18. Free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month · museicampania.cultura.gov.it · drm-cam.sanmartino@cultura.gov.it
the six-pointed star fortress on the top of the Vomero, a stone's throw from the Certosa, rebuilt by the Spanish between 1537 and 1547 on the Angevin castle of Belforte, and for centuries a political prison. You climb up for the full circle from the parade ground at the top: the ancient centre with the line of Spaccanapoli, the port, Vesuvius, Capri and Posillipo. It is the view on the cover, and if you can, come up on the first morning with a clear sky, to understand the city before walking round it. Inside is the museum of twentieth century Neapolitan art. With clear winter skies you can see the islands; when there is a weather alert the castle closes.
Opening hours closed on Tuesdays; the 2026 hours are not published, and for the opening on 8 December 2025 the castle was open 8:30-19:30, last entry at 18:30, and the Museo Novecento 9:30-17:00 · 5 euros, reduced 2, according to the Ministry's page of December 2025; free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month · museicampania.cultura.gov.it
the iron and glass arcade built between 1887 and 1890, after the cholera of 1884, when the redevelopment of the city knocked down the alleys around via Toledo: four arms in a cross under a glass dome more than fifty metres high, and the signs of the zodiac on the marble floor. It has four entrances, on via Toledo, via Santa Brigida, via Verdi and via San Carlo, opposite the theatre. At Christmas there is a tree under the dome, and the Centrale funicular leaves a few steps away.
the opera house that Charles of Bourbon inaugurated in 1737, forty years before La Scala, the oldest in Europe still in use; it burned down in 1816 and was rebuilt in a few months. The horseshoe-shaped auditorium, red and gold, has six tiers of boxes and in the middle the royal box with its crown, and Stendhal wrote that there was nothing like it in Europe. The tour is booked by email, because it depends on rehearsals; if you have a free evening, look at the programme: an opera or a ballet is the best way to see it.
Opening hours guided tours every day at 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 14:30, 15:30 and 16:30, and those at 11:30 and 15:30 also in English; they last half an hour, and because of rehearsals they may change route or be cancelled, even at the last minute. Opening at Christmas and New Year is not published · guided tour 9 euros; 7 under 30; family ticket, two adults and two children, 26 euros. The theatre does not give the year of the price list · 081 7972412 · teatrosancarlo.it · visiteguidate@teatrosancarlo.it
the city's great square, with the semicircular colonnade and the basilica of San Francesco di Paola, built on the model of the Pantheon; on the other side the Palazzo Reale, the Royal Palace, begun by the Spanish viceroys in 1600 to a design by Domenico Fontana and later lived in by the Bourbons, by Murat and by the Savoys, with the eight statues of the kings of Naples on the façade. Inside are the marble grand staircase, the court theatre, the royal chapel and the apartment with its furnishings; no booking is needed, and the visit takes an hour. From 1 October 2026 the Salone d'Ercole, the Sala degli Specchi and part of the Sala delle Nature morte are closed for the restoration of the furnishings, with no end date. In December 2025 the square had the Christmas village, and on the night of the 31st it has the New Year's Eve concert. On Line 1, get off at Municipio.
Opening hours the square is always open. The Palazzo Reale 9:00-20:00, last entry at 19:00, closed on Wednesdays, 25 December and 1 January; the Giardino Romantico every day 9:00-19:00 · the Palazzo Reale 15 euros; 2 euros from 18 to 25 for citizens of the European Union; free under 18; with the Museo Pignatelli 17 euros, to be used within a month. Free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month. The Giardino Romantico is free · 081 5808255 · palazzorealedinapoli.org
the castle that Charles I of Anjou began in 1279 and that was called new to distinguish it from the older ones; Giotto, Petrarch and Boccaccio passed through the court of Robert of Anjou. The Aragonese rebuilt it as a fortress in the fifteenth century, with five round towers, and between two of the towers they set the triumphal arch of white marble of Alfonso of Aragon. From the courtyard the Catalan staircase climbs to the Sala dei Baroni, where Ferrante of Aragon had the barons who were plotting against him arrested; then the Palatine Chapel, the archaeological route of the Armoury and the picture gallery of the Museo Civico. The Sala dei Baroni and the Chapel may be closed for the Comune's events. An hour; the Municipio stop on Line 1 is right in front.
Opening hours Monday to Saturday 9:00-18:00, last entry at 17:30; closed on Sundays and public holidays, except for special openings, and on days of orange weather alert · with the 2026 rates, 10 euros; 6 for residents of the Comune and the metropolitan city; free under 18; with the Artecard 5 euros or free, depending on the agreement · 081 7957703 · comune.napoli.it · castelnuovo@comune.napoli.it
The lungomare, the Borgo Marinari and Castel dell'Ovo
Walk · free entry · 40.82824, 14.24729
via Eldorado 3, 80133 Napoli
the promenade by the sea, from via Partenope along via Caracciolo as far as Mergellina, with Vesuvius on the other side of the gulf and the Villa Comunale along via Caracciolo: in winter the plane trees turn yellow and with a clear sky you can see Capri. Halfway, on a small island joined to the land by a bridge, stands Castel dell'Ovo, the oldest castle in the city: here was Megaride, where legend has the people of Cumae land, and then the villa of Lucullus, and the name comes from the egg that Virgil is said to have hidden in the foundations, because if it breaks the castle and Naples will fall. You cannot go inside the castle: it is closed for works, with no reopening date. At its foot is the Borgo Marinari, the little harbour with its restaurants. Come in the evening, after the Plebiscito, which is less than a kilometre away.
Opening hours Castel dell'Ovo is closed for renovation works, "until a date to be determined" according to the Comune · 081 7953581 · casteldellovo@comune.napoli.it
Winter in Naples begins in November with the nativity scene fair of San Gregorio Armeno and the Christmas lights, passes through 16 December, one of the three days of San Gennaro's blood, reaches the night of the 31st at the Plebiscito, and the nativity scenes and the lights stay until Epiphany. In spring Comicon and the May blood come almost together, and May is the month of open monuments; in summer, on the evening of 15 July, the bell tower of the Carmine catches fire, for show, and on 19 September the Duomo waits for San Gennaro again.
Next: Feast of the patronage of San Gennaro · 16 Dec
16Dec
Feast of the patronage of San Gennaro
on 16 December
the day the city remembers that San Gennaro saved it from the eruption of Vesuvius in 1631. The feast is mainly in the Royal Chapel of the Treasure, inside the Duomo: in the morning the reliquary with the blood is displayed and people wait for it to liquefy, and the veneration goes on until noon and then in the afternoon, before the reliquary is carried into the cathedral for the evening Mass. The Curia publishes the 2026 programme close to the date. In 2026 16 December is a Wednesday, and the nativity scene fair is five minutes away on foot
31Dec
New Year's Eve in piazza del Plebiscito
the night of 31 December
the New Year's Eve concert in piazza del Plebiscito, with DJs in piazza Municipio and at the Rotonda Diaz, and the fireworks over the sea from Castel dell'Ovo, which for the night between 31 December 2025 and 1 January the Comune had announced from 2:15; the Comune's celebrations lasted four days, from 29 December to 1 January. The artists and the programme come out in mid December, together with the road closures and restrictions. The motorhome stays at the stopover, and you go down by metro
29 Apr › 2May
Comicon
between the end of April and early May
the festival of comics, video games, animated film and pop culture, four days with publishers, authors, exhibitions and young people dressed up as characters. There is a ticket. In 2027 it falls at the same time as the May blood of San Gennaro, and the city will be very crowded
1May
The blood of San Gennaro in May
the Saturday before the first Sunday in May
the first of the three days of the year: the silver bust of the saint and the phials with the blood go out in procession from the Duomo to the basilica of Santa Chiara, with the busts of the co-patrons, in memory of the first time the relics arrived in the city from Pozzuoli. The Curia publishes the programme
to be confirmed
15Jul
The burning of the Carmine bell tower
the evening of 15 July
the eve of the feast of the Madonna del Carmine, in piazza del Carmine, near piazza Mercato: the bell tower of the basilica is covered in fireworks that imitate a fire, until the Madonna puts it out. In 2026 the Comune set it for 21:00, with a concert in the square. You watch it free from the square, and it is near the central station and Porta Nolana
19Sep
Solemnity of San Gennaro
on 19 September
the day of his martyrdom, the saint's biggest feast: the cathedral opens early, in the morning the archbishop and the mayor open the safe of the Chapel of the Treasure, and during Mass the archbishop announces whether the blood has liquefied, then shows the phials to the city from the churchyard. In 2026 the blood was displayed to the faithful from 16:00 to 18:30, and the following week the relics remained in the Duomo. The Curia publishes the programme
This year's dates are not out yet
Nativity scene fair of San Gregorio Armeno
from November to Epiphany
the workshops of the nativity figure makers in via San Gregorio Armeno are open all year, but from November the stalls, the lights and the crowds are added, and the street becomes the nativity scene fair: terracotta figurines, houses and grottoes, and every year the figurines of the people of the moment. On the busiest days the Comune makes the street one-way for pedestrians, from 9:00 to 20:00: in 2025 from Friday to Sunday on the weekends between 28 November and 14 December, plus Monday the 8th, and then from 19 to 23 December, on the last day until 14:00, and you went in at one end to come out at the other. The dates are announced every year by the Comune and the craftsmen's associations; in mid October those for 2026 have not yet been published. Walk there from the ancient centre, preferably from Monday to Thursday and in the morning
Christmas in the city
from mid November to Epiphany
the Comune's Christmas lights, more than a hundred and fifty kilometres of lights in the streets and large trees in the squares, with the tree lit in piazza Municipio; in 2025 they stayed on until 7 January, and in piazza del Plebiscito there was Father Christmas's village, free, from 8 to 21 December. In the churches and museums, the nativity scenes: the Cuciniello at San Martino, the eighteenth century one at Santa Chiara. The Comune announces the 2026 programme in November
Maggio dei Monumenti
in May, until 2 June
a month of free events all over the city, with guided tours, itineraries, exhibitions and special openings of palazzi and churches that are usually closed; in 2026, the thirty-second edition, it ran from 2 May to 2 June, with more than two hundred events. Many tours must be booked. The Comune presents the 2027 programme at the end of April
Remember
Useful tips
The motorhome stays at the Camaldoli and you go down to the centre by public transport: with ANM's 4.50 euro day ticket, or the 5.70 euro UnicoNapoli integrated ticket, you can take buses, the metro and the funiculars all day. A motorhome does not get into the centre, and there is nowhere to leave it
Check your engine before you leave: last winter, with the ordinance of 24 November 2025 and until 31 March 2026, the Comune banned diesels up to Euro 5 from Monday to Friday, from 8:30 to 18:30. The text does not mention motorhomes; a vehicle registered to someone who lives outside Campania, with a person on board who does not live there, is exempt, but with foreign number plates the exemption applies only to hire vehicles. The tangenziale, by which you reach the stopovers, is outside the ban. Check the ordinance for the winter of 2026-2027 on the Comune's website
Closing days overlap: on Tuesdays the Archaeological Museum, Sansevero, San Martino and Sant'Elmo; on Wednesdays the Palazzo Reale, Capodimonte and the Catacombs; on Sundays Castel Nuovo. On Mondays and Thursdays almost everything is open
On the first Sunday of the month the state museums are free for everyone, but at the Archaeological Museum tickets cannot be booked and some sections stay closed: there are queues, and with children another day is better, since under 18s always get in free anyway
The Cappella Sansevero and the Catacombs must be booked: the Veiled Christ online up to sixty days ahead, and it is the first thing to do once your dates are fixed; the guided tours of the Catacombs must be booked
The Vomero on the first clear morning: from Castel Sant'Elmo, with a clear sky, you see the whole city you will walk round in the days that follow, and the Vomero day can be brought forward. Go up on the Centrale or the Chiaia funicular, because the Montesanto one is closed
San Gregorio Armeno from Monday to Thursday: on December weekends the street is one-way and you can only shuffle along. The workshops are open all year, and if you do not come for the fair you will still find the pastori
On 16 December the blood of San Gennaro is displayed in the Chapel of the Treasure, at the height of the nativity scene fair: it is the day that ties the two together on a winter trip
The Naples half marathon is on Sunday 21 February 2027: that morning part of the city is closed to traffic
The Pompeii and Herculaneum excavations are on the Circumvesuviana line to Sorrento, and the Gran Cono of Vesuvius can be reached from Pompeii on the EAV 808 bus: they need days of their own, and they have their own pages. The Campi Flegrei are close by and are not on this page
Pizza is eaten in a pizzeria, and in the motorhome you cook pasta e patate: pasta mista can be bought ready mixed, and smoked mozzarella and provola in any dairy shop
Naples · part two
and then?
What to do, what to taste, and where to go tomorrow.
Experiences from here
What we did starting from here, ordered by driving time.
Naples is eaten in the street and in the pizzerias of via dei Tribunali: pizza, whose art has been UNESCO heritage since 2017, baked in a wood-fired oven. At home on Sundays there is ragù, which cooks for hours, and genovese, which despite its name is Neapolitan, a sauce of onions and meat; on ordinary days pasta mista, leftovers of different shapes that the Gragnano pasta factories sell already mixed, cooked with potatoes, with beans or with chickpeas. In winter there are friarielli, the bitter broccoli sautéed in the pan with sausage, and scarola, escarole, stewed, with beans or inside pizza di scarola. At Christmas struffoli with honey and coloured sprinkles, and roccocò, mustaccioli and susamielli; all year round sfogliatelle, ricce and frolle, and babà, which you buy at the pastry shop. In a motorhome you cannot make pizza, nor ragù: you make pasta e patate, in a single pot.
Distances and times by road, measured with OSRM on OpenStreetMap data.
Looking
Naples in photographs
36 shots from our visit. Tap one to see it large.
the Certosa di San Martino, the port and Vesuvius with clouds on its top, seen from Castel Sant'ElmoPhoto: Miguel Hermoso Cuesta, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Piazza del Gesù Nuovo with the diamond-point facade, the spire of the Immacolata and the bell tower of Santa Chiara at the backPhoto: Pinotto992, Wikimedia Commons, CC0the spire of the Immacolata lit up in the evening in Piazza del Gesù NuovoPhoto: Marco Ober, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the walk of the Santa Chiara cloister between pillars clad in yellow and green majolicaPhoto: MentNFG, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a painted majolica bench in the Santa Chiara cloisterPhoto: Michel Rodriguez, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0the Gothic facade of Santa Chiara and its bell tower lit up in the eveningPhoto: Marco Ober, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Nativity among ruined columns and flying angels, in the eighteenth-century crib of Santa ChiaraPhoto: Superchilum, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the straight line of Spaccanapoli cutting through the old centre, seen from Castel Sant'Elmo, with the green roof of Santa ChiaraPhoto: DimiTalen, Wikimedia Commons, CC0via San Gregorio Armeno with the crib workshops and the bell tower on its arch at the endPhoto: Luca Aless, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0crib figurines for sale on a stall in San Gregorio ArmenoPhoto: Square87, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the facade of San Lorenzo Maggiore and its dark stone bell tower on piazza San GaetanoPhoto: Miguel Hermoso Cuesta, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the paved Roman street beneath San Lorenzo Maggiore, between the walls of the shopsPhoto: MentNFG, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a cistern dug into the tuff with water at the bottom, on the Napoli Sotterranea tourPhoto: Superchilum, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the neo-Gothic facade of the cathedral on via DuomoPhoto: Velvet, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the altar of the Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro with the saint's bust, the bronze statues of the patrons and poinsettiasPhoto: Cruz.croce, Wikimedia Commons, CC0Caravaggio's Seven Works of Mercy on the high altar of the Pio Monte della MisericordiaPhoto: Giuseppe Guida, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the long red facade of the National Archaeological Museum on piazza MuseoPhoto: Yair Haklai, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Farnese Bull, the marble group found at the Baths of Caracalla, in the Archaeological MuseumPhoto: Sailko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the upper vestibule of the Catacombs of San Gennaro, dug into the tuffPhoto: Catacombe di Napoli, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a gallery of the Catacombs of San Gennaro with burial niches in the wallsPhoto: Argo Navis, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the open hawk-wing staircase of Palazzo dello Spagnolo, in the rione SanitàPhoto: Argo Navis, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Royal Palace of Capodimonte from the lawn of the Real Bosco, with palm trees in frontPhoto: Giuseppe Guida, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the escalators of the Toledo metro station, under the blue mosaic conePhoto: Robot8A, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0laundry hanging between the balconies of a steep alley in the Quartieri SpagnoliPhoto: Jeroen Bennink, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0the mural of Maradona in the Napoli shirt at largo Maradona, above the buntingPhoto: Superchilum, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the great cloister of the Certosa di San Martino with the well in the middle of the gardenPhoto: Superchilum, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Cuciniello crib in the Museo di San Martino, with angels hanging above the NativityPhoto: Miguel Hermoso Cuesta, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Castel Sant'Elmo and the Certosa di San Martino on top of the Vomero, under a stormy skyPhoto: Ra Boe, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 dean arm of the Galleria Umberto I with its iron and glass domePhoto: Argo Navis, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Christmas tree under the dome of the Galleria Umberto IPhoto: IlSistemone, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the royal box with its crown and the six tiers of boxes of the Teatro di San CarloPhoto: IlSistemone, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0Piazza del Plebiscito with San Francesco di Paola and the colonnadePhoto: Alisa58, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the marble grand staircase of the Royal PalacePhoto: MentNFG, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Castel Nuovo with its round towers and the white marble triumphal arch between two of themPhoto: Luca Aless, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Castel dell'Ovo in the evening light, with Vesuvius behindPhoto: Miguel Hermoso Cuesta, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the plane trees of via Caracciolo with yellow autumn leaves, along the seaPhoto: Johnnyrotten, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
