We Explored Naples With a Local In 2 Days. Here's What Most Tourists Miss

Once you visit Naples for the first time, you definitely wish to come back again. This is so true, and travelers around the world know this very well. We just did it! And this time, we made our trip to Naples an experience within an experience.

We returned to the wonderful city in the shadow of Vesuvius to attend a thrilling, refined opera evening at the majestic Teatro San Carlo. But, on our way to such a prestigious stage, we found out that Naples offers beautiful highlights that most tourists miss, especially on their first visit.

Who’s the best companion to join a trip to Naples and uncover its alternative side? A local, of course! For our 2-day trip to Naples we met a friend who was born and raised here, who guided us to discover unusual, yet amazing spots of the city.

This is how to spend two days in Naples by following a different path. Let's go: we’re exploring incredible street arts around the neighborhoods, and enjoying an electrifying shopping session at the McArthurGlen La Reggia Designer Outlet seeking the perfect outfit for the opera event.

This 2-day itinerary in Naples is perfect for who’s coming back to visit this brilliant city a second time, but if you are on your first trip here – maybe on a weekend – then you’ll find some interesting tips and things to do to add to your travel plan.

Naples has so much beautiful highlights to visit much appreciated by tourists, such as the Sansevero Chapel, Piazza Plebiscito and Underground Naples, which we recommend for sure. But on this journey we’re walking a different path, to get to know the city on its alternative side.

We’re heading to neighborhoods like Sanità and Barra to seek the most impressive and meaningful mural arts, created by top-tier street artists, and we’re going to look at the amazing landscape of the Gulf from a privileged spot that tourists usually miss, near the picturesque Castel dell’Ovo.

The energy of Naples feels amazing, and we can’t wait to explore it with our local friend. This is the plan for 2 days in Naples:

Day 1

Morning – classic Naples breakfast and street art exploration in the neighborhoods Quartieri Spagnoli, Sanità and Scampia;

Afternoon – more mural arts watching in the neighborhoods Barra and San Giovanni a Teduccio and at Calata Porto di Massa, with a climb up to Monte Echia viewpoint;

Evening – visit to the Naples Cathedral during a holy celebration and a traditional dinner based on local main dishes.

Day 2

Morning and Afternoon – breakfast with a sfogliatella and a long, exciting and satisfying shopping session at the McArthurGlen La Reggia Designer Outlet;

Evening – a magical opera night attending the live performance of Adriana Lecouvreur on stage at the Teatro San Carlo.

On our arrival in Naples the vibrant atmosphere of the city embraces us right away, as we cross the centre in order to meet our local friend – the special guest guide for this 2-day escape in Naples!

The first day can’t begin without a proper breakfast, and to have it we head to the heart of the city near Piazza Plebiscito. Nearby you'll find one of the oldest and most cherished cafes in the centre of Naples, a perfect place to grab an espresso coffee and taste delicious pastry, cakes and croissants.

It’s time to get to our first stop on this long day, that is Quartieri Spagnoli, hands down the most picturesque neighborhood in Naples and the heart of its popular identity. There is one idol for Naples’ people that can unite generations with equal passion, and we shall find him here: Diego Armando Maradona!

Exploring Quartieri Spagnoli you will surely come across the legendary mural street arts picturing the Argentinian football champion, as well as an alley completely dedicated to him and his worship not just as a sportsman, but above all as a personality out of ordinary.

Here feels so easy to be captivated by music, scents and glimpses of local life and beautiful art – and if you don’t want to miss an amazing piece, then you should visit Iside mural art by Francisco Bosoletti. It is a contemporary reinterpretation into urban painting of the famous "Veiled Christ" sculpture, a masterpiece that truly left us impressed for a while!

Before leaving Quartieri Spagnoli to move on with the street art exploration, we indulge in a tasty frittatina di pasta to share with our friend, a delicious break of local street food!

So, what to seek next on Naples walls? We think you should absolutely walk the historic centre to catch two iconic street arts that many tourists ignore: the San Gennaro mural art by Jorit (in Via Vicaria Vecchia) and the Madonna with the pistol by Banksy (in piazza Gerolomini)!

By using public transport, we spend the rest of the morning in search of more street arts in the most interesting spots of Naples. If you’re visiting Scampia district, we recommend to check out Jorit’s murales picturing Pier Paolo Pasolini and Angela Davis, while in Sanità district you’ll come across Bosoletti’s Resis-Ti-Amo – a visual anthem to eternal love – and Tono Cruz’s Luce and Totò e Peppino.

After a quick lunch with a sandwich or with some pizza a portafoglio, it’s time to find out even more street arts around Naples – but this time, we’re heading to places which tourists never consider in their standard tours. Let’s get to the neighborhoods Barra and San Giovanni a Teduccio!

These districts are simple and residential, at first glance you wouldn’t tell there could be any tourist interests here. Yet, this is precisely how the power of mural and street art works: it only takes some clean walls, an artistic concept and some paints to completely transform them into a living, impactful canvas to convey a strong message.

In Barra, right in front of the train station (Via Chiaromonte), our sight got captivated immediately by Jorit’s portraits picturing personalities like Salvador Allende and Martin Luther King. If you are thinking of “I have a dream”, you’re right: here indeed we also cherished Jorit’s Sogni (literally, Dreams), a beautiful artwork depicting sleeping children that communicates clearly the right of every child to dream a thriving life.

Walking in San Giovanni a Teduccio we found more Jorit’s street arts, including the large ones dedicated to Che Guevara and Maradona – el pibe de oro cannot be missing! All the mural portraits created by the artist are part of the Human Tribe project, an initiative that enhances the memory of the most influential and inspirational contemporary personalities.

But there’s one place where the magic of mural arts truly overwhelmed us, and it’s most likely a spot you wouldn’t guess. What’s this location? We’re speaking of Calata Porto di Massa, the industrial area at the port of Naples, a new artistic hub at the heart of the urban regeneration project Port of Murals, promoted by McArthurGlen, to transform this anonymous setting into an open-air museum to tell the history and the identity of Naples through street art.

Today Port of Murals features two majestic works: Parthenope or Neapolis by Mr. Pencil (2025), a tribute to celebrate Naples founding 2,500 years ago, and In Sanguine Foedus, Nuovo Mondo by Vittorio Valiante (2026), a monumental memory about the emigration of Italians to the United States between the 19th and 20th centuries.

It’s getting late and the sunset approaches soon – and after all that street arts seeking in the city, we need a nice place to sit, rest, have a drink and look at an amazing landscape over the Gulf. We want to take you to the lovely Monte Echia, a beautiful panoramic point atop of a hill also known as Pizzofalcone, not far from Castel dell’Ovo. And before you get there, you might also consider taking a pleasant walk along the seafront promenade.

This is a spot that most tourist don’t know, between neighborhoods San Ferdinando and Chiaia, but it’s absolutely worth to visit. It just takes an elevator ride to climb to the terrace and enjoy a wonderful sight: it’s one of the prettiest highlights for seeing amazing sunsets and take beautiful photos and postcards!

It’s the evening of such a rich, exciting day dedicated to street arts and neighborhood discovery, so we decided to slow things down for a while. We headed back to the historic centre to visit the Naples Cathedral, one of the most beautiful churches in the city – right when a holy celebration was ongoing!

It’s not usual to experience something like that when you’re traveling, even less when your destination is a large city like Naples. We stayed there, trying to catch the atmosphere and the energy of such a beautiful place beyond pure religious aspects. The Naples Cathedral is indeed a place of faith, of culture, of history, and of course of beauty – but we found out that this is also a place of encounter and exchange, where everyone is welcome.

We recommend you to visit the Naples Cathedral also for its prestigious Royal Chapel of San Gennaro, simply the city’s most impressive treasure – materially, yet on a spiritual level especially for Neapolitans! If you want to visit this attraction, please keep in mind that it stays open daily until 6:00 PM.

And what’s the best way to end day 1? No doubt, a traditional dinner! We took a seat at a typical restaurant in the historic centre, eager to taste the delicious Naples food: the best courses we had were parmigiana di melanzane and pasta, patate e provola, two recipes that would make foodies drool certainly!

As the night approaches, let’s get back to our stay. Day 1 was memorable, a true journey through the urban arts and the people’s spirit in Naples. And how about Day 2? We have big plans for the evening, a refined opera night awaits us at Teatro San Carlo – but first we need to get ourselves the perfect outfit, and we know exactly where to find them.

It’s Day 2 in Naples, early morning, the right time to take a slow and chill walk around the centre and enjoy a delicious breakfast on Via Toledo, one of the most interesting streets in the city. We opted for a yummy sfogliatella, probably the top traditional pastry in Naples, both crunchy and creamy at the same time – along with an espresso, we guess there’s no better breakfast in Naples to actually call it a good morning!

This is exactly what we need to get ready for an exciting day dedicated to shopping. Tonight we’re attending the opera at Teatro San Carlo, an event – and a location indeed – which requires elegant and classy outfits. Our local friend had the right solution to this need: the McArthurGlen La Reggia Designer Outlet.

It’s easy to get there: we just took a train from Naples to Afragola, and then hopped in a taxi for a short drive – but if you’re moving on your own by car, you would take less than 30 minutes to get there to shop clothing of your favorite brands!

La Reggia Designer Outlet combines the pleasure of shopping with convenience, for a relaxed and high-quality experience. Exploring this elegant open-air outlet you’ll find more than 150 shops of national and international brands, including high-fashion clothing, luxury brands, and sporting goods for both women and men, where to purchase clothes and accessories with discounts of up to 70% all year round without ever sacrificing style.

We spent in La Reggia the whole morning and afternoon, visiting multiple stores and trying on different outfits and accessories – it’s so fun playing with alternative styles, colors and designs! Shopping at McArthurGlen is also an inter-generational experience: the Outlet offers people in all age ranges a wide choice of garments suitable for any occasion, from everyday life to elegant events, with the possibility of renovating your wardrobe with the best designer clothing at bargain prices.

La Reggia Designer Outlet feels like a whole town dedicated to shopping and relaxation, to have a nice day with friends and family while seeking the perfect outfit for the time of your life. Its cozy promenades and outdoors makes it a lovely place to enjoy walks as well, and furthermore you’ll find cafes and restaurants where to have coffee and lunch in a pleasant and refined setting.

Our shopping session was very satisfying, and we found some beautiful garments to make the right outfit for the opera night – but you know, shopping is contagious, so we bought a few more lovely clothing as a souvenir from Naples too! And you, what’s the outfit you’re looking for? Don’t worry: whatever you wish for, you’ll find it in the stores at McArthurGlen La Reggia Designer Outlet.

As the afternoon goes past, and we get back to our stay to have a shower and get ready with the make-up and the new dress purchased at McArthurGlen La Reggia, it’s almost time for the opera evening at Teatro di San Carlo. We truly can’t wait for it!

This majestic theatre is located in the very centre of Naples and is hands down one of the best stages in Italy. But not only: inaugurated in 1737, it is the world’s oldest active opera house and an icon of the ancient prestige of the city, an attraction you shouldn’t miss that is rightfully part of the UNESCO cultural heritage.

As we stepped in its hall, we truly felt on our skin the vibrant energy of such a beautiful place, where theatre arts, music and poetry made history over almost three centuries. This is the stage where composers like Gioachino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti worked, yet the first theatre to found and host its own ballet school since 1812.

When you’ll walk in, amazed by the awesome decorated ceilings, the balconies, the curtain, the seats, in a wonderful blend of crimson red and gold, you’ll definitely feel the emotions that only a venue like this can convey!

And speaking of emotions, tonight’s opera on stage at Teatro San Carlo is Adriana Lecouvreur, inspired by the real life experiences of the namesake 18th-century French actress and featuring music by Francesco Cilea and lyrics by Arturo Colautti. We take our seat, as the hall’s lights begin to turn down: the time for the curtain to open is coming.

Experience opera in Naples, with a stage like this, is priceless indeed! That was a magical night to remember, and the perfect icing on the cake of a lovely 2-day trip to the liveliest and prettiest city in Italy.

Naples isn’t a postcard to look at, it’s a living canvas to live in, and experiencing it alternatively makes this city just even more special. If you haven’t come to visit Naples yet, you can’t understand its electrifying energy: the people’s icons, the urban arts, the emotions, the views, the food, Naples just gives you anything you want!

Plan your next escape to Naples, try to follow our footsteps and delve into the most hidden sides of a city so rich in surprises. We’re sure there’s still something you miss here, like the stunning Sant'Anna dei Lombardi Monumental Complex – an incredible renaissance artistic sanctuary that houses even arts made by Giorgio Vasari.

And how about pizza? Neapolitans love to give advice on it: so we challenge you asking locals where to have the best one and how it should taste like. A delicious slice is what will definitely make you fall in love with Naples!