Naples Airport or Capodichino Airport as it is sometimes locally known, handles over 5 million passengers a year. With car hire at Naples Airport, the city is an easy 20 minute drive away via the Tangenziale for 6 km. The airport primarily serves the residents of Naples and the Campania region. Naples Airport has two terminals. Terminal 1 is used for international and domestic departures and terminal 2 is used for charter flights only. The airport has a number of useful facilities for travellers including a post office and a pharmacy. For all your money requirements, there are ATMs, a bank and currency exchange bureaus. If you get hungry, you can eat pizza and pasta at Air Cafe or have sushi or tapas at Obika. For Italian coffee and pastries, head for Ciao. The airport has a number of shops selling luxury brand names and duty free goods. You can buy anything from leather goods and gadgets to beachwear and jewellery.
Naples is known for its historic centre and for being the birthplace of pizza. The city centre has 448 historical and monumental churches, the highest amount of any city in the world. It is not a pristine city as one would expect from many European cities, due to local governmental issues. In the historical centre, see the Piazza de Plebisito and the Castelo Nuovo or the Main Square and new castle. Visit the Doumo, a cathedral with 2 chapels and roman excavations underneath. Also, look out for the Church of San Francisco di Paola and the grand Palazzo Reale. The San Carlo Theatre is worth seeing too and you can visit the Napoli Soitterranea, the remains of the roman city and tunnels beneath San Lorenzo Maggiore Church. The Museo Archaeologico Nazionale is the biggest archaeological museum in the world and well worth exploring, if you are interested in history. Finally, eat pizza at Pizzeria Brandi, where the first Pizza Margherita was invented.
Get out of the city, with your car hire in Naples and head for Caserta, an 18th century royal palace that rivals Versailles with a spectacular backdrop of lakes and mountains. Visit the live volcano of Mount Vesuvius and then discover the ancient roman city of Pompeii that was engulfed by lava from the volcano in 79 AD. Head for the Gulf of Naples and take a ferry out to the pretty island of Capri, a celebrated beauty spot.
