Most of what goes wrong at Pompeii goes wrong before anyone sets foot inside. People arrive at the wrong gate. They queue for an hour in August for a ticket they could have bought on a phone. They buy the…
Supporting Guide
Herculaneum: The Complete Guide
You arrive at Herculaneum and the first thing you do is look down. The town is in a pit. The modern streets of Ercolano run along at their own level, ordinary and busy, and then the ground simply falls away…
Pompeii or Herculaneum: Which Should You Visit?
Almost everyone who comes to the Bay of Naples has heard of one of these places and not the other. That is the whole problem in a sentence. Pompeii is a name that arrives in childhood and never leaves. Herculaneum…
The Best Photo Spots in Ischia
I have been photographed on this island and I have also photographed it, and the two jobs teach different things. In front of a camera you learn what light does to a face. Behind one you learn that a place…
The Perfect Ischia Itinerary
Ischia is larger than people expect, and that is the whole problem with planning it. Six comuni, a mountain in the middle, a ring road that takes an hour to loop. Get the order wrong and you spend the trip…
The Best Time to Visit Ischia
Most Italian islands give you one honest answer to this question, and it is usually June or September. Ischia is the exception, and the reason sits underground. The island is volcanic, and hot mineral water pushes up through the rock…
How to Get to Ischia
Ischia has no airport, no bridge and no tunnel, which is a large part of why it still feels like itself. You arrive by boat or you do not arrive at all. The crossing is short, cheap and frequent, and…
Where to Eat in Ischia
Eating well on Ischia depends almost entirely on how far you are willing to travel from the water. The island has a real cuisine of its own, older and more agricultural than people expect from the Bay of Naples, and…
Where to Stay in Ischia
Ischia is bigger than people expect. You can drive the ring road in an hour, but it is big enough that the town you sleep in decides what your week actually feels like. Six comuni, each with its own character,…
The Best Thermal Parks and Hot Springs in Ischia
My first morning on the island I put a hand into the sea at Sorgeto and took it straight back out. Not cold. Hot, properly hot, hot enough to make me laugh in front of strangers who had clearly watched…
The Best Beaches in Ischia
Ischia surprises people who arrive expecting a smaller Capri. It has actual beaches. Long ones, sandy ones, beaches you can lie down on all day rather than a slab of rock with a ladder bolted into it. The island is…
The Best Things to Do in Ischia
Ischia is big. That is the thing nobody tells you before the ferry docks. Six separate towns, a mountain in the middle, and a circular bus that takes the better part of an hour to cross the island. Try to…
