10 Best Things to Do
Naples crowds churches, food stalls and small workshops into the lanes around Spaccanapoli, with the Sansevero Chapel and Archaeological Museum adding extraordinary collections close by. Rione Sanità leads towards the Catacombs of San Gennaro; Chiaia and the waterfront open the city out towards the gulf. Above them, San Martino offers a different perspective from the Vomero hillside. The historic centre is best explored on foot, while the funiculars help connect the lower city with Vomero.
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli
Museo, Italy
The National Archaeological Museum gives the ancient world a vivid presence in the middle of modern Naples. Its collections bring together monumental Farnese sculpture, frescoes, objects from daily life and material from Pompeii and Herculaneum. Rather than trying to see every room, choose a few themes and allow time to look closely at the surviving details. Gallery access changes during restoration and reorganisation, so check the current room schedule; the museum presently states that the Alexander Mosaic is not on display.
Ancient art and the Vesuvian cities
Museo Cappella Sansevero
Historic centre, Italy
The Sansevero Chapel offers a concentrated encounter with the artistic imagination of eighteenth-century Naples. The Veiled Christ is its best-known work, but the surrounding sculptures reward equally close attention to the way marble becomes fabric, gesture and expression. Raimondo di Sangro’s association with the chapel adds another layer to the visit, continued in the Anatomical Machines displayed below. This is a small museum to absorb carefully rather than rush through, and advance booking is essential because daily admissions are limited.
Remarkable marble sculpture in an intimate chapel
Catacombs of San Gennaro
Capodimonte / Rione Sanità, Italy
The Catacombs of San Gennaro reveal a quieter and much older dimension of Naples. Guided visits lead through broad spaces cut into the tuff, with early Christian paintings, burial areas and underground basilicas explaining the city’s relationship with its patron saint. The two levels developed over centuries rather than as a single planned monument. Pair the visit with time in Rione Sanità, but leave room in the schedule for the booked tour and wear an extra layer for the cool underground conditions.
Early Christian Naples below ground
Teatro di San Carlo
San Ferdinando, Italy
Teatro di San Carlo gives Naples’ musical history a spectacular setting beside the Royal Palace. Established in 1737 and subsequently rebuilt and altered, it remains a place where architecture and performance belong together. A guided visit introduces the historic auditorium and the theatre’s story, while an evening performance offers a different way to appreciate the space. Choose the experience that fits your interests, and keep plans flexible: rehearsals and stage activity can affect the route and timing of daytime visits.
A great opera house from the inside
Certosa e Museo di San Martino
Vomero, Italy
The Certosa di San Martino combines a former monastery with a varied museum on the Vomero hill. Its church, cloisters and decorative work reveal the ambitions of Neapolitan Baroque art, while collections devoted to the city, maritime history and nativity scenes broaden the visit beyond religious architecture. The belvedere adds a welcome change of pace and a view across Naples. Allow enough time to move between the architectural spaces and museum sections, rather than coming only for a photograph from the terrace.
Baroque art, city history and elevated views
Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte
Capodimonte, Italy
Capodimonte brings a major painting collection into a hilltop setting that feels removed from the historic centre’s narrow streets. The museum’s highlights include works by Titian, Parmigianino, Artemisia Gentileschi and Caravaggio, with selected masterpieces gathered in a dedicated room. Build the visit around the collections currently accessible rather than assuming every gallery is open. Different floors keep different schedules, and restoration affects parts of the museum, making a little advance planning especially useful for visitors with a particular work in mind.
A major painting collection above the city
Complesso Monumentale di Santa Chiara
Historic centre, Italy
Santa Chiara offers a change of rhythm in the historic centre, with a cloister whose tiled pillars and benches bring colour into a garden setting. Painted scenes and frescoed walls reward a slower circuit, while the museum, Roman baths and nativity display add different periods of the complex’s history. The adjoining basilica has its own entrance arrangements and a notably spare Gothic appearance following post-war reconstruction. Treat the cloister and church as related visits with separate opening hours, rather than a single timed stop.
A decorated cloister and layered city history
Galleria Borbonica
Chiaia / San Ferdinando, Italy
The Galleria Borbonica’s standard guided route follows a succession of underground spaces that served very different purposes. Bourbon engineering crosses older water infrastructure, while rooms later used as wartime shelters preserve another chapter of the city’s life. Recovered vehicles and fragments of statues recall the tunnels’ subsequent use as a municipal deposit. The result is a layered visit grounded in practical history, best understood with the guide’s explanation. Choose the route and entrance deliberately, since the operator offers several distinct experiences.
Engineering and wartime history underground
Walk Spaccanapoli and the historic centre
Historic centre, Italy
A walk along Spaccanapoli makes the structure of old Naples visible through its busiest streets. Via Benedetto Croce, Via San Biagio dei Librai and the adjoining lanes connect churches, shops, food counters and small squares within the historic centre. Allow the route to branch towards Via San Gregorio Armeno and Via dei Tribunali, stopping where a doorway or workshop catches your attention. The value lies in moving slowly between substantial monuments and everyday activity, rather than treating the street as a checklist of photo stops.
Street life and the old city’s layout
Stroll the Lungomare Caracciolo
Chiaia / Mergellina, Italy
The Lungomare Caracciolo gives Naples room to open out towards the bay. A broad waterfront route, with a substantial pedestrian section, offers views towards Vesuvius and the coastline, while locals walk, cycle and meet along the seafront. It is an easy counterpoint to time spent inside museums or among the historic centre’s narrow lanes. Choose a comfortable stretch rather than feeling obliged to cover the whole waterfront, and leave time simply to watch the changing light and the movement of the city.
Bay views and a relaxed waterfront walk