Top Things to Do in Campania

🏛 Italy · Published 15 June 2026 · 14 min read

Campania is one of those rare destinations where the checklist of must-do experiences feels almost unfair to other regions. Where else can you walk the streets of a Roman city frozen in ash, drive one of the planet's most beautiful coastal roads, hike to the rim of a live volcano, stand beside Greek temples older than the Acropolis, and eat pizza at its birthplace — all within an hour's radius? This guide covers every essential Campania experience, from the world-famous headliners (Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, Vesuvius) to the lesser-known treasures (Cilento's wild beaches, Benevento's Roman theatre, Irpinia's wine roads). Each section includes practical tips on timing, tickets, transport, and how to avoid the crowds. And when you're ready to book, IMPT gives you access to 600+ sustainable hotels across the region — every booking removes 1 tonne of verified CO₂ at the same price as Booking.com, with 5% cashback in IMPT tokens and €5 free credit on your first stay.

1. Pompeii: The City Frozen in Time

There is no archaeological site on Earth quite like Pompeii. When Mount Vesuvius erupted on 24 August 79 AD, it buried a thriving Roman city of approximately 11,000 people under four to six metres of volcanic ash and pumice. The catastrophe was horrifying, but the preservation it created is miraculous: Pompeii today is not a few broken columns in a field but an entire city — streets, houses, temples, theatres, baths, bakeries, taverns, and even the graffiti on the walls — frozen at the exact moment of destruction. You walk on the same basalt paving stones that Roman carts rumbled over, step into houses where frescoes still glow with colour 2,000 years later, and stand in the Forum where you can see Vesuvius looming on the horizon exactly as the Pompeiians saw it that morning.

Essential stops within Pompeii: The Forum (the city's main square, with Vesuvius framed perfectly at its end), the Amphitheatre (the oldest surviving Roman amphitheatre, built 70 BC, predating Rome's Colosseum), the Villa of the Mysteries (just outside the city walls, with the most extraordinary cycle of Roman frescoes anywhere — a 17-metre-long frieze depicting a Dionysiac initiation ritual in vivid reds and greens), the House of the Faun (the city's largest private residence, named after its bronze dancing faun statue, where the Alexander Mosaic — now in Naples' museum — was found), the Lupanar (the brothel with its explicit frescoes above small stone beds), the Stabian Baths (perfectly preserved public baths with intact stucco ceilings), the plaster casts of victims in the Garden of the Fugitives, and the Thermopolium of Vetutius Placidus (a Roman fast-food counter with terracotta jars still embedded in the countertop).

Practical tips: Tickets cost €18 (book online at ticketone.it — strongly recommended in high season). The site opens at 9am (8:30am in summer); arrive at opening to beat both crowds and heat. The Porta Marina entrance near the Circumvesuviana train station (Pompei Scavi–Villa dei Misteri) is the main entrance and most logical starting point. Download the official Pompeii app or bring a good guidebook — signage is minimal. Water fountains (nasone) throughout the site provide free drinking water. Wear proper shoes: the ancient streets are uneven basalt with high stepping stones. Allow 4–5 hours minimum; a full day is better. The site is vast (66 hectares) and physically demanding — there's no shade, so spring and autumn are far more comfortable than summer.

2. Herculaneum: Pompeii's Better-Preserved Sister

If Pompeii feels like a city of ruins, Herculaneum (Ercolano) feels like a city that was simply buried and forgotten. Located just 13 km from Pompeii, this smaller town of about 4,000 inhabitants met the same fate in 79 AD — but with a crucial difference. Herculaneum was buried by a pyroclastic surge of superheated mud that carbonised wood, preserved organic materials, and left multi-storey buildings standing. You walk into houses with intact wooden beams, furniture, doors, and upper floors — things that simply don't survive at Pompeii. The House of the Wooden Partition still has its original sliding wooden screen. At the boathouses along the ancient shoreline, over 300 skeletons were found huddled together — the only direct evidence of the victims' final moments at Herculaneum. The site is compact and manageable in 2–3 hours, and its state of preservation makes it arguably more moving than its famous neighbour. Many visitors skip it — their loss. Tickets are €14, and the site is a 20-minute walk from Ercolano Scavi station on the Circumvesuviana line.

3. Drive the Amalfi Coast (SS163)

The SS163 is not just a road — it's a UNESCO World Heritage-listed experience. Carved into vertical limestone cliffs in the 1830s under Bourbon King Ferdinand II, this 50-kilometre ribbon of asphalt links Sorrento to Salerno while passing through some of the most dramatic coastal scenery on the planet. The engineering is absurd: the road clings to cliffs dropping hundreds of metres to the Tyrrhenian Sea, squeezing through tunnels, hugging headlands, and passing through villages built so vertiginously they seem to defy gravity.

The towns, southbound: Positano — the vertical town of pastel-coloured houses cascading down a steep ravine to a pebble beach. Parked at the top, walk down (and taxi back up), browse the boutiques selling linen clothing and handmade sandals, and eat seafood on the beach at Chez Black. Praiano — Positano's quieter neighbour, with some of the coast's best sunset views and the gorgeous Marina di Praia cove. Furore — the "town that doesn't exist" (no real centre), famous for its fjord — a deep gorge cutting through the cliff to a tiny beach under a 30-metre-high bridge. Amalfi — once a maritime republic that rivalled Venice and Genoa (a history that seems preposterous given its tiny size today), with a magnificent 9th-century Arab-Norman cathedral at the top of a steep staircase. Ravello — perched 365 metres above Amalfi, the coast's most elegant town. Visit Villa Rufolo (whose gardens inspired Wagner to write Parsifal) and Villa Cimbrone (whose Terrace of Infinity — a marble balustrade lined with classical busts overlooking the sea — is one of Italy's most photographed views). Vietri sul Mare — the ceramics capital, where every surface is covered in hand-painted tiles. The eastern gateway to the Coast, and the only Amalfi town with good train connections (to Salerno).

Practical tips: In summer, avoid driving the SS163 if possible — traffic can mean an hour to cover 5 km. Use ferries (April–October, connecting Salerno–Amalfi–Positano–Sorrento) and SITA buses. If you must drive, go early (before 9am) or late (after 6pm). Parking in Positano and Amalfi is scarce and expensive (€5–8/hour). The road is narrow with hairpin bends — confident drivers only. Motorcycles and scooters are practical alternatives. The road is one-way alternating at several single-lane sections controlled by traffic lights. Everything takes longer than you think.

4. Hike Mount Vesuvius

Standing on the rim of the volcano that destroyed Pompeii is one of travel's great perspective shifts. Vesuvius (1,281 m) is still active — its last eruption was in March 1944, during the Allied occupation of Naples — and the crater steams visibly with fumaroles venting sulphur gases. The hike to the crater rim begins at the Quota 1000 car park, reachable by a shuttle bus from the Vesuvius National Park visitor centre. From there, it's a 30-minute walk up a wide, loose-gravel path gaining about 280 metres. At the rim, you look down into a 300-metre-deep crater with vertical walls of layered lava, ash, and tuff — the geological cross-section of millennia of eruptions. The 360-degree panorama from the rim is extraordinary: the entire Bay of Naples, the Sorrento Peninsula, Capri floating on the horizon, the Phlegraean Fields volcanic zone to the west, and Naples sprawled across the coastal plain 1,200 metres below.

Practical tips: Tickets €12 (must be booked online in advance at the Vesuvius National Park website). Bring water, sun protection, and a windbreaker — it's often windy and 5–10°C cooler at the summit. The path is gravel and steep in places; wear closed shoes, not flip-flops. The site is exposed to full sun. Go early morning or late afternoon for the best light and cooler temperatures. Avoid completely on rainy days — the gravel becomes dangerously slippery and clouds can obscure all views. Combine Vesuvius with a visit to the Vesuvius National Park visitor centre and the historic observatory (Osservatorio Vesuviano, founded 1841, the oldest volcanology institute in the world).

5. The Greek Temples of Paestum

Paestum delivers one of those "how is this not more famous?" moments that Italy specialises in. Founded as Poseidonia by Greek colonists from Sybaris around 600 BC, the city contains three of the best-preserved Doric temples in the world — not Roman copies, but actual Greek temples, standing complete with their colonnades on a grassy plain in what is now Cilento National Park. The Temple of Hera (c. 550 BC, also called the Basilica) is the oldest and most massive, with nine columns across the front. The Temple of Athena (c. 500 BC) sits at the highest point. The Temple of Neptune (c. 460 BC) is the masterpiece — considered by architectural historians to be the most perfect example of Doric architecture in existence, rivalled only by the Parthenon (which it predates). At sunset, the golden travertine stone glows with an almost supernatural warmth, and the surrounding plain falls silent except for birdsong. It's one of Italy's most atmospheric archaeological experiences, and far less crowded than Pompeii.

The on-site museum is exceptional and holds the Tomb of the Diver (Tomba del Tuffatore, c. 480 BC) — a painted tomb slab showing a young man diving into water, the only surviving example of Greek figurative wall painting from the classical period. The museum also displays the metopes from the Sanctuary of Hera at the mouth of the Sele River, vividly coloured terracotta decorations from the temples, and extensive finds from the Greek and Lucanian periods. Tickets cost €15 for the archaeological park and museum (€10 for just the park). Paestum is reachable by train from Salerno (30 minutes, €3–4) — the station is a 10-minute walk from the site entrance. Allow 3–4 hours to see the temples and museum properly.

6. Naples Underground (Napoli Sotterranea)

Beneath Naples' chaotic streets lies another city entirely — 40 metres down, in the darkness, carved into the soft yellow tuff stone that the Greeks and Romans quarried to build the city above. The Napoli Sotterranea tour takes you through 2,400 years of excavated history: Greek aqueducts dug in the 4th century BC that became the city's water supply for two millennia, Roman tunnels, early Christian catacombs, World War II air-raid shelters where thousands of Neapolitans hid during Allied bombing, and even a Roman theatre buried inside a modern apartment block (the Teatro Greco-Romano, where Emperor Nero is believed to have performed). The tour involves narrow passages lit by candle at one point, so it's not ideal for severe claustrophobia, but it's utterly fascinating and a powerful counterpoint to the sunshine-and-pizza surface Naples. There are actually three major underground tours in Naples — Napoli Sotterranea (Piazza San Gaetano, 90 min, €10), the Galleria Borbonica (a vast Bourbon-era escape tunnel, 90 min, €10), and the Catacombs of San Gennaro (early Christian burial chambers with 5th-century frescoes, 45 min, €9). All are excellent; Napoli Sotterranea is the most comprehensive introduction.

7. The Royal Palace of Caserta

When Charles VII of Bourbon became King of Naples in 1734, he decided his new kingdom needed a palace to rival Versailles. The result — designed by Luigi Vanvitelli and built between 1752 and 1845 — is the largest royal residence in the world by volume: 1,200 rooms, 1,742 windows, 34 staircases, and a facade stretching 247 metres. The statistics are absurd. The Grand Staircase of Honour is one of Baroque architecture's masterpieces — a double-ramp marble staircase flanked by marble lions, lit by 24 upper windows and culminating in a frescoed vault. The royal apartments are a procession of gilded stucco, silk wall coverings, and Murano glass chandeliers. But the real magic is outside: the 120-hectare park stretches 3 km from the palace to a dramatic waterfall, lined with classical sculpture, reflecting pools, and the spectacular Fountain of Diana and Actaeon at the waterfall's base. The English Garden in the upper park is a separate ticket (€7) worth paying for — a romantic 18th-century landscape with artificial ruins, a lake, and an extraordinary collection of camellias.

Caserta is 40 minutes by train from Naples (€4), and the palace is a 5-minute walk from the station. Tickets cost €14 (palace + park). Allow a minimum of 3–4 hours; a full day is ideal if you explore the entire park. The palace has been used as a film location for Star Wars (Episode I and II — the Theed Royal Palace on Naboo) and Mission: Impossible. Caserta city itself has a pleasant historic centre worth an hour of wandering.

8. The Path of the Gods (Sentiero degli Dei)

The Path of the Gods is the Amalfi Coast's most celebrated hike. The 7.8 km trail runs from Bomerano (a hamlet of Agerola, at 630 metres) to Nocelle (above Positano, at 400 metres), following the ridge of the Lattari Mountains with the coast unfolding 500–600 metres below. The name isn't marketing — according to local legend, the Greek gods used this very path to reach the sirens whose songs lured sailors to their deaths in Homer's Odyssey. The views are genuinely divine: the entire Amalfi coastline from Punta Campanella to Capri, the Sorrento Peninsula, and on clear days the island of Ischia. The trail is well-marked and mostly level with a few gentle ascents, taking 3–4 hours at a relaxed pace. The final descent from Nocelle to Positano adds about 1,700 steps — you can take the local bus instead. Spring (April–May) is the best time, when wildflowers carpet the mountainside and temperatures are comfortable. Avoid midday in July–August (no shade, very hot). Bring water; there are no facilities on the trail. The hike is free and requires no permit.

9. Naples National Archaeological Museum (MANN)

One of the world's great museums, and astonishingly uncrowded compared to its equivalents in Rome, London, or Paris. The MANN holds the finest collection of Roman antiquities on Earth for one simple reason: it is the repository for almost everything excavated from Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the other Vesuvian sites. The Farnese Collection — ancient sculptures assembled by the Farnese family, including the Farnese Bull (the largest single sculpture recovered from antiquity) and the Farnese Hercules — fills the ground floor. Upstairs, the mosaics from Pompeii and Herculaneum are breathtaking: the Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun, depicting Alexander the Great's victory over Darius at the Battle of Issus, is composed of over one million tesserae and is one of the most important surviving works of ancient art. The Secret Cabinet (Gabinetto Segreto) contains the erotic art from Pompeii — frescoes, phallic amulets, and the famously explicit statue of Pan and the goat. It's fascinating, not titillating, and reveals a lot about Roman attitudes to sexuality. The museum also has an extensive Egyptian collection and the Temple of Isis frescoes from Pompeii. Tickets €18, open daily except Tuesday, 9am–7:30pm. Allow 2–3 hours minimum; archaeology enthusiasts can spend a full day. The museum is a 10-minute walk from the Museo metro stop in Naples.

10. Cilento Coast & Beaches

While the world queues for Amalfi Coast beaches, the Cilento National Park to the south quietly offers Italy's least-crowded Mediterranean coastline. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site (as part of the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park), this 100-kilometre stretch of coast from Agropoli to Sapri alternates between sandy coves backed by pine forests, dramatic rocky headlands, and medieval fishing villages that have barely changed in centuries. The water is among Italy's cleanest — Cilento beaches regularly earn Blue Flag status, and the marine protected areas of Santa Maria di Castellabate and the Costa degli Infreschi protect rich Posidonia seagrass meadows and diverse marine life. The best beaches include: Cala Bianca (near Marina di Camerota, consistently voted one of Italy's most beautiful beaches — a pebble cove with turquoise water in a protected nature reserve), Baia del Buon Dormire (below the medieval village of Castellabate, a sandy crescent framed by cliffs), Punta Licosa (named after the siren from the Odyssey, a rocky headland with natural swimming pools), and Marina di Ascea (a 4 km stretch of fine sand backed by dunes, adjacent to the Greek ruins of Velia). The entire Cilento coast is accessible by train from Salerno (regional trains stop at Agropoli, Ascea, Pisciotta, and Sapri). In summer, local buses connect the train stations to beach towns.

11. Benevento & the Roman Theatre

Two hours northeast of Naples, Benevento is one of southern Italy's most underrated cities. Founded by the Samnites, it became a major Roman colony at the junction of the Via Appia and Via Traiana, the two main roads to Brindisi and the East. Emperor Trajan celebrated this with his magnificent Arch (114 AD), one of the best-preserved Roman triumphal arches anywhere, decorated with reliefs depicting Trajan's Dacian campaigns and his civic works. The Roman Theatre, built under Hadrian (126 AD), could seat 15,000 spectators and is remarkably intact — you can climb the cavea (seating tiers) and imagine the performances staged here. Benevento also has a superb Egyptian collection in the Museo del Sannio, a Lombard-era church (Santa Sofia, UNESCO-listed as part of the Lombards in Italy site), and the legend of the Janare — the witches said to gather under a walnut tree on the banks of the Sabato River. In October, the annual Strega liqueur festival fills the streets. Benevento is an easy day trip from Naples (2 hours by train, €8–12) and gets a fraction of the tourists it deserves.

12. Avellino & the Irpinia Wine Road

Inland Campania around Avellino is wine country — the source of Taurasi, Greco di Tufo, and Fiano di Avellino, three of southern Italy's most prestigious DOCG wines. The Irpinia landscape is green, hilly, and genuinely rural: chestnut forests, medieval stone villages, and vineyards climbing volcanic slopes. The town of Tufo is built on sulphur mines — the mineral-rich soil gives Greco di Tufo its distinctive flinty character. The village of Taurasi is a cluster of stone houses around a castle where the Aglianico grape produces Italy's answer to Barolo — a tannic, age-worthy red that can evolve for decades. Many wineries offer tastings and tours: Mastroberardino (in Atripalda, the historic producer that revived Campanian wine in the post-war era), Feudi di San Gregorio (in Sorbo Serpico, with a striking modern winery designed by Japanese architect Hikaru Mori), and smaller artisanal producers like Colli di Lapio and Villa Raiano. Combine wine tasting with visits to the medieval villages of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi and Nusco, and the Laceno plateau for summer hiking and winter skiing. Irpinia is best explored by car; allow a full day for a relaxed wine route.

13. Ischia, Procida & Capri — The Bay of Naples Islands

The three islands of the Bay of Naples are each entirely different worlds. Capri is the glamour island — Roman emperors (Tiberius had his pleasure palace here), 1950s film stars, and today's super-yacht crowd. The Blue Grotto, the chairlift to Monte Solaro, and Villa San Michele are the headline attractions, but Capri's real pleasure is walking: the Pizzolungo coastal path circles the island's southern edge past the Faraglioni rock formations and the natural arch. Avoid July–August and weekends. Ischia is the largest island, an active volcanic island with thermal springs, lush gardens (La Mortella, created by British composer William Walton), and a medieval castle (Castello Aragonese) on its own islet connected by causeway. The thermal parks — Poseidon, Negombo, Castiglione — offer hot pools, mud baths, and saunas in landscaped gardens. Ischia is less expensive and less crowded than Capri. Procida is the smallest and most authentic — a pastel-coloured fishing island that was Italy's Capital of Culture in 2022. Marina Corricella, a cascade of pink, yellow, and blue houses around a fishing harbour, is one of the most photogenic spots in the Mediterranean. Ferries to all three islands depart from Naples Beverello and Mergellina ports, as well as from Sorrento. Day trips are possible but an overnight stay reveals each island's quieter side after the day-trippers leave.

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