Southern Italy
Alberobello is one of the most distinctive townscapes in Europe - over 1,500 conical-roofed trulli crowding a Puglian hillside, UNESCO-listed since 1996. The bus from Bari gets you there in an hour and fifteen minutes. No hire car needed.
Southern Italy
Matera is one of the most extraordinary places in Italy - cave dwellings carved from limestone, an underground cistern the size of a cathedral, and a suspension bridge across a ravine. And entirely reachable without a hire car.
Naples
Naples has one of the finest collections of Roman antiquities in the world, a street plan that has barely changed in 2,500 years, and pizza that needs no introduction. The most misunderstood city in Italy - and one of the most rewarding.
Naples
Buried Roman cities, an active volcano, islands and Greek temples - no other Italian city offers this density of extraordinary places within reach of public transport. Every major day trip from Naples, covered in one guide.
Near-Naples
Sorrento is just over an hour from Naples on the Circumvesuviana - clifftop gardens above the Bay of Naples, lemon groves, and a port that serves as the gateway to Capri and the Amalfi Coast. All without a hire car.
Near-Naples
Ischia is larger, greener and more varied than Capri — a volcanic island with thermal pools, vineyards, a medieval castle on a rock and beaches only reachable by boat. A ferry from Naples gets you there in around an hour, and a bus network connects everything without a hire car.
Near-Naples
Mount Vesuvius is reachable by train and bus from Naples, Pompeii and Sorrento — no hire car required. This guide covers every transport option, tickets you must book in advance, what the climb is like, and how to combine it with Pompeii, Herculaneum or a vineyard on the slopes.
Near-Naples
Capri is worth every bit of its reputation — the limestone cliffs, the Blue Grotto, the two very different sides of the island, and the views from Monte Solaro that stretch to the Amalfi Coast. A full day by ferry from Naples or Sorrento, with no hire car required.
Near-Naples
Salerno is cheaper, calmer, and better connected than anywhere else on the Amalfi Coast. Ferries leave directly for Positano and Amalfi. Vietri is two minutes by train. And with Naples just 30 - 60 minutes away on the regional line, it sits at the heart of everything Campania has to offer.
Near-Naples
Pompeii and Herculaneum are both within an hour of Naples by train. The same volcano buried both in 79 AD — but differently. Here's how to reach both and what to expect.