7 Days in Naples: The First-Timer Itinerary
7 Days in Naples: The First-Timer Itinerary
A full week in Naples, no day trips, lets every big sight breathe: Cappella Sansevero, MANN, Napoli Sotterranea, Vomero, Capodimonte, and Mergellina across the first six days, then a slow seventh day built around the Pignasecca market and whatever neighborhood you liked best. Prefer six days? See the 6 day route . Ready to extend into Pompeii or the Amalfi Coast instead of a slow day seven? Check the Naples day-trip guide .
Book these before you go:
- Cappella Sansevero timed entry , closed Tuesdays, its own calendar sells out first
- Napoli Sotterranea guided tour , departures roughly every 2 hours
- Hands-on Naples pizza-making class , book a couple of days ahead
- Naples hotels on Booking.com , a full week in Centro Storico books out fastest
| Day | Focus | Neighborhood |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cappella Sansevero, the Duomo, Spaccanapoli | Centro Storico |
| 2 | MANN, Castel Nuovo, the lungomare | Museum quarter and waterfront |
| 3 | Napoli Sotterranea, street food, Toledo | Quartieri Spagnoli |
| 4 | Castel Sant’Elmo, Certosa di San Martino | Vomero |
| 5 | Capodimonte, the catacombs | Sanità |
| 6 | Mergellina walk, pizza-making class | Mergellina and Chiaia |
| 7 | Pignasecca market, favorite neighborhood revisit | Whichever you liked best |
Day 1: Cappella Sansevero and the Centro Storico
Book the first Cappella Sansevero slot you can: EUR12 adult, EUR8 reduced for 18 to 26, closed Tuesdays, confirmed on museosansevero.it . The Veiled Christ visit runs 20 to 30 minutes. Follow with the free Duomo nave and a walk through Spaccanapoli, part of the UNESCO-listed old town, with a detour to San Gregorio Armeno’s nativity workshops. Afternoon: Gesù Nuovo and Santa Chiara. Evening: the numbered-ticket queue at L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele.
Day 2: MANN, the castles, and the bay
A full morning at MANN: EUR20 full, EUR2 reduced for EU citizens 18 to 25, 9:00 to 19:30 with last entry 18:30, closed Tuesdays, per museoarcheologiconapoli.it , home to the mosaics and bronzes actually excavated from Pompeii and Herculaneum. Lunch near Piazza Municipio (EUR15 to 25 per person), then Castel Nuovo, roughly EUR6, closed Sundays. Evening: Castel dell’Ovo and the Lungomare Caracciolo, dinner in Chiaia.
Day 3: Napoli Sotterranea and the Quartieri Spagnoli
Napoli Sotterranea, guided tours only, 90 minutes to 2 hours, roughly 40 meters down via about 136 steps through Greco-Roman cisterns and WWII shelters, roughly EUR10 walk-up or EUR15 skip-the-line (verify current rate), booked via napolisotterranea.org . Afternoon in the Quartieri Spagnoli, genuinely safe by day, then Toledo and Municipio metro stations. Evening: pizza fritta from a stall.
Day 4: Vomero’s hilltop views
A funicular ride, roughly EUR1.10 to 1.30, up to Vomero, cooler and quieter than the city below. Castel Sant’Elmo and the Certosa di San Martino sit side by side, both worth the climb for the view over the bay. Afternoon: down toward Chiaia and Villa Comunale for a seafront evening.
Day 5: Capodimonte and the Sanità district
Morning at the Museo di Capodimonte, the former royal palace turned art museum in its own hilltop park. Then Rione Sanità and the Catacombe di San Gennaro, an underground early-Christian burial site with centuries-old frescoes, visited by guided tour. Afternoon back in Centro Storico for anything day one rushed. Evening: dinner in Chiaia.
Day 6: Mergellina, Posillipo, and a pizza class
Morning walk from Mergellina toward Posillipo, a quieter coastal stretch with a different sightline across the bay to Vesuvius than day two’s view. Midday: a hands-on Neapolitan pizza-making class, learning the dough and the wood-fired oven from someone who does it daily. If San Gennaro’s Treasure Chapel (EUR13 adult, EUR9.50 reduced, daily 9:30 to 18:00, last entry 17:00) is still on your list, fold it in on the way back. Evening: dinner wherever felt best so far.
Day 7: Pignasecca market and a slow goodbye
Spend the morning at the Pignasecca market, Naples’ working produce and street-food market rather than a souvenir stop, with an espresso standing at the bar the way locals actually drink it (EUR0.90 to 1.20). Skip planning anything structured for the rest of the day; revisit whichever neighborhood pulled you back the most, Centro Storico for one more San Gregorio Armeno pass, Chiaia for a last coffee on the seafront, or Vomero for one more view. Evening: a farewell dinner and one last pizza, this time without checking a list.
Is a full week too long for Naples the city alone?
Not if you want to actually rest inside the trip rather than just check sights off. By day seven, the pace this itinerary sets naturally slows to a market morning and a revisit rather than a new neighborhood, which is the point of having the extra day at all.
What’s worth doing with an unstructured last day in Naples?
Whatever you didn’t get enough of the first time. The Pignasecca market gives you a genuine local morning without a ticket or a booking attached, and a repeat visit to your favorite spot from earlier in the week beats squeezing in one more museum on a travel day.
Seven days means day seven doesn’t need a plan. Go back to whatever surprised you most on day one, that’s usually the better use of the last morning than anything new.