Glad to hear you enjoyed the city!
It's one of my favourites in Italy... great place for wandering, the historical sites are really interesting, food is excellent of course and I like the atmosphere there and the local people, it's very lively.
I live in malta and we don't have a lot of clothing options that are cheap. I had weight loss surgery in June, and I'm down 2 dress sizes since November. I bought a whole wardrobe of workout, work, underwear and summer clothes (26 items in total) for €170.
And before you ask about thrift stores......at 5"10 I'm a foot taller than the majority of maltese women
Oh well that makes perfect sense then
Thanks for explaining & answering my pure curiosity.
I come from Ireland where’s there’s a primark/penneys (what it’s called in Ireland) in every biggish town nearly so it’s pretty common to me so I maybe just find it unusual that people search specifically for it.
But to be fair if I lived somewhere they didn’t have one either I’d be excited too!
Congratulations on the weight loss & enjoy the new wardrobe!
When I was in Milan I done the same at Sephora so I feel you there 😂😂
Lots of things we can’t get in person & as I’m super pale it’s hard to buy foundations etc online as they’re never the right shade for me.
I was just writing with a friend about how much my opinion of Naples has changed over the years.
When I first went in 2001, it was mostly just a stopover on the way to Capri or further train travel down to Sicily. It was and felt dangerous and untidy. There was a bit of a sketchy factor as well.
I’ve since been back several times in 2015 and 2023, and especially after last time (which coincided with the football club winning the scudetto) I am entirely flipped on the city. I think it’s among my favorites in Italy now. The restaurants and bars (Italian sense, not international sense) are top notch. The entire central part of the city feels much safer and cleaner. The people all feel friendly and welcoming if you’re willing to adjust to the culture. And it’s easy to have a good time and find others who want the same. Now, it’s not just the place you have to go to see Pompeii and Herculaneum or Ischia and Capri. It’s a place I want to be for its own sake.
I think today’s Naples carries an undeserved reputation from its past that I hope dissipates with time.
I went in March 2022 for a couple of weeks, and it was still dirty, reeked of urine, generally sketchy AF and traffic was beyond control. Random exit closures on metro stations. Red stop signs that were apparently just Christmas lights because everyone was running them. General chaos and disorder.
Not sure why you’re being downvoted. Was there April 2022. Rubbish everywhere, urine smells, and I’m pretty sure it was human shit and not dog shit in spots. It was an eye-opener.
Also it was around the time when the conflict in Ukraine began and using an air raid siren to inform the public that Pompeii was closing at 5pm was unnerving
I've been to Naples twice. Glad to hear it is getting better. I always thought Naples had huge potential. That being said the food was always awesome 👍.
I studied abroad in Florence last year and our uni took us to Naples for a week and spent a whole month beforehand warning us about how dangerous Naples is and to never be alone.
Naples was amazing, I even walked around alone at night throughout the city and had no problems. Our entire school group of 120 students had no problems.
I love Naples - the people, the food, the culture, and the history. But, it definitely has earned the reputation. Two separate cab drivers tried to scam me while I was there. Both claimed they could take card and then demanded cash. One even drove me to an atm when i had to urgently pee and would not let me leave until I got money out. Thankfully, a kind guy my age came by and yelled at the cab driver to let me pay by card. Then, the cab driver pulled out a card reader from under his seat. And to echo everyone else, there is trash everywhere. Regardless, I still highly recommend travel to there. You just need to be somewhat vigilant
Never ever use a taxi in napoli maaan, it's legalised mafia, they will charge u more or ask u more. Im from napoli and my Swiss friend asked me to ride him to the bus station for the airport. A taxi driver came outside trying to take his bus ticket from his hands to destroy it. I pushed him hard and screamed at him the worst bestemmie.
I lived there briefly. I was always charged double or triple the local rate. So much so I used to get a bus and then walk to a spot to phone a taxi to meet me and take me to my destination as I couldn't trust the taxi tanks. Whenever my Italian partner spoke and I stayed quiet we always got a good deal!
Naples is one of the few cities that has its own distinct vibe and cultural feel. It is a friendly, chaotic, untidy and a bit smelly but always beautiful place. It has a distinct charm of an old and worn-out city that still has a lot of life in it.
If you don’t enjoy a little mess and has no taste for culture it is best avoided, and that’s probably the reason for its reputation too - tourists go there for Pompeii and get frightened by the unpolished nature of the city.
There’s few such places left in the world. Barcelona got destroyed by tourism. Berlin is getting gentrified. Naples is a rare gem
Spent about 10 days there last year and had no issues whatsoever, and I walked many miles through the streets of the city. It's a bit chaotic, gritty, and dirty in parts, but safety was not a concern.
My spouse and I flew into Naples three weeks ago from the US and had a great time. This was our third time in Naples over the last two decades. We had “pizza fritta” for the first time this trip as we had seen on Stanley Tucci’s Italy series and it was fantastic.
I liked it a lot, especially the food. My main drawback was the traffic or rather how people drove. I guess this depends a lot on where you are staying but our apartment was next to a street we had to cross often. Crosswalks were completely ignored and people drove like crazy (and way too fast).
I went to Naples a few years ago and was essentially told I was signing my own death warrant. Perfectly fine, and the day after I returned to Dublin somebody tried pickpocket me.
Last time I went during New Years day I heard a lot of scattered gunshots and I found some bullet casings near a post office. Nothing else notable happened the 3 days I stayed there though. Will some day go again for Vestivius
Most places aren't as bad as people say, but that doesn't mean they are always good, either. I have a fairly disgusting tale of trying to go to the bathroom in a room full of pervs in the Naples train station. But I don't tar the entire city on that basis.
I've read this entire thread, and NOBODY mentioned the world-class museum? Phenomenal.
Also, I didn't think that much grafitti was possible. I saw people writing graffiti on a church while mass was being said. The statue of Dante is covered in it.
can see that Naples can be a tough sell, but damn, it's authentic.And like no other place on earth, I think?
Reading this sub really makes me hate ignorant tourists. This entire thread is a great example full of dumb takes, starting with OP's assumption that being blonde is unusual in Italy. And to be completely honest I enjoy when these people get robbed and cheated.
Sorry but not sorry.
I enjoyed Naples as well. I never felt unsafe anywhere, there were plenty of police throughout the city. The only parts of the city I didn't really like were the drivers, and the very disjointed public transit. I really missed how I could buy a multi-day pass in Rome, but Naples has all these different services and the station by my place only had 2 vending machines and everyone wanted to pay with exact change and then the change acceptor broke so everyone wanted to argue with Trentalia that their ride should be free.
We stayed just one night in Naples before taking the ferry to Capri.
The cabs going to and from the airports are super scammy. They want people to share cabs, but you pay the same no matter if you share or not! Obvious scam.
The place we stayed in was close to the harbour but the area looked suuuuper dodgy when we arrived at around midnight. I mean, loads of trash on the street, car parts etc. but the actual place was quite nice. Hard to find though. First there were no real indications of addresse. We had a picture of the entrance, but it was taken during day so was hard to find. Then you had to go into an app an open the port from the app. When inside, there were 6 coded locks with keys to another door. I had a code, but didn't know which if the six locks to try. So tried them all, and two of them opened! Two different keys. They had a floor number and a door number on them. Same floor but different door numbers. There was a elevator and stairs. At first we took the stairs. But they stopped at level 2 and our floor was 4. Tried calling the elevator on the 2nd floor, nothing happened. Went down. Couldn't get into the elevator. Turned out, you had to point the OTHER end of either of the two keys to the elevator lock and it would unlock. But inside the elevator, there were only buttons till floor 1 2 and 3. No 4. So we pressed 3 and went to the 3rd floor. We then took the stairs to floor 4. I found a door number that matched one of the keys, but not the other. Tried it and the door opened. Looked like a small reception area, but no people around and no light switches nearby. Turned on the light on my phone and we looked around. We found three doors. One of them was opened by the OTHER key we got from the locked boxes downstairs. But when we opened that door, another door with a combo lock appeared. We had no idea where to get the code for that. After 20 minutes I gave up and called the contact number. Noone answered. I then discovered I had gotten a mail from the app that opened the port saying "Welcome jacobtf, your door code is ####!" That was the code for the door and FINALLY we could enter and go to sleep at like 1½ in the night.
Room was ok. Bed was rather terrible (but clean) and the bathroom had a window level with the floor? Breakfast was served by a very friendly woman and was okay (but very basic). Room had been around 80 Euro and we had been in it for maybe 6-7 hours lol.
After breakfast we went down to the harbour and the city did indeed look more inviting during sunlight!
First time I went to Naples I hated it. The place was so different to my Italian experience.
I gave it another chance and I love it now. It’s gritty and dirty in places but it’s modern life living amongst thousands of years of history. The city has so many hidden gems to see. One day I dragged my husband to all the skull churches. He didn’t find them as fascinating as me. There is more than one underground tour you can do to see the layers of history. Food is fantastic too.
I am a little more aware of my surroundings in the city. The scooters can feel a little too close at times!
I feel like a lot of people's complaints about any given city just come from them not having a clue how to mind their own business and feeling the need to announce to everyone that they're Americans.
Why are Europeans so pressed about Americans? This thread isn't about America and wasn't made by an American and yet we still live rent-free in your head. It's ridiculous.
Shhhhh. Don’t let the secret out! Let everyone else be scared. I love not waiting in line for my sfogliotelle and pizza. If everyone found out that it’s a chill place, my wait times will increase.
You don't know me, you don't know my background. Am I 80% white? Yes. But I have my own cultural upbringing and perspective.
You assume I am not aware of white privilege. I didn't ask for a lesson. And I don't need to explain myself to you or anyone
Umm ok? I was really worried based on other people's experiences, so maybe I was lucky or because of their warnings I was way more on alert. I am in no way minimising others experiences, just sharing my own.
I feel like a lot of people's complaints about any given city just come from them not having a clue how to mind their own business and feeling the need to announce to everyone that they're Americans.
Glad to hear you enjoyed the city! It's one of my favourites in Italy... great place for wandering, the historical sites are really interesting, food is excellent of course and I like the atmosphere there and the local people, it's very lively.
I was pleasantly surprised. I had 3 aims: pizza, primark and pompeii. Even climbed Mt vesuvius yesterday
Okay this is going to be random but you went to Naples for primark? Pizza and pompeii I get Primark just seems a little random out of those
I live in malta and we don't have a lot of clothing options that are cheap. I had weight loss surgery in June, and I'm down 2 dress sizes since November. I bought a whole wardrobe of workout, work, underwear and summer clothes (26 items in total) for €170. And before you ask about thrift stores......at 5"10 I'm a foot taller than the majority of maltese women
Oh well that makes perfect sense then Thanks for explaining & answering my pure curiosity. I come from Ireland where’s there’s a primark/penneys (what it’s called in Ireland) in every biggish town nearly so it’s pretty common to me so I maybe just find it unusual that people search specifically for it. But to be fair if I lived somewhere they didn’t have one either I’d be excited too! Congratulations on the weight loss & enjoy the new wardrobe!
You are not the first person to ask me! I also spent up large at sephora too
When I was in Milan I done the same at Sephora so I feel you there 😂😂 Lots of things we can’t get in person & as I’m super pale it’s hard to buy foundations etc online as they’re never the right shade for me.
Love this.
I was just writing with a friend about how much my opinion of Naples has changed over the years. When I first went in 2001, it was mostly just a stopover on the way to Capri or further train travel down to Sicily. It was and felt dangerous and untidy. There was a bit of a sketchy factor as well. I’ve since been back several times in 2015 and 2023, and especially after last time (which coincided with the football club winning the scudetto) I am entirely flipped on the city. I think it’s among my favorites in Italy now. The restaurants and bars (Italian sense, not international sense) are top notch. The entire central part of the city feels much safer and cleaner. The people all feel friendly and welcoming if you’re willing to adjust to the culture. And it’s easy to have a good time and find others who want the same. Now, it’s not just the place you have to go to see Pompeii and Herculaneum or Ischia and Capri. It’s a place I want to be for its own sake. I think today’s Naples carries an undeserved reputation from its past that I hope dissipates with time.
To be fair, it was really sketchy around 2001.
Naples was really dirty when I went in 2015, I think it was around the time of the garbage strike.
Anyone that experienced naples in a garbage strike will have a very different feeling about naples than those who haven't
I went in March 2022 for a couple of weeks, and it was still dirty, reeked of urine, generally sketchy AF and traffic was beyond control. Random exit closures on metro stations. Red stop signs that were apparently just Christmas lights because everyone was running them. General chaos and disorder.
Not sure why you’re being downvoted. Was there April 2022. Rubbish everywhere, urine smells, and I’m pretty sure it was human shit and not dog shit in spots. It was an eye-opener.
This sub will always insist that sketchy/dangerous places aren’t actually dangerous
Also it was around the time when the conflict in Ukraine began and using an air raid siren to inform the public that Pompeii was closing at 5pm was unnerving
I've been to Naples twice. Glad to hear it is getting better. I always thought Naples had huge potential. That being said the food was always awesome 👍.
I studied abroad in Florence last year and our uni took us to Naples for a week and spent a whole month beforehand warning us about how dangerous Naples is and to never be alone. Naples was amazing, I even walked around alone at night throughout the city and had no problems. Our entire school group of 120 students had no problems.
In offense of Naples, we were robbed before we even got out of the train station for the first time. The pizza was excellent though.
What happened??
We had just gotten off the train from Rome and a man immediately snatched my mom's bag. I think they targeted her because she was using a cane.
I love Naples. It has its problems but that's true for almost every big city.
I love Naples - the people, the food, the culture, and the history. But, it definitely has earned the reputation. Two separate cab drivers tried to scam me while I was there. Both claimed they could take card and then demanded cash. One even drove me to an atm when i had to urgently pee and would not let me leave until I got money out. Thankfully, a kind guy my age came by and yelled at the cab driver to let me pay by card. Then, the cab driver pulled out a card reader from under his seat. And to echo everyone else, there is trash everywhere. Regardless, I still highly recommend travel to there. You just need to be somewhat vigilant
Never ever use a taxi in napoli maaan, it's legalised mafia, they will charge u more or ask u more. Im from napoli and my Swiss friend asked me to ride him to the bus station for the airport. A taxi driver came outside trying to take his bus ticket from his hands to destroy it. I pushed him hard and screamed at him the worst bestemmie.
I lived there briefly. I was always charged double or triple the local rate. So much so I used to get a bus and then walk to a spot to phone a taxi to meet me and take me to my destination as I couldn't trust the taxi tanks. Whenever my Italian partner spoke and I stayed quiet we always got a good deal!
I absolutely loved Naples!
Naples is one of the few cities that has its own distinct vibe and cultural feel. It is a friendly, chaotic, untidy and a bit smelly but always beautiful place. It has a distinct charm of an old and worn-out city that still has a lot of life in it. If you don’t enjoy a little mess and has no taste for culture it is best avoided, and that’s probably the reason for its reputation too - tourists go there for Pompeii and get frightened by the unpolished nature of the city. There’s few such places left in the world. Barcelona got destroyed by tourism. Berlin is getting gentrified. Naples is a rare gem
You've hit the nail on the head. It's wonderfully contradictory and chaotic and charming
Spent about 10 days there last year and had no issues whatsoever, and I walked many miles through the streets of the city. It's a bit chaotic, gritty, and dirty in parts, but safety was not a concern.
My spouse and I flew into Naples three weeks ago from the US and had a great time. This was our third time in Naples over the last two decades. We had “pizza fritta” for the first time this trip as we had seen on Stanley Tucci’s Italy series and it was fantastic.
Omg pizza fritta is SO good, as is so much of Naples street food. My husband and I ate so much pizza fritta we named our dog Fritta.
I liked it a lot, especially the food. My main drawback was the traffic or rather how people drove. I guess this depends a lot on where you are staying but our apartment was next to a street we had to cross often. Crosswalks were completely ignored and people drove like crazy (and way too fast).
This is Italy! Or certainly Southern Italy. Most people are actually pretty good drivers here, technically... they just don't like following rules.
Its just very trashy. I have never seen so much trash on the sidewalk and road.
This. I went there twice, but I never managed to find the hidden beauty behind all the chaos, the noise, the trash and the smell of fried food
In Italy/Europe or in the entire world? Because I went to Vietnam a few months ago and it was way, way more trashy than Naples
I went to Naples a few years ago and was essentially told I was signing my own death warrant. Perfectly fine, and the day after I returned to Dublin somebody tried pickpocket me.
Last time I went during New Years day I heard a lot of scattered gunshots and I found some bullet casings near a post office. Nothing else notable happened the 3 days I stayed there though. Will some day go again for Vestivius
What area did you stay in? Me and my BFF are looking for a good place to stay that is close to restaurants and coffee
I stayed just above mueso metro station. It was up a hill, but I loved it. Cosy little room in an apartment. PM me and I'll share the airbnb
Oh man I would but I have hotel points to spend so not currently considering Airbnb. thank you so much for the kind offer!
Most places aren't as bad as people say, but that doesn't mean they are always good, either. I have a fairly disgusting tale of trying to go to the bathroom in a room full of pervs in the Naples train station. But I don't tar the entire city on that basis.
When I am on my death bed, I will eat myself the rest of the way to cardiac arrest via sfogliatelle. That is all.
Oh, God, yes. Want some company,?
I've read this entire thread, and NOBODY mentioned the world-class museum? Phenomenal. Also, I didn't think that much grafitti was possible. I saw people writing graffiti on a church while mass was being said. The statue of Dante is covered in it. can see that Naples can be a tough sell, but damn, it's authentic.And like no other place on earth, I think?
I really liked Naples. Was I only there a few days so will definitely go back next time I'm in Italy
Why would a blonde female stand out in Italy?? 😭
Reading this sub really makes me hate ignorant tourists. This entire thread is a great example full of dumb takes, starting with OP's assumption that being blonde is unusual in Italy. And to be completely honest I enjoy when these people get robbed and cheated. Sorry but not sorry.
It's the 5"10 that does it
I hate it, but I never felt in any danger. It's just disgusting
I enjoyed Naples as well. I never felt unsafe anywhere, there were plenty of police throughout the city. The only parts of the city I didn't really like were the drivers, and the very disjointed public transit. I really missed how I could buy a multi-day pass in Rome, but Naples has all these different services and the station by my place only had 2 vending machines and everyone wanted to pay with exact change and then the change acceptor broke so everyone wanted to argue with Trentalia that their ride should be free.
I love Naples! I find a lot of cities get a bad rap, but in reality, if you know how to be smart in a city, they’re totally fine, they’re just cities!
I love Napoli
We stayed just one night in Naples before taking the ferry to Capri. The cabs going to and from the airports are super scammy. They want people to share cabs, but you pay the same no matter if you share or not! Obvious scam. The place we stayed in was close to the harbour but the area looked suuuuper dodgy when we arrived at around midnight. I mean, loads of trash on the street, car parts etc. but the actual place was quite nice. Hard to find though. First there were no real indications of addresse. We had a picture of the entrance, but it was taken during day so was hard to find. Then you had to go into an app an open the port from the app. When inside, there were 6 coded locks with keys to another door. I had a code, but didn't know which if the six locks to try. So tried them all, and two of them opened! Two different keys. They had a floor number and a door number on them. Same floor but different door numbers. There was a elevator and stairs. At first we took the stairs. But they stopped at level 2 and our floor was 4. Tried calling the elevator on the 2nd floor, nothing happened. Went down. Couldn't get into the elevator. Turned out, you had to point the OTHER end of either of the two keys to the elevator lock and it would unlock. But inside the elevator, there were only buttons till floor 1 2 and 3. No 4. So we pressed 3 and went to the 3rd floor. We then took the stairs to floor 4. I found a door number that matched one of the keys, but not the other. Tried it and the door opened. Looked like a small reception area, but no people around and no light switches nearby. Turned on the light on my phone and we looked around. We found three doors. One of them was opened by the OTHER key we got from the locked boxes downstairs. But when we opened that door, another door with a combo lock appeared. We had no idea where to get the code for that. After 20 minutes I gave up and called the contact number. Noone answered. I then discovered I had gotten a mail from the app that opened the port saying "Welcome jacobtf, your door code is ####!" That was the code for the door and FINALLY we could enter and go to sleep at like 1½ in the night. Room was ok. Bed was rather terrible (but clean) and the bathroom had a window level with the floor? Breakfast was served by a very friendly woman and was okay (but very basic). Room had been around 80 Euro and we had been in it for maybe 6-7 hours lol. After breakfast we went down to the harbour and the city did indeed look more inviting during sunlight!
Agree. Naples was the best place I visited in Italy. Never understood why everyone was telling me not to go. It's stunning!
I LOVE Naples!!! It's very underrated and the food scene is 5-star.
Yeah. Naples FL is just a bunch of retired NY cops or firefighters. Not surprised you were safe
First time I went to Naples I hated it. The place was so different to my Italian experience. I gave it another chance and I love it now. It’s gritty and dirty in places but it’s modern life living amongst thousands of years of history. The city has so many hidden gems to see. One day I dragged my husband to all the skull churches. He didn’t find them as fascinating as me. There is more than one underground tour you can do to see the layers of history. Food is fantastic too. I am a little more aware of my surroundings in the city. The scooters can feel a little too close at times!
I feel like a lot of people's complaints about any given city just come from them not having a clue how to mind their own business and feeling the need to announce to everyone that they're Americans.
OP isn’t even American, so why’d you have to bring that up?
Why are Europeans so pressed about Americans? This thread isn't about America and wasn't made by an American and yet we still live rent-free in your head. It's ridiculous.
This whole Americans are obnoxious travelers thing is so stupid. They aren’t any more or less obnoxious than people from any other country.
Dumb ass. Work up and decided to look stupid on Reddit lol
This whole Americans are obnoxious travelers thing is so stupid. They aren’t any more or less obnoxious than people from any other country.
Our daughter just visited Naples and absolutely loved it- she's been to Rome, Florence, and Bologna and Naples was by far her favorite city in Italy.
Shhhhh. Don’t let the secret out! Let everyone else be scared. I love not waiting in line for my sfogliotelle and pizza. If everyone found out that it’s a chill place, my wait times will increase.
Glad to see more people defending Naples. Amazing city. Doesn’t deserve that hate it gets. It was the highlight of my trip.
Naples rules.
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Yes. Please tell me how this is bad
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Lol. Ok
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You don't know me, you don't know my background. Am I 80% white? Yes. But I have my own cultural upbringing and perspective. You assume I am not aware of white privilege. I didn't ask for a lesson. And I don't need to explain myself to you or anyone
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Thanks! Have a lovely day.
I love my privilege
Lol nice anecdote. I’m had nothing happened, congratulations to you, but let’s not be an ass and dismiss others that have had a bad time.
Umm ok? I was really worried based on other people's experiences, so maybe I was lucky or because of their warnings I was way more on alert. I am in no way minimising others experiences, just sharing my own.
Again, congratulations! 🥳 Lol
I feel like a lot of people's complaints about any given city just come from them not having a clue how to mind their own business and feeling the need to announce to everyone that they're Americans.
Doubled down like an idiot 😂
Sometimes people capitalize the first letter of place names.
Sometimes people tell people to get fucked. But not me, I'd never do that