Naples to Lecce: Southern Italy by Campervan

Sosta Camper Napoli - Parco Dei Camaldoli is a 24-hour camper park on the elevated western edge of Naples, rated an exceptional 4.9/5 from nearly 200 reviews. It serves as the practical launch pad for the entire route, letting you arrive in or near Naples, settle the van, and sleep before tackling the city's notorious traffic on the way south. Parco dei Camaldoli sits above the urban sprawl, giving you a calmer introduction to the Italian south than parking in the city centre would allow. Expect a managed, service-equipped sosta rather than wild camping — the kind of stop where you can sort water, power, and waste before a demanding run down the coast. Spend roughly half a day here, long enough to recover from any travel to reach Naples and to plan the next morning's drive to Pompeii.

The Archaeological Park of Pompeii needs little introduction: the city buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD and preserved in volcanic ash is one of the most visited and most rated heritage sites in Italy, drawing over 84,000 Google reviews at 4.7/5. For a campervan route through southern Italy, it is a foundational stop — not simply a box to tick but a site that sets the historical register for everything that follows. Expect to spend around four hours on site to do it justice: the forum, the amphitheatre, the Via dell'Abbondanza, and the plaster casts of the victims each reward unhurried attention. The scale of the excavations — this was a functioning city — makes it consistently surprising no matter how much you've read in advance.

Fotopoint Positano is a designated roadside observation point on the SS163 where the pastel-stacked town of Positano spills down the cliff to the sea below — one of the defining images of the Amalfi Coast. It functions as a formal viewpoint and pull-off on an otherwise very demanding road to drive, making it both a visual highlight and a practical breathing space. With a 4.8/5 rating from over 600 reviews, it consistently delivers: the layered geometry of the town, the boats in the bay, and the cliff faces draped in terraced gardens come together in a single composition that justifies the coastal detour. The site is open around the clock, so early morning or evening light will sharpen the view considerably if timing allows.

Villa Rufolo in Ravello is a medieval garden complex perched above the Tyrrhenian Sea on the ridge above Amalfi, rated 4.6/5 across more than 20,000 reviews. Built in the 13th century, the villa and its terraced gardens became famous when Wagner visited in 1880 and declared the gardens of Klingsor — from his opera Parsifal — found. Today they remain a formal garden of uncommon drama: clipped hedges, Arab-Norman towers, and a terrace garden stage that seems to float over the sea. For a campervan route heavy on ancient ruins and urban sassi, Villa Rufolo provides welcome contrast — colour, horticulture, and sea views. Allow two hours to walk the gardens properly and take in the panoramic belvedere.