r/travel • u/guarrandongo • 17h ago
Question Naples - what’s going on?
First time here and I’d heard a million times that it was a bit run down & grubby etc., but I was shocked to see the state of large areas of the city centre. I’m Scottish and it reminded me of Edinburgh during the bin strikes 3 or so years ago - 8 foot high piles of rubbish everywhere. Even saw some decomposing rats lying around that had clearly been there for weeks. Was a full-time job trying to avoid standing on dog shit as well. Assuming it was dogs! One guy also definitely trying to get me to take my hands out of my pockets in an attempt to rob me, I’m in no doubt about that. It wasn’t happening, though.
I took plenty of advice from various people to find the ‘nice’ parts, but we wandered around those areas for a couple of hours and it was terrible.
Has it gone downhill recently, or has it always been like this?
Any further advice on some decent areas with nice bars etc. would be welcome. We only have tonight left and we’d like to try enjoy it as best we can. Had a great dinner last night so wasn’t a total write-off, but after it certainly was. I’d rather not go out than wander around these areas again.
What’s actually going on here?
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u/guarrandongo 15h ago
In fairness to Naples I have now found one of the areas I was looking to find - and having a nice day already.
I’m only a couple of streets away from where I was. The contrast is unbelievable.
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u/CazCMA 13h ago
Heading there in a couple weeks - which was the nice part you found?
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u/guarrandongo 11h ago
Historical Centre, Spanish Quarter, and the places on here: https://www.takewalks.com/blog/nightlife-naples
We had these places on Google Maps last night but not sure what happened. We are well-travelled and sober, too! Just one of those things, I guess.
Really enjoying it now! Just been round the Spanish Quarter where all the Maradona tributes are. Really cool.
Would definitely make sure you’re aware of exactly where these places are before you go as even a few streets away is sketchy to say the least.
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u/CazCMA 9h ago
Much appreciated, thank you!
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u/guarrandongo 8h ago
No worries. Went to Chiaia there. Nice down the seafront but not much to do if looking for liveliness.
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u/Blibberwock 16h ago
Well, outside of Garibaldi (during the daytime) and Bellini (at night) squares it’s mostly OK. Believe it or not, but the situation with dog shit improved a lot during the last 10 years, but you still need to watch for it.
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u/guarrandongo 15h ago
I’m staying near Garibaldi. It is ok, yeah, but 1 or 2 streets away, wow…
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u/mbrevitas 15h ago
Yeah, that’s the part of Naples where you shouldn’t stay.
Try via Toledo and Piazza del Plebiscito, the area just was of the royal palace, Santa Lucia, Chiaia, Vomero, Mergellina, Posillipo…
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u/guarrandongo 13h ago
I’m not at Garibaldi. I’m in the Historical Centre. It’s actually fine around our hotel (which is really nice and cheap for what we have). I think we just missed this whole area by a street or 2 but we’re enjoying it now.
The underground tour was shit, though! Tourist hell.
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u/BellisBlueday 16h ago
I think in general, the further west you go from the train station the 'nicer' it gets, however it is a very lived in city.
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u/SeductiveGyalll 16h ago
agree with this. i stayed near the waterfront and it felt way calmer and cleaner. the area around the station honestly felt a bit rough at times, especially at night. naples has its charm but yeah, it’s def a very real, lived-in kinda place, not polished at all.
i ended up loving the food and day trips (capri, pompeii etc) but the city itself took some adjusting to
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u/guarrandongo 15h ago
We were at Pompeii etc. yesterday and had a brilliant day. A great dinner. Just after dinner was awful. Didn’t ruin our day, though. Spent 2 days in Sorrento & Amalfi Coast etc., which is was amazing.
Just those couple of hours last night that were a WTF.
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u/ThrobbingGristle 15h ago
Just for anyone else reading this post; you’re much better off staying near Sorrento for a trip to this part of the world if you’re on vacation. You can take the train from there around the Bay of Naples to visit Pompeii and Vesuvius, and also a day trip to Naples.
Sorrento (or St Agnello) also gives good access to Capri (by boat) and Positano and Amalfi etc by bus.
Sorrento is beautiful, covered in lemon trees, and great to hang out at the restaurants and bars in the evening. Will cost a bit more, but probably best for your vacation hub.
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u/FelisCantabrigiensis 15h ago
"Lived in"... sounds more like "shat on", literally, from the OP's description.
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u/Repulsive-Philosophy 12h ago
The more I'm reading about experiences with Naples on reddit, the crazier the mental gymnastics get. Aside from "it's a big city so many litter... what can you do..." and "it has character", for me the winner is "it's not a city, it's a mindset" from a different thread. Bro...
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u/haysu-christo Hafa Adai ! 14h ago
Yeah, the areas around Royal, Chiaia, Vomero are all really nice. The Spanish Quarter as well. Gritty but colorful and lively.
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u/scarletOwilde 16h ago
The Mafia control the rubbish collection and there have been issues for years.
The European court has come down on the government because the mafia used to burn all the waste illegally just outside the city. Now that has been stopped, there’s a horrible stalemate.
Such a shame.
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u/mbrevitas 15h ago
Which parts of the city did you see?
The area around the central train station is quite dodgy. Not unsafe, but not particularly pleasant.
The centro storico has a lot of narrow twisting alleys. It has a lot of charm, but it can be a bit dodgy. Quartieri spagnoli used to be like that too, only with less charm and straight roads. Now both are fairly gentrified and touristy.
Via Toledo and the area next to the seaside by the Castel nuovo, Castel dell’Ovo and so on si nice.
Chiaia and Mergellina are very nice. So is Vomero, up the hill.
Posillipo is veri nice but not so well connected to the rest of the city.
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u/guarrandongo 13h ago
It was the surrounding areas just outside the Historical Centre and down the harbour area. It was genuinely horrible - but like I say, enjoying it now so all’s well that ends well.
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u/SpiritualLustfulGyal 16h ago
i was just there a couple weeks ago and honestly felt the same. i’d heard mixed things but didn’t expect it to be that bad. the smell, the trash, and yeah the weird dudes watching you a little too close. i travel a lot and this is one of the first places i felt actually uneasy walking around.
we ended up sticking to the touristy areas near [insert nicer area] and found a couple decent bars, but yeah, kinda disappointing overall. you're not crazy for feeling that way
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u/Fanciunicorn 15h ago
Sicily is shockingly also filled with garbage and plastic 😭
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u/kyynel99 11h ago
We were driving down on a serpentine from a mountain and every few meters on the roadside was a garbage bag full of trash. I was like who tf brings his own trash up on this fucking mountain just to throw it out there.
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u/Electrical-Reason-97 14h ago
Most peeps would discourage staying near the train station. Walk 5-10 blocks west and it’s a different city, cleaner, remarkable historic sites among the world’s largest medieval historic center. Piazza Plebiscito, San Carlo opera house, the two Gallerias, and all the areas around Chiaia are def worth a stroll. Then take the funicular up to the Chart House.
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u/guarrandongo 13h ago
Yeah, I see that now. I am not staying in a bad area and the hotel is ideal. I guess I just went the wrong way by a street or 2. I’m liking it now.
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u/OblongGoblong 12h ago
It was like that when I went 2 years ago. It's unfortunate that it's still an issue, everything else about Naples I loved. It was my favorite city I visited during my trip with the exception of the mass littering.
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u/guarrandongo 11h ago
My day today so far could not be any different to last night! Guess I probably just took a couple of wrong turns and missed all the good stuff.
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u/OblongGoblong 11h ago
Well if the trash was picked up, and it's still early, you've got the rest of the day for it to reaccumulate lol
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u/LeoScipio 10h ago
Naples always was a nightmare. It is the most hated city in this country for a reason.
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u/magic8ball-76 16h ago
Do not take the train anywhere from Naples south. Just don’t. I have a horror story. Yikes.
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u/guarrandongo 15h ago
Jeez… I won’t be. Definitely.
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u/magic8ball-76 15h ago
Yeah think 9 hours in a heat wave to Sicily in a so called first class cabin with no air conditioning no water no food and no wifi but very uncomfortable seats. Despite the opposite being advertised when we bought the tickets. Night and day from train between say Florence and Rome.
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u/Financial_Sentence95 12h ago
We did Naples to Sorrento. Definitely a different experience to the rest of our (good) Italian train trips
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u/mbrevitas 13h ago
The Frecciarossa trains go down to Reggio Calabria now. But the intercity trains aren’t that bad, it’s just long journey; bringing refreshments and not expecting WiFi is pretty standard on any means of transport (buses, trains, low-cost flights) except the fanciest. I recommend the sleeper train (intercity notte) next time.
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u/magic8ball-76 13h ago
We were going to Palermo. And we would have come Prepared with our own supplies had we not bought ‘first class tickets’ that promised food, water, wifi etc and certainly air conditioning in 36C weather. You couldn’t even buy water bc their vending machines were out or broken. Simply no excuse, and I won my credit card claim bc the train company had no Defense. (This wasn’t even quite two yrs ago either)
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u/jerwang24 14h ago
Walked around for a few hours, got a horrible headache from the smell with the heat and went back to the Airbnb, left the next day. Not interested in going back unfortunately.
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u/guarrandongo 13h ago
That’s how I felt last night and this morning but I’m glad I persevered.
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u/jerwang24 11h ago
Hopefully you have a chance to go to the Amalfi! 100x better
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u/guarrandongo 9h ago
I was there the past few days - stunning part of the world. I’d recommend it to anyone. Wouldn’t want to go in peak season, mind you. Absolutely beautiful place, though.
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u/MediocreHuman318 10h ago
Huh I guess we must have just gotten lucky - we were mainly in the Via Toledo area - our hotel was in the Spanish Quarter and we walked around Centro Storico quite a bit and it seemed…fine? I had my kids with me and had zero safety concerns anywhere we were.
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u/ProgrammaticallyHip 3h ago
It’s all relative. If you’re from some small city in Estonia or Japan Naples might seem very dangerous. Whereas to someone from Philadelphia or Detroit it might seem extremely safe.
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u/datamuse 9h ago
I was there last summer. With my elderly parents so, having been forewarned, we avoided the area around Garibaldi (though inside the train station was fine, I took the train out to Pompeii one day). We stayed in Chiaia and Santa Lucia, both were fine, as was a walk I took over to Via Toledo.
There are some things I wanted to see that I missed, so I’m hoping to go back.
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u/CaliGirl16 2h ago
I was just in Naples about 2 weeks ago and we loved our time there. Yes it was a little rough in some places but we loved the food and the area where we stayed. Also, I will always say, the dog shit situation in NYC is 10 times worse than Paris or even Naples. I have never had to dodge so much dog shit than I did in New York.
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u/eclectictaste1 11h ago
I was there a few days ago on the last leg of our bus tour. Extremely shocked at the filth, grime, graffiti, and homelessness in the area near the docks where we stayed. It reminded me of the worst parts of San Francisco (Market district). We didn't have time to explore Naples, because we arrived late (8pm) and left the next morning for a ferry to Capri. I've seen videos of Naples' nice parts, but I don't know where they are.
The only other city remotely close to bad as Naples was Genoa, also in the area near the docks and Columbus' home. But it was just run-down, not filthy and filled with homeless like Naples.
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u/Caro________ 9h ago
I went there in 2003 and had a similar impression, unfortunately. It has potential, but it's very seedy.
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u/pineapple_sling 15h ago
I was shocked when I visited in 2018 and can only imagine it got worse during and after the pandemic. There weren’t the high piles of trash you describe, but it was already very seedy and gritty, with lots of graffiti tagging (not mural art), closed storefronts and overall urban decay. People say it has a charm.. nah, I think only if you enjoy poverty tourism and need edgy experiences to feel alive..
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u/Electrical-Reason-97 11h ago
Glad to hear. It’s one of my favorite cities in the world, but requires lots of exploration.
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u/guarrandongo 9h ago
I get that. We were only free from around 9pm last night so today has been very different - and great.
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u/tidalswave 45m ago
Naples is a shit hole. I’m not even trying to be mean. I lived in Italy for a while about 10 years ago, spoke close to fluent Italian, went tons of places solo and with friends. Wouldn’t touch Naples with a ten foot pole. My friends were so confused why I wouldn’t join them in a weekend, thought I was being dramatic … and they got robbed on the street in broad daylight. Really shook them up.
Anytime I know someone going to Naples I warn them, they blow me off (it can’t be that bad!) and then they come back and say: Naples is a shit hole.
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u/HernandoB 12h ago
I watched Gomorrah and read this thread and now have no desire to ever visit Naples
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u/sleepystork 9h ago
I enjoyed Naples. I’ve heard it described as “chaotic” and that is a great characterization. I liked it better than Milan and Bologna.
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u/ProgrammaticallyHip 4h ago
Milan has Swiss city vibes. Very orderly and clean by Italian standards. People are reserved. Naples is dysfunctional by comparison but it has its own chaotic charm.
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u/Sharontoo 8h ago
Was there last year. Stayed in an apartment in one of the oldest buildings that survived the bombings of the war. What a treat We home based in Naples but took day tours out of it to Sorrento, Positano and Pompeii.
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u/JulieJulieWashington 8h ago
I didn’t love the vibe but I will say that I had a great meal in Naples- Seafront Pasta Bar, right next to the port . Also, Gay Odin was the best chocolate I had in Italy.
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u/KarmenCrossby 6h ago
Visited Italy some years ago, and we went to Naples first. Big mistake. Genuinely scary to walk though, I remember avoiding some streets because they made my gut feeling act up.
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u/egyptiantouristt Iraq 🇮🇶 (133 countries visited) 16h ago
Naples has always faced a pretty big waste management crisis, it was declared in 2023 that the Italian ministry violated the rights of the Naples’s from 1994-2009 because of how bad the issue was.