Naples sits on 2,400 years of holes: Greek tuff quarries that became the cisterns of an aqueduct, air-raid shelters cut into them in the Second World War, an escape tunnel a Bourbon king never finished, and early Christian catacombs with halls wider than anything in Rome. What English-language listings almost never say is that these are five or six unconnected businesses in different parts of the city, two of them trading under nearly the same name, and that no ticket covers more than one of them. This page separates the operators, gives the September 2026 prices in euros and dollars, and answers the question everyone asks first: yes, there is a passage about 50 cm wide lit by a candle, and no, you do not have to go through it.
- TicketsNapoli Sotterranea: no reservation is needed and, for groups under 15, none is possible – you queue, and the operator guarantees you get in.
- Price€18 (about $20.63) – Napoli Sotterranea, Piazza San Gaetano – skip-the-line ticket in the operator's own booking system, adult
- OpenEvery site keeps its own hours, and they do not overlap neatly.
- Best timeTake the 10:00 English departure at Napoli Sotterranea on a weekday.
- ClaustrophobiaBetter than its reputation, and this is the question English-speaking visitors ask most.
Eight places under Naples, compared
Napoli Sotterranea, Piazza San Gaetano
The one most people mean: 136 low steps down to about 40 m and the Greek-cut cisterns of the ancient aqueduct, used as air-raid shelters in the Second World War and still holding the beds, toys and graffiti of the people who sheltered there. There is a small war museum, an experimental hypogeum garden and a seismic station down there, and afterwards the guide takes you into a private flat on the square where the floor lifts to reveal the remains of the Roman theatre.
The optional candle-lit passage, about 50 cm wide, leading to a flooded cistern. Skip it and you wait around 10 minutes. The entrance is marked with blue and white flags beside the Basilica of San Paolo Maggiore, and the operator warns that Google Maps shows the address in the wrong place.
Skip-the-line online through the operator's booking system, 09/2026: €18 (about $20.63) adult, €15 (about $17.19) ages 11–24, €10 (about $11.46) ages 5–10. The door price is published nowhere; since the online ticket carries a surcharge it is lower, and third-party sources say €15
L.A.E.S. – the other Napoli Sotterranea, Quartieri Spagnoli. EASILY CONFUSED
A completely separate association with almost the same name and the domain lanapolisotterranea.it. Founded in 1988, L.A.E.S. takes visitors through cisterns and wartime shelters under the Quartieri Spagnoli. The tour starts in an alley near Piazza del Plebiscito and ends on Via Chiaia. Both associations describe their own route as the official one; they mean different permits.
Meeting point outside the Caffè Gambrinus on Piazza Trieste e Trento, descent at Vico Sant'Anna di Palazzo 52. If you booked through a reseller, check the meeting point before you set off: San Gaetano and Gambrinus are a good 2 km apart and you will not make the other one in time.
Not published on the operator's website
Galleria Borbonica, the Bourbon Tunnel
Commissioned in 1853 by Ferdinand II as a military road and escape route between the royal palace and the barracks, never finished, used as an air-raid shelter in the war and afterwards as a municipal impound – which is why dusty 1950s cars and scooters still stand in it. Four different tours from three different entrances.
The Adventure tour gives you a helmet, a head torch and a short raft crossing of a flooded, never-used metro cutting. Speleo Light squeezes through aqueduct crawlways to 15th-century cisterns. Entrances: Standard from Vico del Grottone 4 or Via Domenico Morelli 61 – you pick when you buy; Via delle Memorie from Via Monte di Dio 14; Adventure and Speleo from Via Morelli only.
Standard and Via delle Memorie €15 (about $17.19); ages 6–18 and over-70s €10 (about $11.46), visitors with disabilities €7 (about $8.02), under 6 free; Adventure €20 (about $22.92); Speleo Light €20
Catacombs of San Gennaro
The most important catacomb in southern Italy, cut into the tuff of the Capodimonte hill from the 2nd century AD: two levels that do not sit directly above one another, broad halls rather than corridors, an underground basilica for Saint Agrippinus with a bishop's throne carved out of the rock, and frescoes and mosaics spanning six centuries. Anyone who has done Rome will find these rooms markedly bigger.
Run by La Paranza, a social cooperative founded in the Rione Sanità in 2006 that has recovered 13,000 m² of catacomb and built about 70 jobs for local young people out of the ticket income; Europa Nostra gave it a European Heritage Award in 2022. Buying here rather than through a reseller keeps the money in the neighbourhood. Free car park; entrance beside the Basilica Madre del Buon Consiglio.
€13 (about $14.90); under 18 €6 (about $6.88), students and over-65s €9 (about $10.31), under 6 free, Artecard €9. The ticket also covers San Gaudioso and stays valid 12 months
Catacombs of San Gaudioso
Smaller, darker and stranger, beneath the Basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità in the middle of the Rione Sanità. The draw is a set of 17th-century wall burials in which the real skull was set into the plaster and the rest of the body painted beneath it as a fresco, complete with the trade and rank of the deceased.
Its own small ticket desk next to the church, so you can start here and use the same ticket at San Gennaro later – even on another trip within the year.
Included in the €13 (about $14.90) San Gennaro ticket, valid 12 months, and the other way round
Cimitero delle Fontanelle
An enormous ossuary in a tuff quarry in the Rione Sanità, holding the bones of tens of thousands of unnamed dead and the Neapolitan cult of the anime pezzentelle, in which people adopted a skull, cleaned it and prayed to it in exchange for favours. Closed for years, and open again since 18 April 2026.
On Mondays and Fridays a prayer area opens earlier, at 9:00. English-language listings that still call this place free or permanently shut are out of date in both directions.
From €6 (about $6.88) for an accompanied visit, from €8 (about $9.17) with a guide, as reported by the Italian press at the reopening
LAPIS Museum, Basilica della Pietrasanta
A museum of water under the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore alla Pietrasanta: cisterns of the ancient aqueduct and a wartime shelter 35 m down, staged with projections and installations rather than left raw.
The only site with a lift for the way back up – the obvious choice for anyone who cannot face 136 steps. It is 150 m from Napoli Sotterranea and usually has no queue at all.
€12 (about $13.75); over-65s and students €10 (about $11.46), ages 6–17 €7 (about $8.02), under 6 free, family tickets €25–35 (about $28.65–$40.11)
San Lorenzo Maggiore – La Neapolis Sotterrata
Not a tunnel but an excavated slice of the ancient city: under the Gothic monastery lies a Roman market street with shops, a bakery oven, a laundry and the treasury, sitting at the level Naples had before the ground rose around it. You walk it at your own pace.
Directly opposite Napoli Sotterranea on the same square, which is exactly why the two get confused on booking sites. No guide obligation, no narrow passages, no fixed departure times.
€9 (about $10.31); over-65s, students and Artecard €7 (about $8.02), under 18 €6 (about $6.88), under 6 free
Tickets and prices
Napoli Sotterranea: no reservation is needed and, for groups under 15, none is possible – you queue, and the operator guarantees you get in. The only online product is an optional skip-the-line ticket at booking.napolisotterranea.org, non-refundable and non-transferable. Galleria Borbonica: reservation compulsory for every tour, and you choose your entrance when you buy. Catacombs: the operator asks you to book, online or by phone. Fontanelle cemetery: online booking only. LAPIS: booking strongly advised at weekends.
Official prices
- Napoli Sotterranea, Piazza San Gaetano – skip-the-line ticket in the operator's own booking system, adult€18 (about $20.63)
- Napoli Sotterranea – skip-the-line online, students aged 11–24 / children aged 5–10€15 (about $17.19) / €10 (about $11.46)
- Napoli Sotterranea – at the door, adult. The association publishes no door price anywhere; its skip-the-line ticket is described as carrying a surcharge on top of it, and third-party sources put the door price at €15about €15 (about $17.19), unconfirmed
- Galleria Borbonica – Standard tour and Via delle Memorie, from age 18€15 (about $17.19)
- Galleria Borbonica – ages 6–18 and over-70s€10 (about $11.46); under 6 free
- Galleria Borbonica – visitors with disabilities, Standard tour via the Via Morelli entrance€7 (about $8.02)
- Galleria Borbonica – Adventure tour with the raft, and Speleo Light€20 (about $22.92)
- Catacombs of Naples – adult. One ticket, valid 12 months, covers San Gennaro AND San Gaudioso€13 (about $14.90)
- Catacombs of Naples – under 18 / students and over-65s€6 (about $6.88) / €9 (about $10.31); under 6 free
- Catacombs of Naples – holders of the Campania Artecard€9 (about $10.31), a reduction and not free admission
- LAPIS Museum – adult€12 (about $13.75)
- LAPIS Museum – over-65s and students / ages 6–17 / family 2+2€10 (about $11.46) / €7 (about $8.02) / €30 (about $34.38)
- San Lorenzo Maggiore, excavations and complex – adult€9 (about $10.31)
- San Lorenzo Maggiore – over-65s, students, Artecard / under 18€7 (about $8.02) / €6 (about $6.88); under 6 free
- Cimitero delle Fontanelle – accompanied visit / guided tour, as reported in the Italian press at the reopeningfrom €6 (about $6.88) / from €8 (about $9.17)
- Alibus shuttle, Capodichino airport to Napoli Centrale and the port€5 (about $5.73)
- Naples public transport, single ride / 90-minute integrated ticket / day ticket€1.30 (about $1.49) / €1.80 (about $2.06) / €5.40 (about $6.19)
- Exchange rate behind every dollar figure on this page€1 = $1.1460, European Central Bank reference rate for 18 September 2026
As of 09/2026 · source and direct booking: napolisotterranea.org
When everything is sold out
Napoli Sotterranea cannot sell out – admission is guaranteed to anyone in the queue, and the operator puts the wait at 10 minutes to a maximum of 90 at peak times. What does run out is the Galleria Borbonica's Adventure and Speleo Light tours, which take small groups and run only Friday to Sunday, and the English-language catacomb departures at weekends.
Tours of underground Naples
Booking direct is usually cheaper and always clearer: Napoli Sotterranea is about €15 at the door, about $17.19, against €18 for its own skip-the-line ticket, and the catacombs are €13, about $14.90, on catacombedinapoli.it – where the money stays with La Paranza, the Rione Sanità cooperative that runs them. A reseller earns its keep when you want a guide who also walks you through the old town above, when several sites come bundled into one booking, or when free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead matters more than the margin. Read the description before you book, and check the meeting point: listings sold as Naples Underground start either at Piazza San Gaetano or at the Caffè Gambrinus 2 km away, and some are street-level walking tours that never go below the pavement at all.
Naples: Naples Underground Entry Ticket and Guided Tour
Naples: Catacombs of San Gennaro Entry Ticket & Guided Tour
Naples: Spanish Quarters Underground Guided Tour
Naples: The Bourbon Tunnel Guided Tour with Entrance Ticket
Show all 8 offers
Booked through GetYourGuide (affiliate link, advertising). Most offers can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours ahead. Prices as of 20 September 2026.
Opening hours and best time
Every site keeps its own hours, and they do not overlap neatly. NAPOLI SOTTERRANEA, Piazza San Gaetano: daily, guided tours on the hour from 10:00 to 18:00, an Italian and an English departure at each hour; Thursdays also 21:00, reservation only. GALLERIA BORBONICA: Friday, Saturday, Sunday and public holidays only, Standard tour at 10:00, 12:00, 15:00 and 17:00 – closed Monday to Thursday except for pre-booked private tours. CATACOMBS OF SAN GENNARO AND SAN GAUDIOSO: 10:00–17:00, tours every hour, closed Wednesdays and on 25 December. CIMITERO DELLE FONTANELLE: reopened on 18 April 2026, 10:00–18:00, last admission 17:15, closed Wednesdays. LAPIS MUSEUM: daily 9:30–20:00. SAN LORENZO MAGGIORE excavations: daily 9:30–17:30. L.A.E.S. tour in the Quartieri Spagnoli: Mon–Fri 10:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 16:30; Sat, Sun and holidays 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:30 and 18:00.
When it is quietest
Take the 10:00 English departure at Napoli Sotterranea on a weekday. From late morning the queue grows, and at weekends and in the school holidays the operator itself puts the wait at up to 90 minutes. The Galleria Borbonica opens Friday to Sunday only, and Friday is the calmest of the three. Never put the catacombs or the Fontanelle cemetery on a Wednesday, when both are shut. July and August are the obvious months to go below ground – it is the one cool hour of a Naples afternoon – and a wet day fills these places for exactly the same reason.
Who it suits
With children
Napoli Sotterranea works for families: the cisterns are big, lit rooms, and children are not handed candles. The Galleria Borbonica's Standard tour welcomes children, under-6s free. Its Adventure tour starts at age 10 with an adult, ages 10–15 needing ID, and Speleo Light is adults only. In the catacombs under-6s are free and under-18s pay €6.
Minimum age
Only at the Galleria Borbonica: 10 for the Adventure tour, adults only for Speleo Light.
Wheelchair
Napoli Sotterranea: no. There is no lift and no escalator, the way down is 136 steps, and the operator states plainly that the route is not accessible to wheelchairs or walkers. Galleria Borbonica: entering through the Parcheggio Morelli, about 60 per cent of the Standard tour is manageable in a wheelchair, and there is a €7 disability rate. Catacombs of San Gennaro: designed to be accessible, but the operator says access for visitors with walking difficulties is currently suspended because of hydrogeological problems – check before you travel. LAPIS: a lift brings visitors back up from 35 m, which makes it the one reliably step-free descent in the city centre.
Pushchair
Effectively nowhere. Napoli Sotterranea alone is 136 steps; bring a carrier, not a pushchair.
Dogs
No operator publishes a rule. Assume assistance dogs only.
Claustrophobia
Better than its reputation, and this is the question English-speaking visitors ask most. At Napoli Sotterranea the cisterns are wide, high and lit. The only tight part is one passage roughly 50 cm wide, walked sideways by candlelight, and it is optional: tell the guide before the group goes in and you wait about 10 minutes at the entrance while the others do it. The candle is optional too – a phone torch is fine. The Galleria Borbonica's Standard tour and Via delle Memorie have no confined sections at all, by the operator's own account. The genuinely claustrophobic routes are its Adventure and Speleo Light tours, where the operator warns you off explicitly. The Catacombs of San Gennaro are tall, broad halls and present no problem whatever. The L.A.E.S. tour offers alternative routes for people who cannot face the narrow bits.
What to wear
Closed, comfortable shoes and something to put on even in August – LAPIS and the catacombs both say so in their own visitor information. For the Speleo tour, clothes you do not mind getting dusty; helmet and lamp are provided.
Photography
Galleria Borbonica: allowed on the Standard, Memorie and Speleo tours, and only in parts of the Adventure route. No other operator publishes a rule. In the catacombs, behave as you would in a cemetery.
Getting there
By public transport
Naples Capodichino airport is about 6 km from the historic centre – closer than almost any airport in Europe, and there is no metro to it yet. The Alibus shuttle runs to Napoli Centrale in roughly 15 minutes and on to the port at Molo Beverello, €5 (about $5.73), bought online, from the machines in arrivals or from the driver. A taxi runs on a fixed fare of about €21 to the central station and €24 to the port; ask for the fixed fare at the start of the ride and take the receipt. From Napoli Centrale, metro line 1 reaches Dante or Museo in a few minutes, and from either it is a five to ten minute walk east along Via dei Tribunali to Piazza San Gaetano, where Napoli Sotterranea, the LAPIS museum and San Lorenzo Maggiore all sit within 200 metres of each other. Galleria Borbonica: the Vico del Grottone entrance is about 100 m from Piazza del Plebiscito, metro line 1 to Municipio or Toledo. Catacombs of San Gennaro: from the stop by the National Archaeological Museum, bus 168, 178, C63, 204, 3M or 650, about 15 minutes to Basilica dell'Incoronata – Catacombe di San Gennaro. High-speed trains from Rome reach Napoli Centrale in about 70 minutes, which makes all of this a feasible day trip from Rome, though a rushed one.
By car
Do not drive into the centro storico: restricted traffic zones, lanes too narrow for a hire car, and nowhere to leave it. The Catacombs of San Gennaro have a free car park of their own, which makes them the one site here that suits a car. The Galleria Borbonica is entered directly from the Parcheggio Morelli car park at Via Domenico Morelli 61. If you are driving the Amalfi coast or Pompeii on the same trip, park at the hotel and use the metro.
From the nearest city
Everything is inside the city. Piazza San Gaetano to the Galleria Borbonica is a good 2 km, about 30 minutes on foot down Via Toledo or two stops on metro line 1 from Dante to Municipio. The catacombs are up on the Capodimonte hill; the sensible order is San Gennaro at the top, then downhill on foot through the Rione Sanità to San Gaudioso and the Fontanelle cemetery. On safety, be plain about it: the Rione Sanità and the Quartieri Spagnoli carry Naples' old reputation and neither is a no-go area – they are ordinary, densely lived-in neighbourhoods where daytime visits are unremarkable. The real hazard is traffic, scooters in particular, and pickpocketing around Napoli Centrale and on crowded metro trains. After dark, stick to the main streets, keep the phone out of your hand, and take a taxi back from the Sanità rather than walking the hill at night.
Tips for your visit
- Check the meeting point before you book. Napoli Sotterranea is the name of the tour from Piazza San Gaetano 68 in the old town AND of the L.A.E.S. tour from the Caffè Gambrinus on Piazza Trieste e Trento. They are 2 km apart and run by rival associations; turn up at the wrong one and you will not reach the other in time.
- Pick the English departure at Napoli Sotterranea. An Italian and an English tour leave at the same hour, every hour from 10:00 to 18:00, and the English one is no harder to get on. Ask at the desk which line is which.
- You cannot book Napoli Sotterranea as an individual, and you do not need to. The association takes no reservations for groups under 15; you queue and you are guaranteed entry. The skip-the-line ticket costs more, cannot be refunded or moved, and is worth it only at weekends and in the holidays, when the wait reaches 90 minutes.
- The narrow passage is optional. If 50 cm and a candle is not for you, say so to the guide before the group enters and wait about 10 minutes at the near end. Nobody makes a thing of it, and the rest of the route is wide and well lit.
- Galleria Borbonica: watch the entrance when you buy. Vico del Grottone and Via Morelli are at opposite ends of the tunnel, and Adventure and Speleo start only from the Parcheggio Morelli. Confirm the language too – English is not scheduled on every route.
- Keep your catacombs ticket. €13 admits you to both San Gennaro and San Gaudioso and lasts 12 months. The sensible route is San Gennaro first, high on the Capodimonte hill, then downhill on foot through the Rione Sanità to San Gaudioso and on to the Fontanelle cemetery.
- Book the catacombs on catacombedinapoli.it rather than through a reseller. The sites are run by La Paranza, a cooperative from the Rione Sanità that has recovered 13,000 m² of catacomb and built around 70 local jobs on the ticket income; Europa Nostra recognised it in 2022. Same tour, same price, different destination for the money.
- Wednesday is the dead day in the Sanità – catacombs and Fontanelle both closed. Monday to Thursday the Galleria Borbonica is shut as well. A Wednesday in Naples means Napoli Sotterranea, LAPIS or San Lorenzo Maggiore.
- If stairs or claustrophobia are a problem, go to LAPIS, which has a lift back up from 35 m, or to San Lorenzo Maggiore, which is an open excavation with no guide obligation. At the Galleria Borbonica, take the Standard tour or Via delle Memorie.
- Take a light jacket and closed shoes even in August, and change money before you count on cards at the smaller desks. Bring the Alibus fare in cash if you buy from the driver.
What the internet gets wrong
There is not one grave on the Napoli Sotterranea route. What you walk through at Piazza San Gaetano is Greek quarry, aqueduct cistern, wartime shelter, hypogeum garden and Roman theatre. The catacombs are a different place run by different people: San Gennaro is 2.5 km north on the Capodimonte hill and San Gaudioso is down in the Rione Sanità, both operated by the cooperative La Paranza on a separate €13 ticket, about $14.90. No ticket, tour or pass joins the two, and the walk between them takes the best part of an hour.
The holes are Greek and they came first. Settlers quarried the yellow tuff for the walls and temples of Neapolis from the 4th century BC, and the voids they left behind were converted into cisterns. Rome's contribution was to connect that existing system to the Aqua Augusta, fed from Serino under Augustus. The operator's own visitor information dates the water system to about 2,400 years and some 23 centuries of service – an arithmetic that only works if you start counting with the Greeks.
The water at the end of the candle-lit passage is groundwater standing in a dead cistern, kept flooded so that visitors can see what the aqueduct looked like in use. The ancient network stopped supplying Naples in the late 19th century, when a modern aqueduct took over and the old channels were abandoned. The one ancient conduit still carrying water anywhere near the city is the Bolla, and English Wikipedia is explicit that what it feeds is industrial use in outlying districts – not the taps of Naples, and nothing you can visit.
There is no ticket and no pass that covers underground Naples. Six organisations run these sites and each sells its own admission. What the Campania Artecard actually buys you at the catacombs is €9 instead of €13, a reduction and not free entry. The only genuine two-for-one in the city is the catacombs' own ticket: €13, about $14.90, admits you to San Gennaro and to San Gaudioso and stays valid for 12 months.
Checked in the operator's own booking system on 20 September 2026, the skip-the-line ticket is €18 for an adult, about $20.63, with €15 for ages 11–24 and €10 for ages 5–10. The association publishes no door price at all. Because the online ticket is described as carrying a surcharge on top of it, the door price is lower than €18, and third-party sources put it at about €15, about $17.19. The €10 adult figure is years out of date and still the most-copied number in English.
Tours leave on the hour, every hour, from 10:00 to 18:00, and there is an Italian and an English departure at each of those hours – eight English tours a day, not four. Thursday at 21:00 runs by reservation only. As for reserving, the association takes no bookings from groups under 15 people: you join the queue and admission is guaranteed, with a wait the operator itself puts at 10 to 90 minutes. The visit runs about 90 minutes, not four hours.
The catacombs were built to be accessible and the tactile material exists, but the operator states that access for visitors with walking difficulties is currently suspended because of hydrogeological problems. Anyone relying on it should write and ask before booking flights. Nothing in the city centre fills the gap: Napoli Sotterranea has 136 steps, no lift and no escalator, and says plainly that the route is not accessible to wheelchairs or walkers. The one dependable step-free return is the lift at the LAPIS museum, which brings you up from 35 m.
Too broad, and it frightens people off the wrong sites. At Napoli Sotterranea the cisterns are large, high and lit. The only tight section is a single passage that the Naples guide napoliving.it measures at 50 cm wide and 50 m long, walked by candlelight, and the operator confirms it is optional and that sitting it out costs you a ten-minute wait. The candle is optional as well – a phone torch does the job. The Galleria Borbonica's Standard tour and Via delle Memorie have no confined sections at all. The routes that genuinely are not for claustrophobics are that same operator's Adventure and Speleo Light tours, where the warning comes from the operator itself; and the Catacombs of San Gennaro, which nervous visitors often avoid, are the widest and highest rooms of the lot.
History in brief
- From the 4th century BC Greek settlers under Neapolis quarried the soft yellow tuff for their walls and temples. The voids they left behind were turned into cisterns, and the network that grew out of them supplied the city with water for roughly 23 centuries.
- Rome inherited the holes rather than digging them. Under Augustus the cisterns were tied into the Aqua Augusta, fed from springs at Serino some 70 km away, an aqueduct that served not one city but a whole string of them around the bay, Pompeii and Herculaneum included.
- The system was maintained by the pozzari, well-men who moved from cistern to cistern through crawlways barely shoulder-wide. Those same passages are what the Galleria Borbonica's Adventure and Speleo tours now squeeze through.
- The Catacombs of San Gennaro began in the 2nd century AD, probably as the burial vault of a wealthy family. After Saint Agrippinus was laid there in the 4th century they grew into the city's principal Christian cemetery, and later took the body of Saint Januarius, the patron of Naples.
- On 19 February 1853 Ferdinand II commissioned the architect Errico Alvino to drive an underground viaduct beneath Monte Echia, linking the royal palace to the barracks on what is now Via Morelli. After the upheavals of 1848 it was meant to double as an escape route. The Bourbon monarchy ended before the tunnel did.
- In the Second World War the cisterns and tunnels were fitted out as air-raid shelters for a population with nowhere else to go. Inscriptions, bed frames and children's toys from those months survive in several of the sites.
- After the war parts of the Galleria Borbonica served as a municipal vehicle pound, which is why wrecked cars and scooters from the 1940s to the 1970s are the tunnel's best-known photograph.
- The ancient network stopped supplying Naples in the late 19th century, when a modern aqueduct from Serino took over and the old channels were abandoned – one reason a cholera epidemic had made the cisterns politically impossible to keep.
- The Rione Sanità turned its own underground around from 2006, when a group of local young people founded the cooperative La Paranza and began clearing and reopening the catacombs. The Fontanelle cemetery, shut for years, reopened on 18 April 2026 after safety works.
Frequent questions
Which Naples underground tour should I book?
For a first visit, Napoli Sotterranea at Piazza San Gaetano: central, hourly departures in English, no reservation needed, and it puts the cisterns, a wartime shelter and the Roman theatre into one 90-minute walk. If you want something stranger, the Galleria Borbonica has the tunnel full of wrecked 1950s cars and an Adventure tour that crosses flooded workings on a raft. If it is art and history you are after, the Catacombs of San Gennaro beat both.
Are the catacombs part of the Naples underground tour?
No, and this is the single most common mistake in English-language listings. Napoli Sotterranea shows Greek quarries, aqueduct cisterns and a Second World War shelter under the old town, and contains no burials at all. The Catacombs of San Gennaro and San Gaudioso are 2 to 3 km away, on the Capodimonte hill and in the Rione Sanità, run by the cooperative La Paranza on their own €13 ticket, about $14.90. Two operators, two tickets, two parts of the city.
How narrow is the narrow passage, and can I skip it?
About 50 cm wide and roughly 50 m long by the measurement of the Naples guide napoliving.it, walked sideways, with a candle handed out at the entrance because there is no lighting. It is entirely optional. Tell your guide before the group goes in, wait at the near end, and you rejoin them after about ten minutes. You can also carry a phone torch instead of the candle. The rest of the route is wide, high and lit.
How much does Napoli Sotterranea cost in 2026?
In the operator's own booking system in September 2026 the skip-the-line ticket is €18 for an adult, about $20.63, €15 for ages 11–24 and €10 for ages 5–10. The association does not publish a door price; because the online ticket carries a surcharge the door price is lower, and third-party sources put it at around €15, about $17.19. Dollar figures on this page use the European Central Bank reference rate for 18 September 2026, €1 = $1.1460.
Do I need to book Naples underground in advance?
Not for Napoli Sotterranea – you cannot. The association takes no reservations from groups under 15 people; you queue and entry is guaranteed, with a wait of 10 to 90 minutes depending on the day. The optional skip-the-line ticket is the only thing sold in advance, and it is non-refundable. The Galleria Borbonica is the opposite: reservation is compulsory for every tour. The catacombs and the Fontanelle cemetery also want you to book.
Are the tours in English?
At Napoli Sotterranea, every hour: an Italian and an English departure leave together at each hour from 10:00 to 18:00. The catacombs and the Fontanelle cemetery guide in Italian and English. The Galleria Borbonica is the awkward one – English is listed only for Via delle Memorie, Adventure and Speleo Light, and only for groups reaching a minimum number, while the Standard tour names no language at all. Ask when you book. Nothing here is scheduled in German, French or Spanish.
How long does the Naples underground tour take?
Napoli Sotterranea runs about an hour below ground plus roughly 20 minutes in the Roman theatre afterwards, so about 90 minutes in all. The Galleria Borbonica's Standard tour is 60 minutes, Adventure 85 and Speleo Light 90. Each catacomb takes an hour, the Fontanelle cemetery 40 minutes, LAPIS about 75 and San Lorenzo Maggiore 45 to 60 at your own pace.
How many steps are there at Napoli Sotterranea?
136 low steps down and the same number back up, according to the operator's FAQ – which confusingly gives 121 in another answer on the same page. Either way there is no lift and no escalator, and the operator states the route is not accessible to wheelchairs, walkers or pushchairs. If that rules it out, the LAPIS museum 150 m away has a lift that brings you up from 35 m.
Is one ticket enough for all the underground sites in Naples?
No. Six separate organisations run these places and each sells its own admission: Napoli Sotterranea, L.A.E.S., the Galleria Borbonica, La Paranza for the catacombs and Fontanelle, LAPIS, and San Lorenzo Maggiore. The Campania Artecard gives reductions rather than free entry – €9 instead of €13 at the catacombs. The only real combination is the catacombs' own ticket, which covers San Gennaro and San Gaudioso and lasts 12 months.
What is the difference between Napoli Sotterranea and the Galleria Borbonica?
Napoli Sotterranea shows the ancient aqueduct under the old town, opens daily and needs no booking. The Galleria Borbonica is a 19th-century tunnel near Piazza del Plebiscito, opens Friday to Sunday and on public holidays only, and requires a reservation. Different operators, different parts of the city, a good 2 km apart – about 30 minutes on foot or two metro stops on line 1 from Dante to Municipio.
Why should I book the catacombs directly rather than through a reseller?
Because of who runs them. The Catacombs of San Gennaro and San Gaudioso are managed by La Paranza, a social cooperative founded in 2006 by young people from the Rione Sanità, one of the poorest districts in the city. It has recovered some 13,000 m² of catacomb and built around 70 jobs out of the ticket income, and Europa Nostra gave it a European Heritage Award in 2022. Booking on catacombedinapoli.it costs the same and keeps the margin in the neighbourhood.
Is underground Naples suitable for children?
Napoli Sotterranea and the Galleria Borbonica's Standard tour both work well with children; at the Galleria under-6s go free and in the catacombs under-18s pay €6, about $6.88, with under-6s free. The Adventure tour has a minimum age of 10 with an adult, and Speleo Light is adults only. Note the 136 steps at Napoli Sotterranea: no pushchairs, so bring a carrier for a toddler.
Is the Fontanelle cemetery open, and is it free?
It is open and it is not free. After years of closure it reopened permanently on 18 April 2026, 10:00 to 18:00 with last admission at 17:15, closed Wednesdays, and access is by online booking with capped numbers. The Italian press reported tickets from €6 for an accompanied visit and from €8 with a guide, about $6.88 and $9.17. English pages that still describe it as abandoned, shut or freely open are out of date.
How do I get there from Naples airport?
Capodichino is about 6 km out and has no metro yet. The Alibus shuttle reaches Napoli Centrale in roughly 15 minutes for €5, about $5.73, bought online, from the arrivals machines or on board; it continues to the port at Molo Beverello. A taxi runs on a fixed fare of about €21 to the central station – ask for it at the start and take the receipt. From Centrale, metro line 1 takes you to Dante or Museo, and Piazza San Gaetano is a five to ten minute walk from either.
Is it safe to walk to the catacombs in the Rione Sanità?
In daylight, yes, and that is the honest answer rather than a reassuring one. The Sanità is a dense, poor, lived-in neighbourhood that carries Naples' old reputation more than its current risk, and the catacombs themselves are part of why it has changed. The genuine hazards are traffic – scooters especially – and pickpocketing around Napoli Centrale and on crowded metro trains. After dark, stay on the main streets, keep your phone out of sight, and take a taxi back rather than walking down the hill.
What should I wear underground in Naples?
The catacombs operator gives 15 to 22 °C depending on the season, and the deeper cisterns are cool and damp year round. Closed, comfortable shoes and a light jacket are enough, and both LAPIS and the catacombs say so in their own visitor information. For the Galleria Borbonica's Speleo tour, wear clothes you do not mind getting dusty; the helmet and lamp are provided.
Sources
Show 39 sources – every figure on this page is sourced
- www.napolisotterranea.org/en/visiting-hours/ – Napoli Sotterranea: hourly tours 10:00–18:00 in Italian and English, Thursday 21:00 by reservation only, reservation rules, address, concession
- www.napolisotterranea.org/en/faq/ – Napoli Sotterranea: 136 steps down and the same up, the deviating figure of 121 steps, depth about 40 m, duration about one hour, the optional narrow passage with candle and the ten-minute wait, claustrophobia, no lift or escalator and no wheelchair access, no bookings under 15 people, warning that tours starting anywhere other than Piazza San Gaetano 68 are not theirs, 23 centuries of aqueduct
- booking.napolisotterranea.org/ – The operator's own skip-the-line system: adult €18, ages 11–24 €15, ages 5–10 €10, hourly slots 10:00–18:00 split into Italian and English departures, the surcharge over the ordinary ticket, guaranteed entry without booking, wait of 10 to 90 minutes, no refunds or changes
- www.naplesinsider.com/en/e/naples-underground – Third-party source for the Napoli Sotterranea door price of €15 for an adult and a total duration of about 90 minutes
- www.napoliving.it/en/how-to-visit-underground-naples-napoli-sot… – The only measurement found for the narrow passage: a tunnel 50 cm wide and 50 m long, walked with candles, optional for claustrophobic visitors, leading to the flooded cisterns on the old pozzari walkway
- www.lanapolisotterranea.it/ – L.A.E.S.: meeting point at the Caffè Gambrinus on Piazza Trieste e Trento, descent at Vico Sant'Anna di Palazzo 52, tour times, about 60 minutes, alternative routes for claustrophobic visitors, founded 1988, claim to be the route recognised by the region, no prices published, footer times differing from the homepage
- www.galleriaborbonica.com/en/tours/standard – Galleria Borbonica Standard: Fri–Sun and holidays, 10:00/12:00/15:00/17:00, two entrances, €15, €10 for ages 6–18 and over-70s, €7 for visitors with disabilities, under 6 free, compulsory reservation, one hour, about 60 per cent wheelchair-manageable via the Morelli entrance
- www.galleriaborbonica.com/en/tours/via-delle-memorie – Via delle Memorie: entrance Via Monte di Dio 14, 11:00 and 16:00, prices, no confined sections, English only for groups
- www.galleriaborbonica.com/en/tours/adventure – Adventure tour: €20, 1 hour 25 minutes, from age 10 with ID for 10–15s, the raft, explicit claustrophobia warning, no wheelchair access, entrance Via Morelli 61
- www.galleriaborbonica.com/en/tours/speleo – Speleo Light: €20, 1 hour 30 minutes, adults only, Fri–Sun 11:00 and 16:00, equipment provided
- www.galleriaborbonica.com/en/home/home/ – Galleria Borbonica: the three entrance addresses and the opening calendar, checked 20 September 2026 – open Fri–Sun, closed Mon–Thu; private tours at €10 admission plus a €40 supplement for groups of 4–10 with 48 hours' notice
- www.galleriaborbonica.com/en/history – The decree of 19 February 1853, the architect Errico Alvino, the tunnel's purpose as a military and escape route after 1848
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourbon_Tunnel – Left unfinished when Bourbon rule ended, air-raid shelter in the Second World War, the vehicle wrecks
- catacombedinapoli.it/en/planning-guided-tour-naples/ – Catacombs: 10:00–17:00, closed Wednesdays and 25 December, booking required, hourly tours, two ticket desks, group and concession rates, Artecard €9, accessibility for visitors with walking difficulties currently suspended for hydrogeological reasons, 15–22 °C, bus lines, free car park
- catacombedinapoli.it/it/pianifica-visita-guidata-napoli/ – Catacombs tariffs: €13 adult, €6 under 18, €9 students and over-65s, under 6 free
- catacombedinapoli.it/en/luoghi/catacombs-of-san-gennaro-naples/ – San Gennaro: origins in the 2nd century, two levels, the basilica of Agrippinus, ticket valid 12 months for San Gaudioso, Italian and English, one hour
- catacombedinapoli.it/en/luoghi/catacombs-of-san-gaudioso-naples/ – San Gaudioso: hours, languages, duration, the 17th-century wall burials
- catacombedinapoli.it/en/about/ – La Paranza: cooperative founded in 2006 in the Rione Sanità, management of San Gaudioso from 2006 and of San Gennaro after the 2008 award, about 70 jobs and roughly 1.69 million admissions to date, the social economy built around the sites
- www.europeanheritageawards.eu/winners/la-paranza-cooperative/ – European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Award, Heritage Champions category, 2022: founded 2006, 13,000 m² of catacomb recovered, 44 jobs for young people, 160,000 visitors in 2019, jury citation
- catacombedinapoli.it/en/luoghi/guided-tour-fontanelle-cemetery/ – Fontanelle: entrance at Via Fontanelle 80, open from 18 April, 10:00–18:00, closed Wednesdays, Italian and English, 40 minutes
- www.comune.napoli.it/novita/il-cimitero-delle-fontanelle-riapre… – City of Naples: the permanent reopening of the Fontanelle cemetery on 18 April 2026
- www.napolidavivere.it/2026/04/18/riapertura-cimitero-fontanelle/ – Fontanelle: tickets from €6 and €8, online booking only, last admission 17:15, prayer area from 9:00 on Mondays and Fridays
- www.lapismuseum.com/info-e-biglietti/ – LAPIS: daily 9:30–20:00, circuit times, prices €12/€10/€7, family tickets, 35 m depth, the lift, clothing advice
- www.laneapolissotterrata.it/ – San Lorenzo Maggiore: daily 9:30–17:30, prices €9/€7/€6, under 6 free, address Piazza San Gaetano 316
- www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/policy_and_exchange_rates/euro_referenc… – Exchange rate behind every dollar figure on this page: ECB euro reference rate, 18 September 2026, €1 = $1.1460
- www.aeroportodinapoli.it/en/by-bus – Capodichino: the Alibus shuttle to Piazza Garibaldi for Napoli Centrale and on to Molo Beverello, about 15 minutes to the station, tickets online or from the arrivals machines
- napolimetro.com/en/naples-airport/ – Alibus fare €5 and where to buy, 15–20 minutes to Piazza Garibaldi, fixed airport taxi fares of about €21 to the central station and €24 to the port, and the Line 1 station at Capodichino still under construction
- www.infopoint.napoli.it/en/ticket-e-abbonamenti-prezzi/ – Naples public transport: single ride €1.30, 90-minute integrated ticket €1.80, day ticket €5.40; no effective date given
- wanderlog.com/place/details/9181/napoli-sotterranea-guided-auth… – English error: a hidden labyrinth of catacombs, tunnels and caverns and early Christian burial sites attributed to the Napoli Sotterranea tour, weekday closing at 16:30, and a typical visit of four hours
- www.introducingnaples.com/underground-naples – English errors: prices €15/€10/€8, tours every two hours from 10:00 to 18:00, duration 1 hour 30, and catacombs listed among what visitors see at Naples Underground
- whichmuseum.com/museum/naples-underground-6163/tickets-prices – English error: Naples Underground admission still listed at €10.00 adult and €8.00 reduced
- www.machupicchu.org/naples-underground-complete-guide-2026-ever… – English errors in a guide badged 2026: €10 at the entrance with skip-the-line online at €15, catacombs of San Gennaro at €10, hourly tours described as Italian only
- www.storiesbysoumya.com/italy-naples-underground-city-tour/ – English errors: opening hours given as 9:30am–6:30am, English tours only at 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 18:00, and advice to reserve a place in advance
- www.walksofitaly.com/blog/things-to-do/naples-underground – English error on accessibility: the Catacombs of San Gennaro described as offering complete accessibility for people with reduced mobility, with tactile models and signs
- www.visitnaples.eu/en/neapolitanity/discover-naples/naples-unde… – English errors: the underground framed as a Roman achievement, catacombs bundled into the underground tour in the headline, and cisterns described as still full of water today
- www.campania.info/en/naples/things-to-do-in-naples/naples-under… – English error: the Romans credited with truly exploiting the subterranean passages, and tours described as running hourly in Italian
- www.headout.com/city-cards/artecard-napoli-3-museums-pass-e-20396/ – English error on passes: Galleria Borbonica, Napoli Sotterranea and the Catacombe di Napoli listed as covered by the Artecard, with a note on the same page that admission to the Galleria Borbonica and the catacombs has been restricted and no longer free since 1 January 2023
- www.tickets-naples.com/galleria-borbonica/ – English error: the Galleria Borbonica given as open Friday to Saturday, closed Monday to Thursday, with the tour described as available in English and Italian
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolla_Aqueduct – The Bolla remained a principal water source until replaced by the Serino aqueduct in the late 19th century and still supplies water to outer areas of Naples for industrial use