The best places to stay and eat in Naples

Planning a trip to Naples and need some tips, ideas on where to go and grab the best pizza in town ? my post may help you a bit with that.

Hotels

An absolute must-stay is Hotel Palazzo Caracciolo Napoli in via Carbonara. I cannot think of any other better place to stay in Naples. I guess that probably a hotel with views of the promenade near the Olympic port sounds tempting but Hotel Palazzo Caracciolo really has a character difficult to match. The area may seem dangerous at first impression but you’ll soon get used to is and walk around feeling like a local. Unless of course you are the show-off type and go round with a rolex and behave like a wealthy tourist.

In the evening the streets throughout the old Quarter that lead to the Hotel may be a bit dark, but I also found it ok even walking around with my girlfriend. You could always ask the taxi driver to take you straight to the front of hotel which is facing a well lighted street (via Carbonara). In general the old quarter in naples may be perceived unsafe but you’ll soon get used to it and even get to see the same faces in every corner. Hotel Palazzo Caracciolo boasts an amazing building, great facilities, internet on request, bar and breakfast. You can even get a room with a terrace and table/chairs to go out a nd relax. It is also outstanding value with rooms going for as low as €75 depending on season. Staff are very friendly and will be pleased to help you with directions, arranging taxi and give you tips for places to eat.

Places to eat in Napoli

If you stay around the old town, which i’d recommend you do,  some of the best places you can go to are as follows:

Pizzerias

Via Tribunali boasts what locals claim to be the best pizza in town: Pizzeria Sorbillo.  Be prepared for some serious waiting time as the locals gather around and outside the Pizzerias for their number to be called. You can either go in and wait to be seated or order your takeaway pizza. Whichever way you do, you’ll have to wait patiently to have the best pizza in Naples.

Alternatively, via VicariaVecchia (parallel to Via Tribunali) also boasts two very popular Pizzerias with ‘Spaccanapoli’ taking most of the great reviews.

Outside the old Town heading down to ‘Castel Nuovo’ on Via Medina, you have two Pizzerias where you can have ‘vera pizza napolitana’ as our taxi driver described it: Solopizza and Fratelli La Buffala. We only tried  ‘ Fratelli LaBuffala‘ where we had a very tasty salad with buffala cheese, and rockette, great fresh calamari and then two tasteful pizzas, two beers, two glasses of local red and a bottle of mineral water, it cost us €44 incl, service charge of 10% and coverts.

We could have just done with one single pizza to share as we were both full on leaving the restaurant. I could say with confidence that my best pizza to eat in town is here, in ‘Fratelli La Buffala’. As the name indicates, the house topping on pizza is the delightful mozzarella buffala cheese. I later found out that Fratelli La Buffala is an exporten italian pizza food chain: http://www.fratellilabufala.eu/ but I was quite impressed with the quality of the ingredients on the pizzas, and even the quality of the other dishes like the calamari. Loved it.

Upon a visit to the Spanish Castle you can carry on walking till you get to the Port. Once in Via Nazario Sauro, you can stroll along the promenade which is closed to traffic on the weekends, and go for one of the many restos and pizzerias. I cannot recommend any in here as we didnt try any but if you ask a local or taxi driver they pick up one for you. These obviously have better views to the ones recommended qbove but they qre qlso a bit more costly, although not too much.

Pizzeria Lombardi Luigi. We actually missed this place as we ran out of time in Naples, but everyone in Naples will recommend this place as one of the top family-making pizzas in town. So we thought it’d be fair to mention it here. Check directions here.

Walking along the Promenade

If you carry on walking west from Castel Nuovo you will reach the long promenade along Via Partenope… this street is closed to traffic on sundays so it makes for a very relaxes stroll along the promende… there are plenty of Pizzeria and restaurants along the way.

Trattorias

If you know Italy a bit, you will know that Trattorias are something in between Pizzerias and Restaurants. You can also get Pizzas in the Trattorias, and in the Restaurants too though.

One of the most famous and recommended Trattoria in Old Town Naples is Mimi Alla Ferrovia. Near the train station on a street called Via Alfonso. It has great reviews on most tourist guides, including Zagat and Google+

Restaurants

Ristorante Pizzeria Capasso Vincenzo in Via Porta San Gennaro, 2 is only a 5-10 minute walk from from Hotel Palazzo Caracciolo. Staff at reception will surely recommend you this place. If you go, I recommend you try the delicious Spaguetti ‘Linguini Frutti di Mare’, and you won’t regret it.

You could try their croquettes and nice antipasto too,  and of course if you prefer pizza as second, like the locals, these guys have a proper  traditional wooden fire. They dont have an amazing selection of wines, but rather local ones, which are ok to drink but they won’t impress you.

There is a restaurant you must try if you really like seafood dishes: ‘Au Figlia doMarenaro‘. This is a place where you must arm yourself with confidence and challenge the waiter if he tries to push sell you his preferred stuff. Demand for them to bring in the carte and give you time to choose. The place boasts probably the best fish I tried in Naples, but they tend to be a bit forward.

You will notice that most locals do not even look at the menu, but listen to the waiter’ recommendation and/or know what they are going to order.

If you like fish and would like to follow my recommendation, here it is:

1. Antipasto de verdura for one person ( to share)

2. You must try a local speciality called: ‘zuppa de Cozze’  (see photo) – do not share that with your partner as it’s too nice to share

3. Have either Spaghetti a la vongole or Linguini all’ Astice ( half lobster) which is amazing value for only €18

4. If you would rather not have pasta (point 3.) then go for fish, and have one of the nice fresh pieces on display in the inside display window. Ask for it to be weighed and get the price first and before you order just to avoid a price you wouldnt expect, although my experience is very positive about this place in terms of prices vs quality relationship.

At time of writing, service wasnt applicable on restaurant bills, so if you are free to leave what you think it deserves. We left €3 for a €77 bill, though €4 was probably more the amount.

Pompei

A must-do visit is Pompeii, which you can reach from the Central station with Transvesubiana for €4.50 return. Your destination is Pompei Villa dei Misteri. You will probably not be able to experience a trip to Roman times from anywhere else as this is probably the most and better preserved roman ruins in Italy. I’d highly recommend you to take the audio guide which is €6.   It is money very well spent.

If you want to have lunch while visiting the ruins in pompeii,, you could make your way to the other side of the fenced area then go out for the restaurants ouside and come back to carry on the visit via e Anfitheatre. All together this visit could be about 5-6 hours  with an hour for lunch, although if you get up very early and arrive before the crowds arrive, you could be back in Napoli for lunch.

Other tips

There are plenty of online sources out there from where you can get information about Naples. I recommend this Italian website with a nice itinerary to do in one day. The info is in Italian but there is a map you can easily follow with a plan and a guide on your own.:

http://www.itinerarinapoli.it/it/1giorno.htm

Have you been to naples and try and great place at maybe worth mentioning here? Please feel free to mention it on the comments.