Things You Can Do in Naples for Free or Almost Free

Napoli is the place for anyone who can be bothered to walk, to stand, to look around, who keeps a little bit of change on them for a snack.

It’s the capital of espresso, mopeds, washing hung out on lines, feisty disputes over football and the specter of a menacing geological event. Even a weekend here can still be a cheap trip, as long as you don’t include yourself in a packed itinerary and consider the ideas of the city to be a part of your experience.

There are cheaper ways to travel, too. For travelers heading onwards to the capital, the train is an affordable option by the Italian operator “Italo”, with comfortable journeys from Naples to Rome that pass through the countryside while keeping travel costs reasonable. 

The historic center costs nothing

Naples is giving it all away for free. The old town is a walk-in repository, a treasure trove, a portable gallery. Spaccanapoli meanders through the streets with churches, workshops, fading buildings and chapels wedged, crammed, into narrow streets where a scooter is likely to appear around a corner without warning.

Turn into the courtyard of the Basilica di Santa Chiara for 10 minutes of serene peace, then continue to Piazza del Gesù. Around the corner is San Gregorio Armeno. The Christmas workshops are open all year here, and there’s nowhere quite like it. Outfits and tiny figures occupy every shelf, with the saints looking out from behind them. The bay of the manger is nowhere to be found, all drowned under footballers, politicians and a local gangster or two. Beautiful and mad, it is very Neapolitan.

Many of the churches you pass through request a tip rather than a specific entrance fee. Have some change on you. Yes, one Euro to two will get you a seat in front of the frescos, the chapels, the candle-lit chapels. These are one-stop tourist destinations in half the countries on the planet.

What to eat for under €5

Naples does cheap food better than any European city. You hardly ever need to book reservations. When you are hungry, food is just an excuse to stop walking.

A folded fried pizza from a street counter is usually less than €5 and contains enough melting cheese and tomato sauce to constitute supper.  So is a cuoppo di frittura, a paper cone filled with fried bits of seafood or fritto misto (rabbits’ ears, chick peas, zucchini, battered and deep fried) that you eat while leaning against a lamppost (or traffic light, post, or wall) when you come out of a bar.

At breakfast, ask for a sfogliatella and espresso “da asporto”. Eating in touristy areas is costly thanks to table service. Do as the locals do and drink your coffee quickly, and your pastry even faster.

After a few trips, you’ll have a strong body of evidence to offer up: Naples is Europe’s best budget coffee culture. Tiny cups, no ceremony, endless character.

Markets, squares, and neighborhood wandering

The Porta Nolana market opens in the morning and is redolent of the sea and fish. You can hear the fishmongers, who are engaged in screaming out the selling prices around heaps of octopuses, anchovies, and shellfish. The customers are equally loud and loquacious as they try to get the best deal. Even if you don’t make a single purchase, it is enough to justify having come here.

The Quartieri Spagnoli has transformed in recent years, but it has preserved its own disorderly and endearing character. Murals, balconies, small religious altars, and apartment buildings. The Quartieri Spagnoli is the place to get lost in the alleyways. Football is a religion and a local form of language.

Students and musicians sit in the Piazza Bellini at night. The drinks are cheap. People in the piazza take a long time eating their ice cream. In the Rione Sanità, something is happening in the street all the time: Children play in the street. A family drives by on a motorbike. The old people sit in the street in the evening, looking at what is happening in the Rione.

Naples is a city full of street theater. You only need a bench.

Views that cost less than lunch

The city’s best viewpoints very rarely cost much in the way of an entrance fee.

The incline railway up to Vomero Hill. The price of Naples public transit lets you take in the views affordably, while the crossing halfway across the city acts as a kind of guide. Castel Sant’Elmo is one of the best views in southern Italy, and if you go to the very top terrace, you can watch Vesuvio turn pink in the twilight behind the bay.

Parco Virgiliano in Posillipo offers a view to live 1,000 years for. Have a picnic and wait for twilight. Couples and joggers and kids out with their folks on the paths, not rushing.

Between the two lies a future. Those travelers willing to pay a little more will find that the local buses to Vesuvio are the only items in the entire conurbation that merit the name expense. The mountain is worth it. Naples becomes comprehensible when you realize what’s waiting on its city limits.

Museums and culture under €10

Naples has a way of making its cultural offerings accessible. The National Archaeological Museum stops many Pompeii-first-then-Naples-never tourists in their tracks for longer than they would have liked, and still, for very little money, for the size of the collection.

The Chapel of Sansevero, entry often less than €10, has the Veiled Christ. You will hear that spoken of in hushed, drawn breath, even when it is 10 people deep. Get there early. People back up fast.

Other smaller museums and cloisters often offer bargain tickets for certain days of the week or night openings. Checking what’s on the go there will save you far more Euros than any Naples city pass.

Cheap public transit makes the city manageable

Although Naples spills over hills, waterfronts and human jungles, getting around is the easy bit. Metro tickets cost little, buses cover everywhere, and the incline railways conquer any lengthy uphill trudges.

Plunging into Naples Metro Line 1 sparks a virtual art gallery at some of the most futuristic stations in Europe. Architecture magazines hail an ordinary commuter tunnel at Toledo Station, snaking through a sea of blue mosaics.

But remember, the first rule of Naples is the oldest: get out and walk a lot, eat cheaply, wander to the incline railway and leave room for spontaneous discoveries along the way!

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