Naples Travel Forum

I'm flying in to Naples from London in March, arriving at 7-8pm. and plan to drive along the southern coastal route. Do to the time of our arrival (it'll be dark) we had thought of staying for the first couple of days in Naples but having read about the city I'm having second thoughts because of the crime level.Every piece I've read refers to this with dire warnings about car snatching and mugging with little or no police interest, and apart from experiencing the atmosphere of the city there seems to me to be little reason to visit it.
We do tend to just meander about, not with a group, and I think sensibly without swinging bags or cameras and trying no to attracting too much attention to ourselves. We aren't timid having visited other notorious cities (for example Cairo,Mumbai,Dehli,Istanbul,Marrakesh but of all our city visits the only one we have been robbed in is Rome, and Naples seems many times worse.
Have I got this wrong, can anyone who knows the city persuade me that it's worth some time?

Hi,

I visited Naples about three years ago with my wife for a weekend break. Although it has it's tourist parts (mailny down on the coastline) I felt Naples was mainly just a very busy and noisy city. The area we stayed in (Del Rio Orto Botanica, Via Foria) was not far from the centre but wasn't a particularly nice area (we were the only tourists in sight!). I usually feel at ease walking about at night in most cities but was less so in that part of Naples. Having said that we did not encounter any problems. Perhaps what put me off Naples most was the amount of traffic (24 hours a day) - you didn't feel safe even on the pavements as many of the bikes tended to use this as an extra road lane!
To sum up, Naples was an experience - but in no way a relaxing weekend. My advice - stay outside (e.g. Amalfi Coast)and visit for the day. Pompey was brilliant by the way - a must see if you are in that part of Italy.

Regards

Martin

Thanks Martin.
You seem to confirm the impression that I have of the place. Our main aim is to travel the Amalfi coast and some inland area and as we will be so close to Naples I thought it might be worth a visit but we've no need to "add another city to our list".
We have no fear of densely crowded cities but having visited so many in the past I'm not that curious, unless there is a compelling reason not to miss it. We have stayed in many "mad" cities elsewhere but the big Italian cities seem to have a seriously bad reputation, the only city we have ever been robbed in in 30 years was Rome (though not by indigenous Italians; I'll say no more for fear of being accused of racism).

I was robbed in Rome two days before I went to Naples last June, so it goes without saying that I was very careful in Naples and had no trouble. I believe you can get mugged anywhere, you just have to constantly use your common sense and be very careful. Naples itself is perfectly described by Douglas on your other post and Martin on this one. Martin has the best idea. Stay in Sorrento and make a day trip on the train to see Naples if you must. It's a place that I am glad to have had the experience of seeing but I would NEVER go there again. The noise, the litter and the maniac drivers (especially the scooter drivers who ride on the footpath and expect the pedestrians to get out of their way)are enough to put most tourists off. I think that in its time, it would have been a fabulous and historic city but now sadly, it seems that it has seen better days and the locals either don't know how to put it right or don't want to. Once you get south of Naples everything changes dramatically and you enter some of the most wonderful places you'll ever see on the face of the planet.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply Kate, that's very helpful. Having travelled to many cities over many years we too are careful wherever we are, even here at home, but our Rome experience was something we could not have planned to avoid. I have recounted the episode elsewhere on VT. Anyway I think your comments reinforce our opinion that we can leave Naples alone and not have any great loss in our life.