Naples on €35/Day: Pompeii, Amalfi Coast & €26 ArteCard

ITEM	COST (2P)	NOTES
Stay	€161.80	€132 – hostel in Naples (5 nights, 2 people) €29.80 – hostel in Salerno (1 night, 2 people)
Transit	€98.00	Multiple day trips. Circumvesuviana (trains): Naples-Herculaneum-Pompeii-Sorrento Trenitalia (trains): Naples-Caserta, Naples-Salerno-Paestum Buses: Torre del Greco-Mount Vesuvius, Amalfi Coast (Salerno-Amalfi-Sorrento)
Food	€88.00	€7.33/day per person. Shopped mainly at Lidl. Cooked in the hostels.
Sights	€74.00	Per person: €26 – Campania ArteCard (365 Lite Pass) €11 – Mount Vesuvius
TOTAL	€421.80	6 days at €35.15/day per person

Campania Artecard

Campania Artecard is the craziest deal and deserves its own paragraph. As far as I understand it’s not a typical commercial multipass card, but more of a card to incentivize locals to visit cultural sites. Nothing else justifies its price. The thing is – you don’t have to be a local to purchase it.

I paid just €26 and went for 365 Lite version, launched in late 2023. The website lists 30+ sites it grants you 1 entry to. I used it to visit:

• Pompeii (A regular ticket would’ve been €20.00)
• Herculaneum (€16.00)
• Royal Palace of Caserta (€18.00)
• National Archaeological Museum of Naples (€20.00)
• Royal Palace of Naples (€15.00)
• Castel Sant’Elmo (€5.00)
• Paestum (€15.00)

The total for all of these would’ve been €109. The card saved me €83!

After purchasing the card, download the app to activate it. Then you can get 365 (!) days for visiting the sites. The website offers many versions of the card, but none of them even close in its value to the 365 Lite. Note: Mount Vesuvius is the only major attraction not included in the pass.

Logistics of Our Day Trips

• Pompeii: The biggest attraction in the region. It felt like moving back to Ancient Rome. Amazing. Allow full day.
• Herculaneum & Mount Vesuvius: We connected the two, half day each. Took a train (Circumvesuviana) from Naples to Torre del Greco, walked 20 minutes, took a 808 EAV bus to Mount Vesuvius. After hiking, we took the 808 down to Torre del Greco and walked the remaining 4km to Herculaneum. After visiting the ruins, we took the train back to Naples.
• Caserta: Half a day is more than enough to see the palace.
• Paestum & Amalfi Coast: After checking out of our Naples hostel, we took a train to Paestum. Visited the ruins, went back to Salerno where we spent the night. Next morning, we took bus 5120 to Amalfi (but got denied boarding due to too many people and had to wait over an hour for the next one! arrive early to queue for the bus, it can get a bit wild with pushy people). We took in the views from the bus, spent some time in Amalfi, then took another bus to Sorrento. After that the train back to Naples.

More Tips

• Off-Season: As with other destinations in Italy, you will have a much better experience (and potentially a cheaper one) when travelling out of season.
• Cheap Pizzas: Pizza in Naples is cheaper than anywhere else in Italy – €4-6 for a margherita at a local place, eat standing at the counter for less. The most popular L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele is just €6 per pizza.

Travel Further

• Buses Within Italy: Very cheap due to fierce competition between Itabus and FlixBus. I took Itabus on Rome-Naples route for €5, then Naples-Catania for €20 (8h overnight).
• Flights: If you’re flexible with your travel dates – as low as €10-€15 with Ryanair and Wizz Air from Naples to the UK, Greece, Spain, Poland, Germany, within Italy, and many other European destinations.