As flash as Flash Gordon downloading Flashplayer in a flash flood (yes, it is that flash!), La Controra Flashpackers Hostel has got to be one of the best hostels I've ever stayed in!

The hostel is housed in an old monastery, and huddled around a palm-strewn courtyard that's ideal for barbecues. Shared rooms are light, airy and spacious, while a couple of doubles seem to open up on to their own terraces. All in all, it's more than a bit special. (And very reasonable, too!)

www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/italy/naples/27153/

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Running away from the Piazza Garibaldi down to the Piazza del Mercato are Naples' markets. In keeping with the city's general atmosphere, they're a noisy, chaotic affair (with more than a whiff of the mafia about them by all accounts!).

Watching the fish market at Porta Nolana - and every other specimen of market stall imaginable scattered across the area - is an essential Naples experience in and of itself.

To the west/southwest of Piazza Garibaldi

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Possibly the dirtiest city in Western Europe, Naples is, in spite of this (or maybe because of?), an absolutely fantastic place. To see the best of the city, wander the Centro Storico and the Spaccanapoli, a dense, heaving, noisy hive of life.

Abandoned churches give on to grand, dilapidated squares; buildings lean over narrow alleyways, almost obscuring the light, while down below, eerie, flickering saints and virgins peer out of their alcoves. Totally unique.

Stretching from the Porta Capuana (in the east) to the Piazza Dante (in the west.

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The local train service runs from Sorrento to Naples, with stations near to the main sites or with a shuttle bus (to Vesuvius). It drops you right outside Pompeii entrance for example. It's cheap and regular.

www.sorrentoinfo.com/timetable/local_train_sorrento.htm

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