UNA Hotel Napoli - Naples, Italy     

We loved this Hotel and Naples. We had to change our travelling dates last minute but the hotel were really accomodating and when we arrived they had updated us to a great corner suite with balconies on three sides of the almost circular room. The hotel is in an older building but is fitted out in a very contempory way with great bathrooms and huge beds. Staff are friendly if not effusive and speak good English. We didn't eat there but breakfast was good (continental and cooked available) and could be taken on the rooftop terrace. The hotel is on the corner of Piazza Garibaldi which isn't the most scenic of squares and is very noisy but the rooms are well soundproofed and airconditioned (bit feeble though in our room in comparison to the glacial aircon you get outside Europe). There is a taxi rank outside and the main staion and the local trains to vesuvius and Pompeii are close by but you can easily walk to the Centre Storico. It was dirty and scruffy but we felt safe at night and the rubbish problem seems a bit exaggerated. There were some overflowing bins and the city is very littered but no smell or vermin issues at all. Naples is not as easy to love as other italian mini break destinations or as accessible as somewhere like Barcelona which is in many ways similar. The infrastructure is crumbling almost third world, and the city doesn't have a clearly defined tourist heart. However there are some fantastic areas to explore, countless neglected baroque churches, vibrant markets etc and the food is great and very cheap. Stick to pizza, pasta and simple seafood and you will eat very well. There is also a huge variety of wonderful street food and pastries as well as the famous ice cream. I think Naples is a great destination for someone who has already been to Rome and is maybe quite comfortable with independant travel. It is not a very restful place so a few days are probably enough. It is also a great starting point for a longer exploration of the area. Herculaneum and Pompeii are less than an hour on the train and Sorrento and the glorious Amalfi coast are a a bit further. Getting out of the city is really easy on the ferries that ply the resort towns and the Islands. There are several different companies competing from the harbour so do a bit of research. We chose Ischia over Capri for a day trip as it is supposed to be less crowded- the ferry cost 30 euros return and took about 40 mins. Ischia was gorgeous albeit very touristy and we had an amazing long boozy lunch at one of the harbour-front restaurants. I would thoroughly recommend this hotel as it is very stylish but very reasonably priced.

it started off bad, before flying i emailed the hotel and asked them how much it would cost us to get a taxi from the airport and they gave me a phrase to say and they said it will be about 12 euro's. it came to 45. i ended paying it after arguing with the driver. i stayed here for 3 nights, would never go back. do not go to this part of naples if you dont speak any italian. the only people who spoke english were the people in the hotel. there was nothing to do, there are no good retaruants close by. the best meal we had was a mcdonalds. when we went in a local retaruant i asked for a ham and pinaple pizza, i got ham and mushroom pizza and a pinaple for desert. the pizza's where never any good i had 3 in my stay from different places and they where all as bad as the previous. drinks in the hotel were very expensive, we paid 23 euro's for 2 drinks. the rooms are really big and well looked after, really stylish, but you dont want to spend your time in your room. you may as well save you money and go to buttlins.