Tours in Naples

Walk down Spaccanapoli at any hour and you will smell it before you see it: frying oil, coffee, something sweet with citrus in it. Naples feeds you in the street. A fried snack in paper, a espresso drunk standing at the counter in a few seconds, a pizza folded in four and eaten while you walk. Nobody here thinks of that as a snack. It is just lunch.

That is the best way into the city, and it is where we have a tour. Eating your way through the centre, you cross the tight lanes of the historic core, where washing hangs overhead, scooters thread between people, and every second doorway is a bakery, a pizzeria or a counter selling pastries. Come hungry. Pizza, mozzarella, sfogliatella and good coffee are not tourist items here, they are what people queue for on an ordinary Tuesday.

Food is only part of it. Naples is loud, close and generous, and it takes a day or two to stop flinching and start enjoying it. Spend time around Piazza del Plebiscito and the waterfront, where the city opens up and you can see Vesuvius across the bay. Look at the Castel dell'Ovo from the seafront at the end of the day. Go underground if you can, because the city has a whole second life below the streets.

The National Archaeological Museum, the Royal Palace, the Duomo and the day trips to Pompeii and Herculaneum are what most people come for. We do not sell tours of all of them yet, but you can ask. A local guide can build a day around the place you most want to see, and the food walk is a good first morning to learn how the city works.