Napoli Sotterranea Review: Is the Underground Naples Tour Worth It?
I had no idea there was an entire second city underneath Naples until a friend mentioned it, and I booked this tour almost as an afterthought.
Short answer: yes, book the Napoli Sotterranea tour, but there are a couple of things I wish I’d known beforehand.
TL;DR: Yes, book it. €18, about an hour, genuinely one of the most interesting things I did in Naples, just book online in advance or risk not getting in during high season. Book it here →
What the tour actually is
Napoli Sotterranea, run by the Associazione Napoli Sotterranea, takes you around 40 metres below the streets of the historic centre, into Greek-era quarries, a Roman aqueduct, and tunnels used more recently as air raid shelters during the Second World War.
I did this on my last day in Naples, and it runs roughly every hour from around 9am until 6pm, with tours in both English and Italian, which left plenty of time afterwards to eat my way around the neighbourhood, most of which made it into my where to eat in Naples guide.
💰 What I paid: €18 for my ticket, booked online in advance.
⏱️ How long you need: About an hour for the underground portion.
Booking in advance
I booked online ahead of time, and I’m genuinely glad I did, because when I arrived at the end of August the queue for people trying to buy tickets on the spot was long enough that most of them weren’t getting in at all, exactly the kind of peak season chaos I cover in my best time to visit Naples guide.
If you’re visiting in high season like I was, book online before you go, no exceptions. The entrance is walkable from a lot of the historic centre, including the area I stayed in, more on that in where I’d stay in Naples. You can check current availability and book here →
What you’ll actually see
My Naples food tour with Eating Europe guide was actually the one who first put this tour on my radar, and I’m glad he did.
The tour starts with some background on the tunnels themselves, then takes you into the aqueduct system, which is where things get genuinely atmospheric.
At one point you’re given the option to continue into much narrower tunnels, where you have to walk sideways because they’re so tight.
If you’re claustrophobic, you can sit that part out and rejoin the group afterwards, but I’d actually recommend doing it, because it leads to a beautiful section where you can see the old aqueduct channels up close.
The last stop is the real highlight for me: a short five-minute walk to the entrance of an ancient Roman theatre, discovered when archaeologists realised an elderly woman’s basement bedroom was built directly over the old entrance.
Her bed had literally been sitting on top of it.
The apartments surrounding the theatre are still privately owned, which means archaeologists can’t dig any further unless the residents choose to sell, and most have no interest in doing that, so this Roman theatre is effectively sitting in people’s private gardens to this day.
My one honest complaint
The tour was genuinely great, but it was also busy, with multiple groups moving through at the same time, and the background noise made it hard to hear our guide properly.
I have ADHD, so this hit me harder than it might for other people, but if you’re someone who struggles to focus with a lot of ambient noise, try to book the earliest possible slot, or visit outside of peak summer when it’s less crowded.
It also gets noticeably warmer in the final tunnel section, so if you’re visiting in summer, bring a small fan or something to cool yourself down. Treat yourself to something from my 10 foods I tried in Naples and loved list afterwards, you’ll have earned it.
Would I recommend it?
Completely, yes, it’s one of the experiences that shifted how I feel about the city overall, right alongside realising Naples is safer than its reputation suggests.
Grabbing a slice from one of the spots on my 5 best pizzerias in Naples list afterwards is the perfect way to warm back up.
I didn’t know this underground city existed before I came to Naples, and by the end of the tour I understood so much more about how many layers of history are genuinely stacked on top of each other here, the kind of detail that convinced me Naples is worth visiting for history alone.
If you’re building out a full itinerary, I’ve slotted this into day two of my 3 days in Naples guide, and it also gets a mention in my wider list of 13 things to do in Naples. I did this the same trip as my Amalfi Coast, Sorrento and Pompeii day trip, and the two paired well as a contrast, one day literally underground, the next above the cliffs.
