Naples Sightseeing in 1, 2 or 3 Days
One day in Naples is enough to see why people fall for it, two lets you add a Roman town, and three gives the city room to breathe. The order matters more than the length, because two of the best indoor sights close on Tuesday.
One day: the old city and the museums
Start at the Cappella Sansevero for a booked morning slot. The Veiled Christ (1753) is here, not in the Duomo. Entry is EUR12, with EUR8 for ages 18 to 26 and EUR6 for ages 10 to 17. The chapel opens 9:00 to 19:00 and is shut on Tuesdays, and visits are timed, so reserve on the chapel’s official site and arrive early.
Next, walk Spaccanapoli, the straight Greco-Roman line through the old centre, past Piazza del Gesu, the faceted stone front of Gesu Nuovo and the majolica cloister of Santa Chiara. The Duomo’s nave is free. All three churches enforce a dress code: covered shoulders and knees.
In the afternoon, go to the National Archaeological Museum. MANN costs EUR20 (EUR2 for EU citizens aged 18 to 24, free under 18), opens 9:00 to 19:30 with last entry at 18:30, and shuts on Tuesdays. See the MANN site for free days. The Alexander Mosaic and the Secret Cabinet are the stops worth planning around.
Two days: add Herculaneum or Pompeii
Spend day two out of town. Herculaneum is 20 minutes on the Circumvesuviana from Napoli Garibaldi and Pompeii is about 35, 25 km from the city, so choose one. Herculaneum is EUR16 and suits half a day. Pompeii’s Express ticket is EUR20, with named tickets and a 20,000-a-day cap. A guide brings the streets alive, and you can compare Pompeii and Herculaneum tours on GetYourGuide .
If Tuesday falls on day two, do the ruins then, since both ruins are open and both museums are not.
Three days: the royal waterfront and the hill
Day three belongs to the Bourbon city. Walk to the Royal Palace and its grand marble staircase on Piazza del Plebiscito, then pass the colonnade of San Francesco di Paola and the glass-vaulted Galleria Umberto I. Teatro di San Carlo, opened in 1737, offers guided visits of its gilded auditorium; details are at teatrosancarlo.it . Then walk the sea edge to Castel dell’Ovo and Borgo Marinari. The exterior is free, and it is best to check interior hours on the day.
Finish on the Vomero hill. The Montesanto funicular climbs to the Certosa di San Martino and Castel Sant’Elmo, where the bay, Vesuvius and the islands lie below. The funicular takes a single ANM ticket of EUR1.30.
Add a fourth: Vesuvius or the sea
With one more day, Vesuvius is the pick: tickets are EUR10 online only, and the Vesuvius park page lists slots. Otherwise, take a hydrofoil to Capri in about 50 minutes for roughly EUR21 to EUR30, or browse Capri day trips on Viator .
Practical points
Watch your bag at Piazza Garibaldi and on the Circumvesuviana. For day-by-day plans, see the three-day itinerary , and for the ruins and islands, the page on day trips . Tip: book Sansevero before anything else, then build the rest of your days around that slot.