Pisa Travel Forum

Hi there,

can anyone help??? im arriving in Pisa Sat 23rd august 08 in the evening and wish to see the Leaning tower first thing sunday 24th(i understand booking advisable) and then to get a train to Lucca for the day and then on to Florence. From Pisa........ is Lucca enroute to Florence??!! (excuse poor Italian geography! but if its going the right way i didnt want to go back to Pisa to then only have to travel from Pisa to Florence as we are staying in Florence on the night of Sunday 24th) and if so does anyone know if we can store 2 suitcases at Lucca train station for the day whilst we look around? do we then need to get a taxi into Lucca itself from the station?

Do i need to prebook (and if so, is there a website) train tickets or just get at station on the day?

Final question.... in Florence is it worth the hike to the prada/gucci outlets as some reviews ive seen on tripadvisor say its not worth it??!!!

thanks for your help
suzanna :)

1. Lucca is just 20-30 minutes by train and no need to book tickets in advance; just keep in mind that once you buy the ticket, you have to validate it before you enter the train.

2. Florence-Pisa-Lucca are like a circle, so, Pisa-Lucca, then, Lucca-Florence without going back to Pisa again.

3. Regarding the suitcases, I suppose so, but I don't know.

4. Taxi in Lucca: No need, the city itself is just a few meters away from the station, you cross the walls, and that's it.

5. Florence: If you want to visit Uffizi and Accademia, book in advamnce, if not, you will have to wait a looong queue. Ask at your hotel in Florence if they don't mind phoning for you (in case you don't dominate italian, although i donĄt know if the museums hot lines have different languages recording). They charge (the museum) 3 €, but it worths the surcharge.

6. In Pisa, there is a railway station very close to the leaning tower; ask there where it is (it's not the main station, but it's closer).

There is no left luggage facility at Lucca, as far as I know, so you may need to change your plans a bit. Maybe Pisa-Lucca-Pisa-Florence will have to be the journey after all (left luggage is available at Pisa Centrale).

It's possible to walk to the tower from Pisa Centrale (not Pisa Aeroporto) in about 20/30 minutes; bus 3 goes regularly from outside the station. The nearest station is actually Pisa San Rossore (a few hundred metres from the tower etc); look on the Trenitalia website to see which trains go there (doubt if there's any left luggage).

You should certainly pre-book tickets for the Uffizi etc (you can do this online too) unless you are happy to spend time queuing, but you don't need to worry about train tickets.

thank you so much :)

thank you so much :)

Bear in mind when you are in florence that Academia (Statue of Davis) is not open on Mondays unless things have changed since I was there in 2005.

Many museums/art galleries in Italy (and elsewhere) are indeed closed on Mondays; I tend to organise travel on that day if I can.