Perfect Two-Day Family Itinerary in Naples

At the end of last month we spent just 48 hours in Naples as a family of four with two boys aged 12 and 8. We were short on time, and we wanted to cram in as much into our time as we possibly could, so I had done extensive research and planned what I thought would be the perfect itinerary. Then we landed and, like all good plans, we changed everything!

Luckily, we made tweaks for the better, ending up with what I think is the perfect way to spend two days in Naples. Like everything I write, this works perfectly for families but actually this itinerary would work just as well for anyone visiting the chaotic wonderland that is Naples, Italy.

So here’s our complete (and I think perfect!) itinerary for spending two days in Naples:

1. Day 1 – Morning At The Duomo Cathedral
2. Day 1 – Afternoon In The Spanish Quarter
3. Day 1 – Evening and Ice Cream
4. Day 2 – Morning in Pompeii
5. Day 2 – Afternoon Of Pizza And Archeology
6. Day 2 – Evening (And More Ice Cream!)
7. Conclusion And Further Reading

Day 1 – Morning At The Duomo Cathedral

We landed in Naples at around 9am and then took the shuttle bus from the airport to Naples Central Station. This cost around 5 euros each and only took 15 minutes, making it the easiest and most affordable way to get into the city from the airport.

Once we’d arrived in the station we decided to walk to our first stop: The Duomo Cathedral.

On our walk and just behind the station we stopped at Antico Forno, a pasticceria that was established in 1963. This was a great place to get breakfast (which we ate as we wandered) and you can get the famous sfogliatella here (a layered Neapolitan pastry) while I opted for the very healthy breakfast of chocolate-stuffed canolis.

The walk was a great decision because we got to see so much of the backstreets of the city while eating breakfast with the sun in our face.

We loved the Duomo and I would recommend adding this to your itinerary. It is the city’s main cathedral and has the most beautifully painted domed roof. You can also see the Basilica di Santa Restituta inside which was constructed in the 4th century, making it one of the oldest in Western Europe.

2,500 years of Neapolitan history is represented in this one building, so it’s a great place to start your trip.

As an added bonus, admission is free so this is a great spot if you want to explore the city on a budget.

The Duomo is on the Via Duomo and this, and the surrounding side streets, are a great spot for souvenir shopping too. So when we left the cathedral, we spent some time wandering the shops, including delicious bakeries, fishmongers, and local fruit and veggies.

From here we headed to the Via Toledo which is the main shopping street in Naples, but we weren’t here for shopping, we were here for lunch! (Although the boys had to stop in Miniso to buy Harry Potter merch on the way!)

There a loads of restaurants and street food options in the streets that surround the Via Toledo.

We opted for pizza, because you can’t come to Naples and not eat pizza, and spent around 40 euros for 4 pizzas and 4 soft drinks. (I can’t remember the name of the restaurant we had lunch in, which is a real shame because the pizza was excellent!) It was so lovely to be sitting outside in the sunshine and eating in February!

Day 1 – Afternoon In The Spanish Quarter

After lunch, we decided to head into the Spanish Quarter, which can also be accessed from the Via Toledo. This was by far the most crowded place we visited the whole time we were in Naples!

It was chaotic, and graffiti laden, with mopeds whizzing up and down the streets but it has such a wonderful charm.

The main reason we were in the Spanish quarter (because we were travelling with two football-mad boys) was to see the Maradona shrines.

These are everywhere: it’s actually bizarre to see a footballer being worshipped as a saint across the city. But there’s so much more to see and do in the Spanish quarter too: this is a great place to take a food tour, to enjoy the street art and murals, and there are smaller churches and shrines to explore here too.

From the Spanish Quarter we walked back to the Via Toledo for our next attraction: the Gallerie d’Italia Naples. This is a beautiful art gallery with wonderful examples of renaissance as well as modern art and there was a huge selection of paintings of the local Mount Vesuvius to enjoy.

The reason we had visited though was because we wanted to catch the very last day of the Andy Warhol exhibition. This was a bucket list experience for me, and one that the kids loved too.

Tickets to the gallery were 7 euros per person, but kids go free, which meant our admission was a very reasonable 14 euros for our family of four. You can pre-book your tickets here.

At this point we went to check into our hotel and rest for a couple of hours (we’d been up since 4am). If you still have a little more energy, then at this point I would recommending spending the last couple of hours of your afternoon in the nearby Royal Palaces. All of this is within walking distance, making it wonderfully convenient.

👉 You can book tickets for the Royal Palaces here right up until the day before you want to visit
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We returned to our hotel via the metro station on the Via Toledo. We did this because this tube station has won awards for being the best metro station in the world (according to our Lonely Plane guidebook) and we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. My advice? DON’T go out of your way for this! It’s massively underwhelming to the point that at first, we thought we were in the wrong place!

✨TIP: Metro tickets are just 1.50 per journey, so don’t buy a day pass until you’re planning to take more than 5 metro journeys in one day. It just isn’t good value!✨

Day 1 – Evening and Ice Cream

Once we were rested, it was time to head out for our evening in Naples. The boys wanted to get some gelato so we sought out Il Gelato Mennella (which our B&B host told us was the best gelato in the city) and he really wasn’t wrong! I had the yoghurt and the dark chocolate flavours and they were delicious.

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The other attractions we wanted to see in Naples were the Galleria Umberto I which is an ornate public shopping gallery with a domed glass roof, and the Piazza del Plebiscito which is the largest square in Naples.

Both were beautifully well lit at night and the crowd levels were non existent, which is one of the reasons I like visiting the most popular tourist attractions in any new city at night.

And for dinner? What recommendations do I have for you? I was hoping for a steaming plate of pasta, but the boys had other ideas! They’d never been to an Italian McDonald’s before, so that situation was very quickly rectified (to my secret dismay).

Day 2 – Morning in Pompeii

Day two was the BIG DAY for us and the main reason for our trip to Naples: we were taking our Roman-mad boys to see Pompeii.

I know this is an attraction with mixed reviews, but it by far exceeded our expectations. Some of my tips for making Pompeii as enjoyable an experience as possible are:

• Arrive early. The archeological park opens at 9am, and we aimed to arrive soon after. This was when the archeological park was at is quietest: the area became busier as time went on.
  
• Take water and snacks. There isn’t a shop inside to buy these things and the restaurant in the park is currently closed for renovations. We took water and small snacks (mostly sweets and crisps) which got us through, but if I’d known in advance I would have definitely taken more food for the boys.
  
• Visit in the off season. There is no shade in Pompeii. Even in February we were walking around in t-shirts thanks to the heat of the sun: I couldn’t imagine exploring in the summer! The low crowd levels and the comfortable temperatures meant it was a great month to visit.

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We loved the ruins of Pompeii, particularly the bath houses, the villas, and the Grand Theatre (which is where we sat to eat our snacks and soak up the sunshine). We downloaded both the map app and the audio guide app before we arrived, which helped us to navigate and understand what we were seeing.

Please don’t underestimate the scale of this ancient city: it is exactly that! A city. So you can’t see it all in one day, you’ll have to pick and choose the bits that are most interesting to you and your family.

We booked our tickets to Pompeii in advance and, like so many things in Italy, the kid’s tickets were free which made this a hugely affordable day out too.

👉 We opted for reserved entrance access tickets, which you can buy here.
🎁 Use code THATMUMTRAVEL5KLOOK to get 5% off these prices

✨TIP: Pompeii tickets are limited to 20,000 a day so definitely book in advance if you want to visit in the high season.✨

🏛 Read our essential guide to visiting Pompeii with kids in 2025 here!

Day 2 – Afternoon Of Pizza And Archeology

We spent around 5 hours in ancient Pompeii so when we left the site it was time for a very late lunch. We entered Pompeii via the Pompeii Scavi entrance (as recommended by the guide book) and then went off piste and exited into modern Pompeii city.

Here we found a lovely trattoria called Le Delizie offering lunch specials of a pizza and drink for just 5 euros! Again we ate outside in the sunshine and honesly it was lovely to sit down and rest our feet after a morning on the tricky cobbles of Pompeii.

The oldest discovered ‘American pizza’ which was covered in hotdogs slices and fries, and I don’t think he’ll ever go back!

Rather than return to Pompeii Scavi (where the train was standing room only and packed with tourists) we walked through modern Pompeii taking in the sites until we reached Pompeii station. There is a public art trail throughout the city, so this is a lovely thing to do if you want to explore more of modern Pompeii.

The train from the main central station was just as cheap, but the carriages were empty. We got to sit down and watch beautiful views of the coast as we headed back into Naples. I would definitely recommend taking this route instead!

If you haven’t had enough history then I would recommend spending the rest of your afternoon in the Naples Archeological Museum. This is actually the most expensive activity on this list but well worth exploring. I recommend booking your tickets in advance and, as always, I recommend booking them through Klook.

👉 Check availability and book tickets to the Naples Archeological Museum
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All of the most significant archeological sites from Pompeii were brought here, so the two attractions compliment each other perfectly. Seeing both will give you the best possible understanding of life in ancient Pompeii.

Day 2 – Evening (And More Ice Cream!)

Our flight home was at 9.30pm (it ended up being delayed!) so we headed back to the central station to find more food before getting the bus back to the airport.

We went to a wonderfully picturesque cafe called Cuori di Sfogliatello which had the most beautiful looking cakes, but what the boys loved were whipped ice creams served inside hollowed out sfogliatelle pastries instead of ice cream cones. This was also a wonderful spot for people watching and relaxing after what had been two very busy days in Italy!

Conclusion And Further Reading

If you’re planning your own trip to Naples then I do have another couple of articles that might help!

🏛 Read our essential guide to visiting Pompeii with kids in 2025 here!
🎒 What we packed for Naples travelling only with backpacks

What do you think of our itinerary? What would you change or do differently? I’d love to hear what you thought about Naples if you’ve already been! It wasn’t our favourite European city, but we still had a great trip.

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