Ticket plus audio app for the MANN: the review
My verdict: This is the best-selling of all six options. The ticket you receive is the official museum ticket, and the extra amount you pay compared to buying at the ticket office is a precise figure that I'll tell you below, without beating around the bush. It's not a scam: it's the price of booking from home and being able to cancel. What you would have preferred to know beforehand is that two reviewers on this very listing write, in their own words, that the app was useless to them — and that booking on the museum's website costs nothing extra.
Six euros above the ticket office price: what you're really buying
From €26 at the time of writing, compared to €20 for a full-price ticket at the ticket office. That's six euros, and since the museum applies an advance booking fee of zero euros on its museum's online ticket office, those six euros don't buy the convenience of booking: that's free elsewhere. They buy the package: the platform where you already have an account, free cancellation up to 24 hours before, and the audio app. For some, it's worth it, and I say that without irony; for others, it's lunch. The full comparison with the museum's price list.
The ticket is genuine, and on this point the listing is correct: 'Authorized ticket issued by Naples National Archaeological Museum'. You're not buying an intermediary's pass; you're buying the museum's ticket through an intermediary. The six options, with how much each charges above the twenty euros at the ticket office.
The two reviews I wish I had read beforehand
The first says it all in one line: 'It was not necessary to book skip the line tickets and the audioguide wasn't useful. The museum is worth visiting though'. That is: it wasn't necessary to book to skip the line, and the audio guide wasn't useful; however, the museum is worth visiting. The second explains the misunderstanding behind half of the low ratings for this listing: 'This is just for tickets to the museum — the audio guide is an app on your phone, not the audio guide provided by the museum'. Here you buy a ticket and an application. The museum's audio guide, the one with the device, is rented at the ticket office for €5 and is a different item.
A third reviewer describes a real practical problem: a voucher without a barcode, which was disputed at the entrance. It happens rarely but it does happen, and it's resolved in thirty seconds if you open the voucher the night before instead of in front of the staff. A fourth leaves the most useful note about the museum, not the product: 'Directions and way marks poor (especially to exit!)', the internal signage is poor, especially for exiting. Which entrance is currently in use, and how to get there by metro.
The day this listing should not be bought
On days with free admission for everyone — the first Sunday of the month, April 25, June 2, November 4, and March 8 for women — the museum states that tickets 'cannot be pre-purchased but only collected at the ticket office'. Buying a €26 package for a day when admission is free means paying €26 for an app. And there's the downside, which is the real reason why those days are not a bargain: the Egyptian collection, the Gabinetto Segreto, and Magna Grecia remain closed. What you miss by entering for free, in detail.
What works
- The ticket is the official museum ticket, issued in your name
- 1,188 reviews behind the rating: the most solid sample of the six listings
- Book from home and cancel for free up to 24 hours before
- Entry and commentary in one purchase, without going to the ticket office
- Useful for those traveling with a fixed itinerary
Good to know beforehand
- It's €6 above the ticket office price, and the museum's advance booking costs €0
- One reviewer: booking to skip the line was not necessary
- The app is not the museum's audio guide, and several reviewers realize this later
- A voucher without a barcode was disputed at the entrance
- On free days, tickets cannot be pre-purchased: that day should not be bought
Open your voucher the night before and check that the barcode is visible and legible. That's the only recurring problem in these reviews, and 9:30 AM at the entrance isn't the time to find out about it.
How are you planning to get in?At the ticket office, the ticket costs €20 with no booking fee. The tickets you find online add an app, a guide, or skip-the-line access.
Compare the six optionsWho needs it, and who doesn't
It's for you if your travel dates are fixed, you want your ticket in your pocket before you leave, and you want to be able to cancel without fuss. It's less for you if you're already in Naples and passing through Piazza Museo: that ticket costs twenty euros just a stone's throw away. And it's no use at all if you buy it thinking you're getting a guide: for that, you need a person and a different amount of money, and I talk about it in my review of the two-hour tour.
Other options
The cheapestNaples: National Archaeological Museum Audio Guide
Priority entranceNaples: National Archaeological Museum with Digital Guide
Live guideNaples: National Archaeological Museum Guided Tour
Frequently asked questions
Is it worth buying the MANN ticket online with the audio app?
It's worth it if you want fixed dates and the option to cancel: it's six euros above the ticket office price, which is €20, and booking on the museum's website costs nothing extra. If you're already in the city and passing by the museum, no. The two prices compared.
Is the audio app the official museum audio guide?
No, and a reviewer says it better than I can: "the audio guide is an app on your phone, not the audio guide provided by the museum". The museum's own audio guide can be rented at the ticket office for €5 and covers 90 exhibits in 85 minutes. The review of the audio guide to listen to on your phone.
Is skipping the line at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples really necessary?
A reviewer on this very page writes that it wasn't necessary. The ticket office closes at 6:30 PM and that's the last entry: if you arrive in the mid-afternoon, the problem is the time, not the queue. How much time you need, and when to go in.