Bourbon Tunnel Tickets

The Bourbon Tunnel, the Galleria Borbonica, is the tunnel Ferdinand II of Bourbon commissioned under Pizzofalcone hill in 1853 as a protected way out of the Royal Palace; it was never finished, became an air-raid shelter in the war, and then served as the city’s pound for seized vehicles until the 1970s. The cars and scooters are still down there. The standard visit is sold as the Bourbon Tunnel Guided Tour with Entrance Ticket, from US$17 a person (checked October 2026), rated 4.6 out of 5 from 3,739 reviews.

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What you see

The architect Errico Alvino’s tunnel was meant to run from the palace under the hill towards Piazza della Vittoria; the diggers ran into the cisterns of an older aqueduct, and the tunnel was never finished. What you walk through is that mix: the 19th-century tunnel, the 16th and 17th-century cisterns it cut across, and the rooms fitted out as shelters in the Second World War, where many of the objects people brought down were found. Then come the vehicles: from the end of the war until the 1970s the tunnel was used as a judicial pound, and the cars and motorbikes later found buried under rubble and rubbish are now part of the route, beside huge fragments of statues.

The routes and the entrances

The tunnel’s own site lists four routes, all with booking required:

• Standard route, about an hour: 15 euros full, 10 euros for ages 6 to 18 and over 70, 7 euros for disabled visitors, free up to age 5. From Vico del Grottone 4, near Piazza del Plebiscito, or Via Morelli 61, the pedestrian entrance of the Morelli car park. This is the visit sold on GetYourGuide.
• Via delle Memorie, 1 hour 15, the same prices, from Via Monte di Dio 14, at 11:00 and 16:00. It has stairs and is not open to everyone; the tunnel says it suits claustrophobic visitors. It is an option on the same GetYourGuide listing.
• Adventure route, 1 hour 25, 20 euros, from age 10 with an adult: it includes a ride on a raft along a flooded stretch of an abandoned underground railway tunnel. Not advised for claustrophobia. Via Morelli only.
• Speleo Light, 1 hour 30, 15 euros, over 18 only, with equipment provided.

The tunnel opens to the public on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays; on other days it opens for private tours by arrangement.

Pick the visit that fits:

Prices and review counts as listed on GetYourGuide in October 2026, not a quote.

Bourbon Tunnel or Napoli Sotterranea?

They are different visits. The Bourbon Tunnel is 19th and 20th-century Naples: a royal project, the war and the strange afterlife of a car pound, and its standard route is wide and, by the tunnel’s own account, fine for claustrophobic visitors. Napoli Sotterranea on Piazza San Gaetano is older and deeper: Greek quarries, Roman cisterns and the Roman theatre, with one narrow passage you can skip. If you have one slot and it falls on a weekday, Napoli Sotterranea or the Spanish Quarters route is the choice, because the tunnel is closed to the public then.

Practical points

On GetYourGuide children under 10 enter free; the tunnel’s own price list gives free entry up to age 5 and 10 euros from 6 to 18, so check the price for your child’s age when you book. The standard route is about 60 percent accessible to wheelchair users from the Via Morelli entrance. The tunnel’s site lists discounts of 20 percent with the Campania Artecard and 20 percent with a City Sightseeing bus ticket at its own ticket desk. Free cancellation on the GetYourGuide listing runs up to 24 hours before.