Campania (Italy)
Naples is Italy at full volume: a three-thousand-year-old city where laundry hangs over Greek street plans, scooters thread through Baroque piazzas, and the pizza that conquered the world still costs less than a museum ticket.
Under its streets run Greek cisterns and Roman theatres; in its museums sit the treasures of Pompeii and Herculaneum; in a small chapel off Spaccanapoli lies the Veiled Christ, a marble shroud so fine it looks like breath. Across the bay rises Vesuvius, the volcano that buried two Roman towns in AD 79 and still dominates every view. This guide books the region properly — Pompeii under its new daily cap and named tickets, Herculaneum's astonishing upper floors, the online-only crater path on Vesuvius, the National Archaeological Museum, the Naples Underground and the catacombs of San Gennaro — and pairs it with the coast that made the Grand Tour swoon: Capri and its Blue Grotto, Positano stacked down its cliff, Amalfi's cathedral, Ravello's gardens and the Path of the Gods high above the sea. Then it matches you to the right base, from the Grand Hotel Vesuvio on the Naples waterfront to Le Sirenuse in Positano, because here the choice between city, Sorrento and coast shapes the whole trip.
Pompeii Archaeological Park
The Roman town Vesuvius froze in AD 79 — forum, theatres, bakeries, brothel, frescoed houses and the haunting plaster casts — now on named tickets with a 20,000-a-day cap. Book ahead, arrive at opening, and wear proper shoes.
National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN)
The world's great treasury of Roman art — the frescoes and mosaics of Pompeii and Herculaneum, the colossal Farnese sculptures, the Secret Cabinet and a fine Egyptian collection. See it before or after Pompeii; it is the other half of the story. Closed Tuesdays.
Capri & the Blue Grotto
The island of emperors and film stars, a short ferry from Naples or Sorrento — the Piazzetta, the Gardens of Augustus, the Faraglioni rocks, Anacapri and, sea permitting, the luminous Blue Grotto by rowing boat. Go early, and have a plan B for the grotto.
Royal Palace of Caserta (Reggia di Caserta)
The Bourbon kings' answer to Versailles: a vast palace of royal apartments and a three-kilometre axis of fountains and cascades running to a mountain waterfall, an easy train ride from Naples.
The Roman town Vesuvius froze in AD 79 — forum, theatres, bakeries, brothel, frescoed houses and the haunting plaster casts — now on named tickets with a 20,000-a-day cap. Book ahead, arrive at opening, and wear proper shoes.
Pompeii's smaller, richer, better-preserved neighbour — two-storey houses, carbonised wooden beams and furniture, vivid frescoes and mosaics, and the boat sheds where hundreds sheltered. Half the size, twice the detail, and far fewer crowds.
Walk up the volcano that buried Pompeii and look into its crater, with the whole Bay of Naples below. Tickets are online-only and timed, capped daily, and the path closes in bad weather — book ahead and check the forecast.
The world's great treasury of Roman art — the frescoes and mosaics of Pompeii and Herculaneum, the colossal Farnese sculptures, the Secret Cabinet and a fine Egyptian collection. See it before or after Pompeii; it is the other half of the story. Closed Tuesdays.
Forty metres beneath the historic centre: Greek quarries, Roman cisterns and aqueduct channels, Second World War air-raid shelters, and a Roman theatre hidden inside an ordinary Neapolitan home. A guided descent into the city under the city.
A small Baroque chapel off Spaccanapoli holding the Veiled Christ, Giuseppe Sanmartino's marble body under a transparent-seeming shroud — one of the most astonishing sculptures in the world. Booking is required, photos are banned, and it closes on Tuesdays.
Southern Italy's greatest catacombs — two levels of early Christian tombs, frescoes and mosaics carved into the tuff — run by young guides from the Sanità neighbourhood whose project helped revive it. A short, moving guided tour.
The dead-straight Greek street that splits Naples in two, lined with churches, cloisters, crib-makers, pastry shops and pizzerias — the heart of a UNESCO historic centre that is free to wander and impossible to forget.
A Bourbon royal palace on a hilltop park, filled with one of Italy's great painting collections — Caravaggio's Flagellation, Titian, Raphael, Masaccio, Parmigianino — and almost no crowds. The vast park is free. Museum closed Wednesdays.
The star-shaped fortress on top of Vomero hill, reached by funicular, with the best panorama in Naples — the whole city, the bay, Vesuvius and Capri from its ramparts — plus a museum of twentieth-century Neapolitan art. A modest fee, and cheaper late in the day.
The island of emperors and film stars, a short ferry from Naples or Sorrento — the Piazzetta, the Gardens of Augustus, the Faraglioni rocks, Anacapri and, sea permitting, the luminous Blue Grotto by rowing boat. Go early, and have a plan B for the grotto.
The Amalfi Coast's three great towns in one day — Positano tumbling down its cliff, Amalfi's striped cathedral and paper-making past, and Ravello's gardens floating above the sea. By bus, boat or guided day trip from Naples; ferries run in season only.
Hotels we would book ourselves, from splurges to good-value bases.
Lungomare / Santa Lucia
Naples' grand dame on the waterfront since 1882 — bay and Vesuvius views from the Lungomare, the ninth-floor Caruso Roof Garden restaurant, and a guest book from Caruso to Wilde. The classic address for a Naples milestone.
Check rates →Chiaia / Corso Vittorio Emanuele
A historic hotel on the Corso Vittorio Emanuele hillside above Chiaia, with sweeping views over the bay to Vesuvius and Capri, antique-filled salons and a rooftop restaurant. Old-world Naples with the best panorama of any city hotel.
Check rates →Historic Centre / Porta Capuana
A sixteenth-century noble palace turned stylish four-star on the edge of the historic centre, with a grand courtyard, contemporary rooms and an easy walk to Garibaldi station for Pompeii trains. Character and value in one.
Check rates →Sorrento / Piazza Tasso
Sorrento's legendary clifftop grand hotel, run by the same family since 1834 — gardens and orange groves, a Michelin-starred restaurant, a lift down to the harbour and views across the bay to Vesuvius. Old-school luxury at its finest.
Check rates →Sorrento / Hillside above the centre
A large resort-style hotel on the hill above Sorrento, among lemon and orange groves, with several pools, bay views to Vesuvius and reliable brand comfort — a practical, family-friendly base for Pompeii, Capri and the Amalfi Coast.
Check rates →Positano / Above the Spiaggia Grande
Positano's most famous hotel, run by the Sersale family since 1951 — red-washed terraces over the bay, a pool with the town's best view, candlelit La Sponda and a Champagne and oyster bar. The Amalfi Coast dream, fully realised.
Check rates →Amalfi / Clifftop west of town
A thirteenth-century monastery on the cliff above Amalfi, now a luxury hotel with a cloister, a chapel, a cliff-edge pool and views straight down the coast. Formerly the NH Collection Grand Hotel Convento, rebranded as Anantara.
Check rates →Historic Centre / Piazza Bellini
A calm, stylish boutique hotel in a late nineteenth-century palazzo by Piazza Bellini, with a palm-shaded courtyard, a rare small pool and a roof terrace — the historic centre on your doorstep, without its noise.
Check rates →Historic Centre / Piazza Bellini
A sixteenth-century palazzo on the liveliest square in the historic centre, restored with clean modern design and local art — terrace rooms look over the rooftops to Vesuvius, and every major sight is a short walk away.
Check rates →Lungomare / Santa Lucia
A grand Belle Époque hotel opened in 1908 on the seafront, directly facing Castel dell'Ovo — classic rooms, a rooftop restaurant with views of Vesuvius and Capri, and the Lungomare at the door.
Check rates →Port / Piazza Municipio
One of the best-loved hostels in Italy, a few steps from the island ferries — friendly staff, dorms and private rooms, free breakfast and a rating built on more than ten thousand guest reviews.
Check rates →Sorrento / Piazza Tasso
A nineteenth-century villa just off Piazza Tasso in central Sorrento, wrapped by the old town walls and a lemon and orange garden with a pool — a calm, good-value base a few minutes from the train and buses.
Check rates →Sorrento / above Marina Grande
A twelve-room design hideaway on the cliff above Sorrento's fishing harbour, with sea views from every room, a bright, book-filled interior and a private stair down to the restaurants of Marina Grande.
Check rates →Positano / Via Pasitea
A family-run four-star on Via Pasitea with a pool terrace above Positano's tumbling houses, bougainvillea-shaded dining and a spa — the classic Positano view at a gentler price than the famous names.
Check rates →Amalfi / eastern seafront
A convent founded by St Francis of Assisi in the thirteenth century, now a family hotel on the rocks at the edge of Amalfi — a medieval cloister, a seawater pool and a restaurant in a watchtower over the waves.
Check rates →The practical playbook for a first visit to Naples and the bay — the bookings that sell out, the closing days that catch people out, trains, ferries and funiculars, eating like a Neapolitan, and the honest truth about safety and noise.
A five-day plan that books the timed tickets in the right order — Naples' museums and underground, Pompeii and Vesuvius, Capri, and the Amalfi Coast — with a smart split between a Naples base and a coastal one.
The base decision that shapes the whole trip — the case for Naples, Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi and Ravello, which neighbourhoods to choose, how seasons change the answer, and how to split your nights.
What to eat and how to order it — Neapolitan pizza and its rules, fried street food, coffee rituals, sfogliatelle and babà, Sunday ragù, buffalo mozzarella, and the lemons, seafood and limoncello of Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast.
The honest guide to visiting between November and March — Pompeii's winter hours, Vesuvius closures, the end of coastal ferries, the Blue Grotto's moods, hotels that close, and the quiet, local, festive rewards of the off-season.
The deep dive on the buried cities — how the eruption of AD 79 preserved each town differently, which to choose if you have one day, the new Pompeii rules, how to combine them with Vesuvius and the Archaeological Museum, and how to see them with kids.
