Naples Transport

Coming and Going

Naples is the hub of the southern Italian rail network and many trains originating in the north pass through Rome and terminate here. The city is well-served by regionale, diretto, Intercity and the superfast Eurostar trains. They arrive and depart from Stazione Centrale or Stazione Garibaldi. There are up to 30 trains daily between Naples and Rome. Most buses for Italian and some European cities leave from Piazza Garibaldi in front of Stazione Centrale.

Boats and hydrofoils leave for Capri, Sorrento, Ischia, Procida and Forio from Molo Beverello in front of the Castel Nuovo. Longer distance ferries leave from the Stazione Marittima.

Naples is on the major north-south Autostrada del Sole, numbered A1 (north to Rome and Milan) and A3 (south to Salerno and Reggio di Calabria). The A30 rings Naples to the northeast, while the A16 heads northeast to Bari. The motorways meet the Tangenziale di Napoli, a major ring road around the city.

Capodichino airport, about 8km (5mi) northeast of the city centre, is southern Italy's main airport.

Getting About

Most city ANM buses depart from Piazza Garibaldi, where bus stops are appallingly signed. The city produces one rather vague bus map, but there is an ANM information office at the western end of the square. The mostly above ground underground, Metropolitana, runs from Gianturco, just east of Stazione Centrale, via Piazza Garibaldi and Bagnoli to Pozzuoli. Funicular railways connect downtown with Vomero.

You can buy 'Giranapoli' tickets at stations, ANM booths and tobacconists. A ticket is valid for 90 minutes of unlimited travel by bus, tram, Metropolitana, funicular, Ferrovia Cumana or Circumflegrea. A daily ticket is good value. These tickets are not valid to Pompeii or Ercolano on the Circumvesuviana train line.

Forget driving in town unless you have a death wish. Mopeds are impossible to hire because of the high incidence of theft. Taxis generally ignore kerb-side arm wavers but there are taxi stands at most of the large piazzas. Be warned that traffic congestion makes taxis expensive, and that's before you add on the baffling array of extra tariffs.