On Own Tour - Florence Port (Livorno)

[dcfulk]

We are traveling on the Epic this September with our 16 mo old. All the ports seem manageable with a toddler, but Livorno looks a little harder to manage. Everything I read says that its about a 3km cab to the train station and the trains aren't a reliable as you'd like. Wonder if anyone had advice on how to manage this port vice going on the costly excursions.

 

Thanks!

 

Derek

[6rugrats]

It is extremely easy and cost effective to get to Florence on your own from Livorno, and I don't know where you are reading that trains are unreliable. Any train strike is announced well in advance.

 

Suggest you go to the ports of call forum here and then go to the Italy forum. Do a search or just read through the threads, because there are many giving exact details how to get from Livorno to Florence.

 

Highly recommend you go directly there and skip Pisa.

[Essiesmom]

Get a copy of Rick Steves' new guidebook Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports. He tells you how to get from the gangway to transportation, how long it should take, what it should cost, where the bathrooms are, where the tourist info spots are. Also what to see in Florence in the time frame you have, and what it should cost. In some ports he has free audio tour downloads from his website for ipod/mp3 players. EM

[graceinmelbourne]

You should be able to find a cab to take you to the station right outside the ship. They charge about 5 euro per person. Sometimes they want to fill their mini van so you may have to share with others. It takes about 5 - 10 minutes to get to the station.

 

Train strikes are not that common in Italy anymore. It wasn't the fastest train around being a regional train and took over an hour to get to Florence. I can't quite remember how often they came either so get there as early as you can to make the most of the day. Cost of tickets was about 8 euro each for adults. You will save so much money by getting to Florence yourself on the train rather than the ships tour. I think we got there about 9.30am and stayed until 3.30pm so we had plenty of time to take in the sights as well as have a nice lunch.

 

Oh and I agree with Rugrats - skip Pisa and go straight to Florence. Florence is much more interesting and enjoyable in my opinion.