Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

If you wonder if Naples is worth visiting, here is our list of what to do in Naples to help those who are short of time and visit Naples in one day.
We suggest focusing on 1 or 2 Museums and spending the rest of the day outdoors to breathe the colors of a city where the sea has a significant and fascinating role.

Let us give you a small taste of what to see in Naples that might help organize your one day in Naples. If you like, check what we selected for our guests in this link.

 

“See Naples and die.” — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, Italian Journey, 1786

Naples best places

Don’t you know what to do in Naples? Let us give you a small taste of Naples best places that might help first-time visitors organize one day in Naples.

Castel Nuovo hides the mystery of the sacred grail
San Carlo Opera House has a sumptuous interior
The Royal Place is filled with original furnishings
 
naples in one day

Naples Royal Palace stairway

 

Piazza Del Plebiscito is dominated by San Francesco di Paola Church, modeled on the Pantheon
Castel Dell Ovo is a Medieval Fortress that hides a picturesque small port and which is famous for a curious legend of an egg (ovo) 
San Severo Chapel is renowned for the veiled Christ and other amazingly realistic sculptures
Galleria Umberto I, a huge steel-and-glass shopping arcade
San Gregorio Armeno, Via Dei Tribunali, and Spaccanapoli are chaotic and fascinating streets where religion and superstitions intertwine
 
is naples worth visiting

San Gregorio Armeno

 

Certosa di San Martino is famous for its nativity scenes and its amazing views
Castel Dell’Elmo is an imposing Medieval fortress with a 360° view over Naples
Church of GesĂą Nuovo, a tremendous baroque example
Church of Santa Chiara, famous for its enchanting cloister
Piazza Dante, dear to the locals who stop for a coffee
The Cathedral (Duomo) preserves a reliquary of San Gennaro with his blood, which is supposed to liquefy three times a year
Capodimonte Museum and Picture Gallery, with the finest Italian porcelain and a remarkable picture galley
Mergellina District, at the feet of Posillippo hill, with its elegant park, the tourist port, and the elegant seafront Via Caracciolo
Mount Vesuvius is the skyline in Naples’s best picture; one can climb it and reach its big cone
Pompeii Scavi, where excavations of the best preserved Ancient Roman city never end

Why is Naples worth visiting?

Naples hides many other treasures! Italy’s most beautifully sited city has some of the best cultural attractions, superb cuisine, and energetic lust for life.

But it is for its extreme contrasts that Naples is definitely worth visiting! 

 A taste of the variety of its neighborhoods is in the famous Spacca-Napoli district, where the marvelous baroque style of Gesu Nuovo Church is in total contrast to the austerity of the gothic Santa Chiara Church across the square.

Most things you have heard about Naples, like Neapolitans’ kindness, genuine empathy, and altruism, are true. The feeling that life is beautiful is the souvenir you bring home! 

Naples Pizza and Sfogliatella 

Our last tips:

With the entire Mediterranean at their disposal, Neapolitan Restaurants are famous for their seafood dishes, the Cuoppo (fried finger food ), the Spumone “ice cream” but, most of all, for the Naples Pizza and the BabbĂ  and Sfogliatella pastries.

Do not miss the last three! 

 There is no challenge for the Pizza: look for a Sorbillo Pizzeria! We tasted other pizzas, but Sorbillo always won. 

Gambrinus Café at Piazza Del Plebiscito is an institution, but if the line is too long like it always is, try Leopoldo pastries around the corner… delicious! It is at the beginning of Via Chiaia, also famous for shopping.