Christmas lunch stretches on until coffee, someone brings out the family photographs again and the conversation picks back up. When it's finally time to say your goodbyes, you return to Chiaia, to an address that stays yours for the whole of the festive season.
If you're coming to Naples for Christmas to visit family, a suite at Follaky Secret Garden, a boutique B&B in the residential grounds of Palazzo Giovagnoni, in Chiaia, gives you a base for the family gatherings and a few hours to yourselves. In 2026, Christmas Day falls on a Friday: arriving on Wednesday 23 December and leaving on Sunday 27, four nights give you three full days — Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Chiaia station on Line 6 is about a 4-minute walk away; Napoli Centrale is about 35–45 minutes on Line 1, or around 15–20 minutes by taxi.
How many nights for Christmas with family?
Three nights leave you two full days; four add one more. Christmas Eve and the 25th can go to family, and Boxing Day to a visit or a walk along the seafront.
Check-in is from 15:00 to 20:00, in person with Monica or Fabio: it's worth letting us know your arrival window when you book. Check-out is by 10:00, and on Sunday 27 December it's from Vico Monteroduni 16, not Via Chiaia. For the hours you set aside for the two of you, see also Christmas in Naples as a couple.
Palazzo Reale, Cappella Sansevero and San Martino at Christmas
Between one lunch and the next, there's still room for a visit. Before you head out, check the opening hours and holiday closures:
- Palazzo Reale (the Royal Palace), in Piazza del Plebiscito 1, about a 7-minute walk away: the Appartamento di Etichetta opens from 09:00 to 20:00, last entry at 19:00, and is closed on 25 December, 1 January and every Wednesday — so also on Wednesday 23 December. Tickets are bought online via the Musei Italiani platform or its app.
- Cappella Sansevero (the Sansevero Chapel), on Via Francesco De Sanctis 19/21, about a 31-minute walk away: open from 09:00 to 19:00, with last entry half an hour before closing, and closed on Tuesdays. Booking is compulsory and daily admissions are limited; tickets go on sale online 60 days ahead, so for the festive period it's worth booking from late October and checking the calendar of special opening dates.
- Certosa e Museo di San Martino (the Charterhouse and Museum of San Martino), in Largo San Martino 5, in the Vomero district, holds Italy's leading public collection dedicated to the Neapolitan nativity scene: the Cuciniello crib is named after the collector who donated his collection of around eight hundred shepherds, animals and accessories to the State and personally oversaw the crib's assembly; it is set in a mock grotto with lighting that simulates dawn, day, dusk and night. Taking the Funicolare Centrale up to Piazza Fuga, the whole trip takes about half an hour, with almost no climbing.
If you're after a shepherd figure for your own nativity scene, Via San Gregorio Armeno is about a 32-minute walk along Via Toledo: we cover it on our page about the nativity workshops. To combine several visits in a single day, take a look at our itineraries.
Where should you meet family during your stay?
In town, not in the suite or the grounds: this is exactly what our house rule on family visits is about. "Access is reserved to those named on the booking, and this covers the whole property: suites, corridor, patio and grounds. We can't receive visitors, not even briefly and not even out of doors. The grounds aren't a B&B space: they're a private garden where people live, which is why it's so quiet here."
Piazza dei Martiri is about a 3-minute walk away and the Via Caracciolo seafront about 7: two easy places to suggest to family. For a family dinner, start from our restaurants page.
Suite Chiaia, Suite Toledo or Double Suites — Exclusive Use?
Suite Chiaia Deluxe Garden View is the more intimate of the two: wood, majolica tiles and olive green, with a window onto the two neighbouring private gardens. Suite Toledo Deluxe Private Patio is larger and brighter, with a private patio of its own. Each sleeps two guests in a 160×200 queen bed and has its own bathroom; Follaky Breakfast is included, with quality products. Every suite has its own independent, private entrance; beyond the reinforced door is a corridor shared by the two suites.
If you're arriving as two couples, Double Suites — Exclusive Use brings the two suites together for your exclusive use: up to four guests, all aged 14 and over, with two private bathrooms and the corridor kept just for your group.
The pedestrian entrance is at Via Chiaia 149F, with the grounds' private lift (€0.20); by taxi, or with luggage, give the address as Vico Monteroduni 16, which is also where you'll leave from for Sunday's check-out. The route is explained in how to reach us.
The festive days belong to the family; in the evening, the door you open is your own suite's. Choose Suite Chiaia if you prefer an intimate space with greenery beyond the window, Suite Toledo if you'd like a patio of your own, Double Suites — Exclusive Use if you're travelling as four, and check your Christmas dates.
