Naples is a city that has so much to offer: history, culture, archaeology, art and good food. I have always wanted to visit the city and its surroundings, home to some of the world’s most significant archaeological sites, such as Pompeii and Herculaneum. Recently I covered Naples in 3 days by using the Campania Museum Pass (there are other passes). Which sites and museums are included? How much do you save compared to single entries? Is the number of sites that can be visited adequate for the days the Pass is valid? Do you have to wait in queues before entering? If you are curious about the answers to these and other questions, read on.
- Gianluca Pitzeri
- Last Checked and/or Updated 15 March 2023
- No Comments
- Italy Travel Tips & Ideas, Travel Tips
Recommended Pass For 3 Days in Naples
► After trying it out, the Pass offers keys to the main cultural sites in Campania and Naples, saving almost half the money compared to buying individual tickets.
► The Pass gives access to Pompeii, Herculaneum, the Royal Palace of Caserta, the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, the Royal Palace and the Capodimonte Museum, almost all among the most visited sites in Italy.
► Buying it includes a skip-the-line option, a welcome drink with a slice of pizza and a soft drink, and a list of recommended places to eat where you can get a 10% discount.
► If you are interested in visiting Naples and its surroundings with little time to spare, the 3-Day Campania Museum Pass is a good way to go about it.
Or, continue reading this page for all the information you need in preparation for your visit to Naples.
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While organising my trip to Naples, where I would be staying for 3 days with my girlfriend, I was looking for an offer to allow me to visit the city and the surrounding areas while saving some money. Pompeii and Herculaneum were essential stops, so I needed an option that would guarantee me a visit to them. At that point, scouring the web for the best offer, I came across the Naples Pass, which guaranteed access to Pompeii, Herculaneum, the National Archaeological Museum, the Royal Palace, the Capodimonte Museum, and the Royal Palace of Caserta, all with a skip-the-line ticket. It also lasted 3 days, precisely the time I had available.
I thought it was what I was looking for, so I bought it for €54.00 on GetYourGuide, also because doing a quick calculation, I would have spent €92.00 with all the single tickets. Once I made the purchase, I was immediately contacted by the Naples Pass customer service via email. They explained that I would have to download their app to my mobile phone and log in with the data they would send me shortly afterwards. The staff impressed me with the speed and friendliness with which they answered my questions while telling me about the app’s different functions. A free slice of pizza and a soft drink is included, as well as a list of recommended places to eat where you can receive a 10% discount.
The hotel we chose for our stay is Cortese, a stone’s throw from the Università metro station and the Alibus stop in Piazza Immacolatella, which leads directly to the airport. Next door is also Piazza Giovanni Bovio, from where you can catch the ATC bus line to Caserta. The room was nice and cosy, and breakfast was served on a beautiful terrace with an enviable view of the harbour and the sea.
One of my concerns was the price of public transport. The Naples Pass allows buying unlimited 3-day travel tickets for the city’s metro and bus lines and tickets for Pompeii, Herculaneum, Caserta and the Alibus to the airport. For €36.00 I bought all the travel tickets I needed individually, whereas if I had taken them with their service, I would have paid almost twice as much, about €68.00. In addition, it should be borne in mind that having a digital ticket can sometimes be problematic, as, in some places on the metro, the mobile phone has no reception, making it practically impossible to activate it. Considering all these problems, we decided to buy paper tickets individually each time.
My other concern was time-related. Can I see all these attractions in three days? Well, let’s find out.
We chose the itinerary based on the days the attractions were closed and their proximity, so the order may change depending on what time of the week you visit Naples. On the last day, there were also some unforeseen events that, in hindsight, would have led me to change the route.
Day 1: Pompeii & the Royal Palace of Naples
We went to Pompeii and the Royal Palace of Naples on the first day. We took the Circumvesuviana from the central station in the morning and arrived by train at Porta Marina just before 10 a.m. It was our first use of the Pass, which works like a digital voucher: once at the ticket office, you scan the QR code on the app and pick up the paper tickets to pass at the turnstile. From that moment on, the 3 days to use it begin.
We spent most of the day in Pompeii until it closed at 5 p.m., but I chose to spend all this time there. If you leave earlier, you can go back to Naples and have an excellent tour of the centre to discover the hidden sights of the city or the best-known attractions. Returning around 6 p.m., we went straight to the Royal Palace, which is open until 8 p.m. Our two hours were more than enough to visit it, although the short days deprived us of sunlight.
At that point, since we were very close to the Chiaia district, we looked for a place to eat among those suggested by the app, and after a short walk down Via Toledo, we returned exhaustedly from the day.
Day 2: Herculaneum, a Chapel and a Museum
The second day was the turn of Herculaneum, the Sansevero Chapel, which is not part of the Naples Pass, and the National Archaeological Museum, also known as MANN. To get to Herculaneum, you have to take the same train as Pompeii, and since the journey is much shorter, we could take it more slowly in the morning. 20 minutes from the central station, we arrived at the Ercolano Scavi stop, and from there, we walked for about 10 minutes before arriving at the archaeological site. As with Pompeii and the Royal Palace, we were scanned for the QR code and given paper tickets at the ticket office without running into a single queue.
Being considerably smaller than Pompeii, we visited Herculaneum in 3 hours, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., because we had the minutes counted to have lunch and be at the Sansevero Chapel by 2.30 p.m., the time I had booked the tickets. After a lunch that to call quick is an understatement, we walked to the Sansevero Chapel, located in the heart of the historic centre of Naples, a 10-minute walk from the Archaeological Museum. Its visit takes little time: in about 30/40 minutes, you are already out, but the reason I wanted to add it to the itinerary is that inside is one of the iconic works of Naples, the Veiled Christ.
Having finished our visit, by 3.30 p.m., we were entering the MANN, one of the most important museums in the world as far as Roman mosaics and paintings are concerned, since it houses most of the works from Pompeii and Herculaneum and the entire Vesuvian area. Once we left around 7 p.m., we walked the centre streets, mainly Via San Gregorio Armeno. It is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating streets of the city, where you can find the workshops of the artisans who make the characters of the Neapolitan nativity scene by hand.
By the end of the evening, we strongly desired an authentic Neapolitan pizza. Guided partly by tiredness and fate, we ended up at a pizza place near our hotel. We dined in a deserted room in the company of the owner’s elderly mother, who entertained us with stories and anecdotes. Exhausted by the long day and the lovely lady’s tales, we fell overtaken by tiredness as soon as we entered our room.
Day 3: Royal Palace of Caserta and the Capodimonte Museum
We visited the Royal Palace of Caserta and the Capodimonte Museum on the third and final day of the Pass. Since it took about 1 hour to get to the Reggia from Naples, and we didn’t have much time anyway, we woke up early, ready for breakfast at 7.30 a.m. From Piazza Bovio, we boarded the bus that took us at 9.30 a.m. to Caserta station right opposite the Reggia. After touring the Palace in about 1.30 hours, although we couldn’t visit the entire throne room wing, we spent the rest of our time in the beautiful gardens. As luck would have it, we saw the Palace when the filming of the TV series The Great took place, so it was like stepping back in time as we watched the cast in 19th-century dress and the horse-drawn carriages in the courtyards. As soon as we left, we stopped to eat at the excellent Chichibio restaurant in Piazza Antonio Gramsci, just beyond the exit of the Reggia gardens, and then caught the 2.20 pm bus back to Naples.
The last stop was the Capodimonte Museum, which took much work and patience to reach. It is located in the upper part of Naples, and to get there by public transport, the only way is to cross via Santa Teresa degli Scalzi. Because of the traffic on that stretch, the bus averaged 10 metres per minute, but I need to find out whether this is always the case or only at certain times. However, what matters is that we left on time with the light and arrived very late in the dark after a 2-hour journey. Considering it would have taken ‘only’ 50 minutes on foot from Piazza Bovio, a long walk would have been better. Fortunately, the museum was open until 8 p.m. Unfortunately, the second and third floors closed at 5 p.m., so we could not see most of the work inside. Considering this, the ideal time to visit is definitely in the morning, when you will have more time to get there and appreciate it. Once we had finished visiting the only floor that remained open, we decided to treat ourselves to an excellent “Portafoglio pizza”, a typical four-folded street food pizza bought in via Toledo. We enjoyed it while walking through the streets of the centre for the last time, heading towards the hotel.
Was the Campania Museums Pass Worth it?
Summing up these three days of using the Naples Pass, even though my girlfriend still hates me for the many trips and walks we took, I am delighted with the experience. I don’t deny that it was challenging to visit everything in just 72 hours, setting the alarm early every morning and returning to your room only after dinner, without stopping for a moment except to eat. Still, a lot depends on your idea of a holiday. When I decide to go on a trip, I try to arrange it so that I can see as many of the things that interest me as possible, which leads me to have very few moments of relaxation.
Visiting all of Naples in just 3 days is impossible, there are too many beauties the city has to offer, so you have to make choices about what to see and what not to see. The Naples Pass provides the best you can find, thanks to an efficient service that has never given me any problems.
In each of the places we visited, we never had to queue at all, although, in high season, you are likely to have to stand in small queues with other people who, like you, have to validate their digital tickets.
If you are looking for a solution to visit the best of Naples in a few days, this pass may be just what you need, giving you the keys to the main places of Campania and Neapolitan culture.
Attractions Included in the Campania Museum Pass
The following is a list of sites and museums in and around Naples that are included on the Campania Museum Pass discuss above. You can use this list to create your own travel lists (such as places you have been to, places you would like to visit), or to create an itinerary for your Naples visit. You could create an itinerary to see if the Naples pass works for you. Simply add the sites and museums to your itinerary, and see if it works with the conditions of the pass. These can also be shared with your friends and on social media. To make use of this feature, you will need to login or register as a new user. See our full list of Art, Archaeological & Historical Sites & Museums in Campania.
Capodimonte Museum
In 1738 King Charles of Bourbon ordered the construction of the Royal Palace that today houses the Museum. It was initially founded as a hunting reserve, but ended up becoming one of the residences of the royal family, in which part of the Farnese Collection was exhibited from the very beginning. Already in the 18th century it was an obligatory stop for visitors to Italy, given the importance of the works on display. The Museum, opened on 5 May 1957, is one of the most important picture galleries in Europe, and houses in its 124 galleries numerous works by great names such as Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio and Titian. In addition to these are extraordinary collections of porcelain and decorative arts, tapestries and royal furniture, as well as Roman sculpture.
Herculaneum
The ancient city of Herculaneum, buried under 30 metres of ash and volcanic material in the eruption of 79 AD, was brought to light in 1738 under the reign of Charles of Bourbon. Excavations of the site were extremely demanding and concentrated on the area that once overlooked the sea. The visit allows you to move between the ancient streets on which the various craft and commercial activities opened, and the entrances to the domus. Some places such as the Palestra, which remains partly buried and accessible through a gallery, or the College of the Augustales, in which painted scenes of the myth of Hercules survive.
National Archaeological Museum of Naples
The Museum is the most important in the world for Roman painting, and was founded in 1816. The original nucleus of the collection is due to King Charles of Bourbon, who promoted excavations in Pompeii and Herculaneum and brought part of the Farnese collection inherited from his mother to Naples. There are many famous finds to admire, such as the Alexander Mosaic or the bronzes from the Villa of the Papyri, while the collections display Roman mosaics and frescoes, Egyptian artefacts and those from Magna Graecia, as well as entire sections dedicated to prehistory and protohistory, epigraphy and numismatics, concluding with the Farnese Collection, which includes the famous sculptures of Hercules and Bull.
Pompeii
The archaeological site of Pompeii is one of the most well-known and much visited sites in the world. Pompeii was a Roman city that was buried under four to six metres of volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The site has been a tourist destination for about 250 years, and today over 2.5 million people visit each year making this one of the most popular attractions in Italy. For conservation reasons, only a fraction of the site is open to the public – but there is still much to see of the Roman city, including theatres, the amphitheatre, the forum, bath houses and residences with exquisite wall paintings.
Royal Palace of Caserta
When people think of the most majestic and imposing Royal Palaces, they cannot but think of the Royal Palace of Caserta. King Charles of Bourbon commissioned the architect Luigi Vanvitelli to design a residence that would surpass even the Palace of Versailles in beauty. The foundation stone was laid on 20 January 1752, and it was completed in 1845. Inside, all the rooms that hosted the royal family and animated court life can be visited, such as the Apartments, the Throne Room, the Theatre, the Palatine Chapel and the Royal Staircase, while outside, visitors can stroll and relax in the vast, well-kept gardens.
Royal Palace of Naples
At the beginning of the 17th century, Viceroy Fernando Ruiz de Castro, due to the imminent visit of King Philip III of Habsburg to Naples, began construction of the new Royal Palace, entrusting the architect Domenico Fontana with the project. King Charles of Bourbon chose it in 1734 as his royal residence, and it was only in 1858 that the palace was given its final appearance. The visit allows you to explore the different rooms of the Royal Apartments, such as the Court Theatre, the Chapel and the Throne Room, reached via the Staircase of Honour, which Montesquieu described as the most beautiful in Europe.
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