Naples 3-Day Itinerary: Old Town, Pompeii and Royal Naples

How should you spend 3 days in Naples?

Spend day one in the Centro Storico, with a booked slot at Cappella Sansevero, the San Gennaro treasury and Napoli Sotterranea. Give day two to Pompeii or Herculaneum by Circumvesuviana. On day three, see Palazzo Reale, the Bourbon tunnel and the views from Vomero. Start on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday to dodge the main closures.

Two weekly closures shape a short Naples trip: Cappella Sansevero and the National Archaeological Museum (MANN) close on Tuesdays, and Palazzo Reale on Wednesdays (Sansevero, MANN, Palazzo Reale). The Galleria Borbonica’s standard tour runs only from Friday to Sunday and on public holidays (Galleria Borbonica).

This plan uses official opening hours and booking rules, checked on 16 October 2026. Pompeii’s own website was unreachable during our checks, so its rules come from the park’s pages as archived in 2026; confirm them before you travel. Choose a base with where to stay in Naples and check the season with best time to visit Naples.

For more ideas to swap in, see things to do in Naples. With more time, the Naples 7-day itinerary adds the islands and the Amalfi Coast.

What does the 3-day Naples plan look like at a glance?

Day one covers the old centre on foot, day two the ruins by train and day three royal Naples, the Bourbon tunnel and the hill of Vomero by funicular. The table shows what to book, which closing days to avoid and what to swap in if it rains or the afternoon is too hot for the ruins.

Put together, a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday start keeps every anchor open: day one avoids the Tuesday closures in the old centre, and day three lands on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, when Palazzo Reale and the Galleria Borbonica are both open. A Saturday start works if you drop the Bourbon tunnel, which does not run its standard tour on ordinary Mondays.

Herculaneum opens every day and closes only on 25 December (Parco Archeologico di Ercolano). Pompeii’s winter timetable lists Tuesday closures only for smaller sites such as Oplontis and Stabiae, not for Pompeii itself (winter hours, archived). Avoid the free first Sunday of the month if you want a calmer visit, because tickets cannot be booked ahead that day (Pompeii, archived).

What should you book before a 3-day Naples trip?

Book Cappella Sansevero first: entry is by reserved date and time slot only, daily numbers are limited, and tickets are released 60 days ahead. Book the Galleria Borbonica tour too. Pompeii tickets are issued in your name, and Vesuvius crater tickets, if you add the volcano, are sold only online.

Cappella Sansevero opens from 9am to 7pm every day except Tuesday, with last entry 30 minutes before closing, and a standard ticket costs €12; an extra batch of tickets is released two days before each date (opening hours, access rules). The Galleria Borbonica’s standard tour costs €15, leaves at 10am, noon, 3pm and 5pm, and requires booking (Galleria Borbonica).

At Pompeii, every ticket has carried the holder’s name since November 2024, bought online or at the ticket office on showing ID, under a daily cap of 20,000 visitors (Pompeii, archived). The standard ticket has cost €20 since 12 January 2026, and under-18s enter free (Pompeii, archived).

Napoli Sotterranea does not need booking for groups of fewer than ten (Napoli Sotterranea), and Santa Chiara sells tickets only at its own box office (Santa Chiara), so both can be decided on the day.

Day 1: how do you see the Centro Storico in one day?

Take an early Sansevero slot, then walk to the cathedral for the free San Gennaro chapel and the treasury museum. After a pizza lunch, join a Napoli Sotterranea tour from Piazza San Gaetano, see Santa Chiara’s cloister before it closes, and finish along Via San Gregorio Armeno, the nativity-scene street, or at the MANN.

The Treasure of San Gennaro museum opens daily from 9.30am to 6pm, last entry 5pm, for €15, and entry to the saint’s chapel in the cathedral is free; from Tuesday to Friday the chapel opens 9.30am to 1pm and 2.30pm to 6pm, with slightly different hours at weekends and on Mondays (Tesoro di San Gennaro).

Napoli Sotterranea’s underground tours leave on the hour from 10am to 6pm, in Italian and English, from Piazza San Gaetano 69 (Napoli Sotterranea). Santa Chiara’s cloister opens Monday to Saturday from 9.30am to 5pm and on Sundays from 10am to 2pm, for €7 (Santa Chiara), so a Sunday needs it before lunch.

If you have energy left, the MANN opens until 7.30pm, with the ticket office closing at 6.30pm, for €20, and is closed on Tuesdays (MANN). On the first Sunday of the month entry is free, but some sections stay closed.

Day 2: Pompeii or Herculaneum, and how do you get there?

Choose Pompeii for scale and Herculaneum for preservation and a shorter, easier day. For Pompeii, take the Circumvesuviana Napoli–Sorrento line to Pompei Villa dei Misteri and be at the gate for 9am. For Herculaneum, the same line stops at Ercolano Scavi, a six-minute walk from the entrance, which opens at 8.30am.

Pompeii covers 44 hectares and needs at least two to three hours (Pompeii FAQ, archived). Pompei Villa dei Misteri serves the Porta Marina and Piazza Esedra entrances; the Piazza Anfiteatro entrance is served by Pompei Santuario on the Napoli–Poggiomarino line, and mainline trains stop at Pompei on the Naples–Salerno route (how to get there, archived).

From 16 March to 14 October, morning entries between 9am and 1pm are capped at 15,000 and afternoon entries from 1pm to 5.30pm at 5,000 (Pompeii, archived). From 1 November to 31 March, the gates open at 9am, last entry is at 3.30pm and the site closes at 5pm (winter hours, archived). In heat, use the drinking fountains and roofed houses (heat advice, archived).

Herculaneum is open daily, from 8.30am to 7.30pm between 16 March and 14 October and to 5pm in winter, for €16 (Parco Archeologico di Ercolano). The park’s own directions say to buy a Circumvesuviana ticket for Ercolano Scavi from Napoli Centrale (how to get there). Our Pompeii day-trip verdict compares the two.

Day 3: how do you combine royal Naples, the Bourbon tunnel and Vomero?

Start at Palazzo Reale when it opens at 9am, cross Piazza del Plebiscito, then take a booked tour of the Galleria Borbonica, the Bourbon-era tunnel. In the afternoon, ride the Funicolare Centrale from Augusteo up to Vomero for views, come down on the Chiaia funicular and finish with a seafront walk past Castel dell’Ovo at sunset.

Palazzo Reale’s royal apartment opens from 9am to 8pm, last entry 7pm, and closes on Wednesdays; tickets cost €15 and under-18s go free (Palazzo Reale). Since 1 October 2026 the Hall of Mirrors, the Hall of Hercules and part of another room have been closed for restoration, and the visitor route has changed (restoration notice).

The Funicolare Centrale climbs from Augusteo, off Via Toledo, to Piazza Fuga every 10 minutes (ANM), and the Chiaia funicular runs between Via Cimarosa and Parco Margherita (ANM). The Montesanto funicular has been closed since 15 May 2026 for an overhaul, with a shuttle bus in its place (ANM).

Castel dell’Ovo itself is closed until further notice for renovation (Comune di Napoli), but the seafront promenade from Santa Lucia towards Mergellina still makes a fine evening walk.

What are the best swaps for rain, heat and closures?

In rain, swap the ruins for the MANN and the underground tours, which work in any weather. In summer heat, do Pompeii at opening time or choose Herculaneum, and keep the afternoon for indoor sights. If your dates hit a Tuesday or Wednesday, move Sansevero, the MANN or Palazzo Reale to another day.

Naples is wettest from October to February, with eight to ten rainy days a month, and hottest in July and August, with 15 to 18 days of 30°C or more (WMO, Aeronautica Militare). The Vesuvius crater path closes automatically on days with an orange weather alert or higher (Vesuvius National Park).

Watch for religious dates in the old centre. The blood of San Gennaro is venerated on the Saturday before the first Sunday in May, on 19 September and on 16 December (Cappella di San Gennaro), so expect services and crowds around the cathedral on those days. Sansevero opens shorter hours, 9am to 2pm, on 24 and 31 December 2026 and closes on 25 December (Sansevero).

Transport strikes are often called at short notice, the UK government says (FCDO). On a strike day, keep to the walkable old centre and move the ruins to another day.

How do you get around Naples for three days?

Walk the old centre and use Metro Line 1 and the funiculars for longer hops. Line 1 runs every 10 minutes by day, the Unico Campania 90-minute urban ticket costs €1.90 and a day ticket €5.70, and the Alibus from the airport costs €5. For Pompeii and Herculaneum, use the Circumvesuviana from Napoli Centrale.

Line 1 links Garibaldi, Duomo, Università, Municipio, Toledo, Dante and Museo, then climbs to Vomero; trains run every 10 minutes from 6am to 8pm and every 14 minutes after that, until about 11pm from Sunday to Thursday and 1.30am on Fridays and Saturdays (ANM Line 1). Fares are from the Unico Campania fare table in force from 1 October 2026.

The Alibus runs from the airport to Piazza Garibaldi in about 15 minutes and to Molo Beverello in about 35, from 5.30am to midnight (ANM Alibus). The FCDO advises care with belongings on public transport and at main stations (FCDO).

Which guided tours fit a 3-day Naples itinerary?

A guided tour adds most at Pompeii, where a good guide turns 44 hectares of ruins into a story and handles the route in the heat. A street-food walk suits day one, and a Vesuvius combination suits travellers who want both the volcano and the ruins without managing trains and timed crater tickets themselves.

Before booking, check what is included: Pompeii entry is a named ticket and the crater path on Vesuvius needs its own timed ticket, sold only online in slots of 50 every ten minutes (Vesuvius National Park). Confirm the meeting point, the time on site and the cancellation terms against your day plan.

For broader advice on comparing tour marketplaces, see GetYourGuide vs Viator vs Klook, and for the coast, is an Amalfi Coast tour worth it.

Who should change this Naples plan?

Families with young children and anyone sensitive to heat should pick Herculaneum over Pompeii between June and September. Travellers with limited mobility should ask about steps before booking underground tours and old-centre hotels. Volcano fans can swap day three for Vesuvius, and anyone with four or more days should add Capri or the Amalfi Coast.

Vesuvius crater hours run from 9am to 3pm in winter months, to 4pm in March and October, to 5pm from April to June and in September, and to 6pm in July and August (Vesuvius National Park). Last-minute tickets, released 30 minutes before each slot, carry the holder’s name.

For longer stays, use the Naples 7-day itinerary, and weigh the islands with is a Capri day trip worth it. Food-led travellers can replace day three’s museums with a slower day around the markets, using Naples eats.