Naples, Capri, Rome: Three Italies in Eight Days

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After Corfu, our escapes series stays in the south. At the end of September the team strung together three nights in Naples, two in Capri and three in Rome, flying into Naples and home from Rome — the perfect triangle for anyone who wants the sea, the ruins and the city without ever boarding a plane in between. Here is our journal: where we slept, what we saw, where we ate, and the practical pointers you need to repeat the same itinerary.

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Three Italies, one plane ticket

Naples, Capri and Rome fit inside a triangle two hundred kilometres wide, and yet they are three different countries. Naples is baroque, loud and generous, the city in Europe where you eat best for least. Capri is a three-kilometre rock where the whole world has come to be seen since the Roman emperors, and which turns back into a fishermen's island the moment the last hydrofoil leaves. Rome needs no introduction from anyone. What this journal proposes is to string them together without getting back on a plane: land in Naples, cross the bay, ride the high-speed train north, fly home from Rome.

Late September is the right window. The sea at Capri is still 24 °C, Pompeii can be walked without a heat helmet, and Rome has its Romans back. One trap this year: a general strike announced for the Saturday, maritime transport included. We set the Capri-Naples crossing for the Thursday and kept Rome for the end — in Italy, you read the strike calendar before booking hydrofoils.

Into Naples, out of Rome

• The flight — Orly to Naples direct with easyJet in 2 h 15: €160 per person booked five weeks ahead, plus €57 for a last-minute schedule change. The return is from Rome-Fiumicino on a separate ticket: the “open jaw” saves a whole day of transport back to Naples.
• Naples to Capri — We chose the all-inclusive transfer offered by our Capri hotel (€190 per person): private car from the hotel to the port, hydrofoil tickets bought in advance, luggage handled, a welcome at the Marina Grande landing stage and a shuttle up to the villa. The hydrofoil alone costs about thirty euros; the luxury here is never carrying your suitcase along a quay.
• Naples to Rome — The Frecciarossa links Napoli Centrale to Roma Termini in 1 h 25. In Business class, bought two days before: €65 per person. Faster, more comfortable and cheaper than flying, and you arrive in the very centre.
• Getting around — In Naples a Mercedes E-Class with driver waited for us at the airport, ordered by email from the hotel (€110 plus 5%); taxis take the road to Pompeii for €95 and Uber brings you back for €86, toll included. In Rome, Uber runs at around €20 a ride. In Capri you walk, and the hotel drives you.

Naples: the Vesuvio, Rosolino and the waterfront

Our first address is a monument: the Grand Hotel Vesuvio, opened in 1882 on Via Partenope, facing Castel dell'Ovo on its islet. This is the hotel where Enrico Caruso spent his last years, and the rooftop restaurant bears his name; the marble lobby, the wood-panelled lifts and the old-school service say the rest. Three nights in a sea-view room, booked on Booking.com with the member rate, and breakfasts facing the bay.

Naples is best taken from the water's edge. The Lungomare, given back to pedestrians, runs from the castle to Mergellina; behind it, the Chiaia district lines up its palazzi, boutiques and aperitivo bars, and Piazza del Plebiscito opens like an opera set in front of the Royal Palace. We saved the first dinner for Rosolino, the waterfront institution two hundred metres from the hotel: Neapolitan cooking since 1985, paccheri with lobster, linguine “alla Luciana” with octopus, Vesuvius in the window. The next day, an aperitivo at Bar Rosati then a neighbourhood antica cucina: Naples is the city in this journal where the best meal is often the simplest.

Pompeii in an afternoon

Pompeii lies twenty-five kilometres from Naples and can be visited without a guide, provided you have booked your time slot. We had taken the Pompei Plus ticket at €25 per person on Vivaticket, entry at 1 pm — the quiet hour, when the morning groups leave. A Neapolitan taxi there (€95, price agreed in advance), Uber back (€86 with the motorway toll): cheaper than organised tours for two, and you leave when you like.

Three hours cover the essentials, provided you choose: the forum and its temples, the Stabian Baths, the House of the Faun, the lupanar and its frescoes, the amphitheatre, then the Villa of the Mysteries at the far end, for its life-size red frescoes. A hat, water, proper shoes: the streets are paved with basalt and the site covers sixty-six hectares. A useful calendar detail — on Tuesdays the Naples Archaeological Museum and the Sansevero Chapel (the Veiled Christ) are closed, so we did Pompeii on the Monday and kept the city for the other days.

Capri: the villa, the Faraglioni and the Blue Grotto

In Capri we slept at the Luxury Villa Excelsior Parco, a twenty-room house clinging to the hillside between the port of Marina Grande and the village, with an infinity pool, a rooftop terrace and a free shuttle to the port and the Piazzetta — our address for two nights.

On the first afternoon, down to the Faraglioni and lunch at Da Luigi, the beach restaurant at the foot of the three rocks, reached by the steps of Via Tragara or by boat, with your feet in the water. In the evening, Luce, the village's contemporary table — fish tartares, ravioli capresi, a trolley of Campanian desserts. The next day, the real Capri day: a private boat hired at Marina Grande for a four-hour tour of the island (€590), the Blue Grotto first while the sea is flat (€18 per person, in cash, to the boatman who takes you in lying flat in his rowing boat), then the green and white grottoes, the passage under the Faraglioni and a swim off Marina Piccola. Lunch back at Molo 20, the harbour bar-bistro, limoncello spritz served in a hollowed-out lemon, and dinner on the terrace of Panorama, steps from the Piazzetta, under the lemon trees with the Bay of Naples below.

Rome: Via Veneto, the Vatican booked, a pizza by the Trevi

On Thursday, the morning hydrofoil, the 1.30 pm Frecciarossa, and Rome at 2.55 pm. Our Roman address is the art'otel Rome Via Veneto, a contemporary-art hotel a stone's throw from Via Veneto and the gardens of Villa Borghese. A word on booking: the week we passed through, Rome was 99% full for a medical congress — book the Eternal City first, it fills up before Capri does.

First evening at Pizza in Trevi, fifty metres from the fountain: long-fermented dough, Roman pasta — and the fountain after dinner, once the coaches have gone. On Friday, the Vatican: a skip-the-line guided tour of the Museums and the Sistine Chapel at 11.15 am, booked the night before on Headout, meeting point on Via Vespasiano, and in the afternoon St Peter's Basilica on a free time slot reserved online — the basilica's new reservation system spares you the two-hour queue on the square. In between, Rome is done on foot and by Uber: €18 to €27 a ride, €49 for an evening round trip to Trastevere.

Our tables — tested on the ground

• Rosolino (Via Nazario Sauro, Naples) — The waterfront institution since 1985: fish, paccheri with lobster, old-school service.
• Da Luigi ai Faraglioni (Capri) — Beach lunch at the foot of the three rocks, caprese salad and grilled fish, the water two metres away.
• Luce (Capri) — The village's contemporary table, tartares and ravioli capresi, dessert from the trolley.
• Molo 20 (Marina Grande, Capri) — Harbour bar-bistro for the limoncello spritz and the plates you crave after the boat.
• Panorama (Capri) — A terrace under the lemon trees steps from the Piazzetta, the bay below, ravioli capresi and fish of the day.
• Pizza in Trevi (Via di San Vincenzo, Rome) — Long-fermented pizza and Roman pasta fifty metres from the fountain.

Price pointers for planning the trip

A few real figures from our itinerary, for two people at the end of September — transport and sights only. Hotels and tables depend on your wishes, and all three cities offer every level.

• Flights — €160 per person Orly-Naples (easyJet, booked five weeks ahead), plus a €57 change fee; return from Rome on a separate ticket.
• Transport — Chauffeured Mercedes from the airport €110 plus 5%, taxi and Uber for Pompeii €95 and €86, all-inclusive Naples-Capri transfer €190 per person, Frecciarossa Naples-Rome €65 per person in Business, Uber in Rome around €20 a ride.
• Sights — Pompei Plus €25 per person, private boat in Capri €590 for four hours plus €18 per person for the Blue Grotto, St Peter's Basilica free with a reservation.

Booking tours and activities

Around Naples everything can be booked: a guided visit of Pompeii with an archaeologist, a boat tour of Capri from Sorrento or Naples, the climb up Vesuvius. In September the best slots go fast — book before you leave.

Experiences offered via Viator — booking may earn Lavie Maison a commission, at no extra cost to you.

Where to stay in Naples, Capri and Rome: our addresses

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Last morning in Rome, before Fiumicino: a coffee standing at the counter, like the Romans, and a bag of Neapolitan taralli brought back from the station — the souvenir that never ends up forgotten at the back of a cupboard.

And to stretch Italy at home: the team that tested these three cities is the one that welcomes you all year round in Paris. Lavie Maison rents characterful apartments in the capital's finest neighbourhoods — the Marais, Saint-Germain, the Left Bank, Trocadéro — with a real kitchen, hotel-grade beds and a welcome in ten languages. Book direct on our site: nights are 5% cheaper than on the platforms, and the team answers before, during and after your stay. We are also in Nice, the Riviera on the French side, and in Bordeaux.

In Naples, luxury is not the room with a view: it is the sixty-euro trattoria table where you finally understand what a tomato is.

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