Naples - Go or Avoid?

loobs40

zagfles wrote: »

You don't need to arrange anything - it's easy, there a "circumvesuviana" train which goes to Pompeii & Herculaneum (Ercolano), and just buy a ticket there. You can get a 3-site ticket which includes the Villa di Poppea which is well worth seeing (less crowded and better preserved than much of Pompeii), also on the train line. You can get a guided tour in Pompeii which is worth it if there are a few of you, or if not ask the guide to wait for some more people to share the cost, otherwise it'll be expensive. They'll probably approach you after you've bought the ticket.

For Vesuvius you can get a bus from Ercolano IIRC outside the train station. There are buses going to Positano and Amalfi along the coast raod, and you can get a boat there from Sorrento (but would recommend the bus one way at least, great views), and a boat to Capri. Boat or train to Naples - well worth a day trip I think (but others will disagree).

Just to add getting a guide at Pompeii or Herculaneum (which I preferred) is a must.

YoungBaker

loobs40 wrote: »

Just to add getting a guide at Pompeii or Herculaneum (which I preferred) is a must.

How much was this for you guys?

zagfles

Allan_r_123 wrote: »

How much was this for you guys?

The guide at Pompeii charged about EUR 80 in total IIRC for a 2 hour tour, shared between all those of the tour. He came up to us first offering a tour for EUR 80, we said not at that price so he said to wait around while he tried finding a few others who wanted a tour in English. In the end there were about 8-10 adults and think we paid about EUR10 per adult (kids were free).

Good tour but only really scratched the surface, we spent another 4 hours there, about 6 in total. It's not a place to rush!

At Herculaneum we got an audio guide (like a walkman) which was pretty good.

robpw2

sorrento was beautiful , pompeii was really interesting , naples on the other hand is very dirty

Marco12

Stephen,

Saying that Naples is real urban Italy is akeen to saying that the Old Kent Road is representative of London... Or that the depressed old mining communities in the north of England are typically British and on a par with Cornwall Surrey or Kent. I never met a foreign tourist who fancies spending the summer in Tyne & Wear.

I am from the north of Italy and would not spend a day, let alone a holiday, in Naples.

If waste, dirt and crime appeal to you, you will thoroughly enjoy Naples. I have just canceled a week sailing in Capri because there is a health alert in the sea water throughout the Campanian coastal waters: raw sewage, floating nappies etc. read "mucillagine" on italian on-line papers of the last 48 hours... Why? Inept administrations, corruption, treatment plants half built or with personnel on strike, etc etc..fake water quality reports.... Coacroaches infestations... The usual southern italian music.

Go to Tuscany, or Sardinia, or the lakes in the north. Or go to Spain, our much more civilized cousins.

Forum users, Happy to help you planning a trip to Italy if you tell me what you fancy!

Happy Summer (And can someone fix the weather here in UK, PLEASE!!).

Marco

YoungBaker

So Marco is it just Naples you would suggest to stay clear from, or do you think such issues are wider spread? We are considering going to Sorrento (trip to pompeii etc) > Rome > Florence (trip to pisa) then possibly a week at the Lakes with a trip to Venice and a trip to Verona.

Marco12

Hello Allan,
Just Naples! All the other places you list are good...
I didn't see when you are planning to go. Generally, if you can, choose a period that isn't the second half of July, August, or the first week of September. Outside these, service is with a smile, the crowds have subsided, the climate less extreme... By all means pass by the piazza dei miracoli in Pisa ( leaning tower) but the real Tuscany is in places like San Gimignano.... In Venice, visit the little "calli" (tiny streets) at sunset while everybody else is having dinner... And as lakes go, do not miss Garda' Sirmione and Limone... The gardesana occidentale (western road) of the lake is where james bomd shot the last movie- fantastic scenery if you drive....
Enjoy!
Happy to give you more tips once you know when you are going....
Marco

SallyD

I have had some wonderful holidays in Italy. I stayed in Naples for two nights prior to catching the ferry over to Ischia. Naples is an eye sore compared to all the beautiful places there are in Italy. My trip was marred by a couple of Naples bag snatchers who tried to pull off my shoulder bag as they drove past me on their scooter,trouble was that my bag strap twisted around my wrist as I ended up being dragged behind the scooter. The guy clutching my bag did not bargain for the strap twisting and eventually had to let go as he was slipping off the back of the scooter!!!! I ended up with scrapped knees/elbows, torn
trousers and very badly scuffed shoes,very hot and a pounding heart. No-one came to my aid and two policeman on the street corner found it amusing that I had been dragged along the road. The Youth Hostel was the pits too. Pizza will agree was fab.

Pisa is a day trip at a stretch, but combined with a trip to luscious Lucca makes it worthwhile.

Pompei,Tivoli, Sorrento,Amalfi Coast, Portafino Mmmmmmm to die for.

Florence everything you think it would be.

Venice - with its canals, handsome Gondoliers and buildings of superb beauty combined with the spa towns makes an interesting trip as does Lake Como coupled with Milan.

Naples, give it a miss you are missing nothing except possibly your wallet, streets of hanging washing,1,000's scooters and traffic.

roddydogs

You MUST do the Amalfi Coast, then back by boat to Sorrento, Brill.