Livorno Dock to Florence by Train

[Carol212]

:o Hi, Can anyone give me details of getting from the dock in Livorno to Florence. I have been to Italy twice before so I just want to go there and spend the day shopping on my own.

 

I am a little nervous about traveling alone in foreign countries so whatever info you can give would be appreciated.

 

How do you get from the dock to the train station. Can you walk it.

 

How long does the train take.

 

When you get off the train in Florence are you right in the city.

 

Thank you all for you help.

[estebofarr]

Carol, when are you going? You can come with us, if it works out!

[Carol212]

I will be on the Grand Princess leaving out of Venice on Aug 18, 2005.

[estebofarr]

Well, Carol

You will have gone and returned long before we go, so I will be looking forward to hearing how you do. Good luck.

[Mrpuck]

Take a taxi to the train station. The train will take you right downtown. Take another taxi to any particular place you want to go. It's very easy, but the train station is too far to walk from the docks. Don't fret about it. It's a piece of cake.

[leighuf]

Here's the section in the review that everyone's curious about. The review is rather short compared to Luvtotravels, but concise.

 

 

In Livorno, we shared a taxi with 2 other people to the train station (15 Euros). We then bought a roundtrip ticket to Florence (11.80 Euros pp). This allows you to get on and off in Pisa.

 

For train schedules in Italy, go to this website, and you can find any route you want. http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

 

We then hopped a train to Pisa [from Florence]. The ride to Pisa is about one hour. Pisa Centrale station is a long way away from the Leaning Tower. However, you can take a train from Pisa Centrale to Pisa San Rossore station (a 4 minute ride). From there, it is a 5 minute walk to the Tower.

 

We then hopped a train back to Pisa Centrale and then changed to one to Livorno for the 20 minute train ride back. The cab ride back to the ship was 20 Euros or so.

 

You cannot walk to the train station from the ship in Livorno.

[traveller333]

It looks like there are 2 train station in Livorno. Is Livorno Centrale the closest to the pier? Do you recall how many Euros for a round trip train ticket from Livorno to Florence and back again? Thank you.

[Debbierpof]

Just in case... we just returned from our trip and thought we were going to use the train except there was a strike! So the plans to get to Florence by train were off. Fortunately, there were plenty of cabbies right next to the ship where the shore excursion buses wait. We shared a cab with another couple and had a wonderful day. Just in case, we used Riccardo with Tuscany by Taxi. You may want to ask and see if he is there. He took us everywhere we wanted (including Pisa), got us into the Accademia quickly and it was cheaper than the "On-Your-Own" ship excursion. Of course, if it's just you, it may be pricey.

[Jeepsterchick]

We found a newspaper stand close to the ship, bought bus tokens asked which bus to get to the train station. Once on board we asked which stop and no one really spoke english, but one young gal actually got off at our stop and had us follow her to the train. Not sure if anyone is up for that much of an adventure, but it was a neat feeling getting it done for .50 or so.

It can be done!

[Emelar]

Did you buy your tickets online at trenitalia or just show up and purchase on day of departure at station. I'm a little concerned about prepurchasing specific times. How about if you go earlier or later than the ticket time you purchased. Is your ticket still valid??

 

Thanks for any info

 

Mary

[Browezilla]

Here's a link to Ron's review on this forum site: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=11012

[hylasgirl]

Thanks for the info Ron. I appreciate it. I have a couple of questions for you...

 

Do the trains have restrooms? Do they have a snack car? Is it fairly easy to find the correct train back, once you are in Florence? Is it also the same type of train to get into Rome. We did the Med. last year with Royal Caribbean and had a blast. But we did ship excursions for most things and I would prefer to do something different than sit on a tour bus for an hour and a half. We did have a private tour in Naples and that was fabulous. We have a tour booked for next year in Naples with Marcello with 'seesorrento'. I hear he is awesome.

 

Thanks again... just trying to get some more info on how easy it is to catch the train once we are in Florence and Rome... it also sounded like you walked most of Rome. Did you really walk from the Vatican over to Piazza Navona? I don't think we will do the Vatican again because we didn't get a chance to see the rest of the city last time. I would really like to see the Spanish Steps... Trevi Fountain... Piazza Navona... ect. I absolutely loved all of the Vatican though... You just can't fit it all in.

 

Any information is great! Thank you...

 

Steph

[md1jw]

Just to say that we did this last week. Cheated though! The port does a shuttle bus to the town centre, and then you catch a no 1 bus to the railway station. We were very impatient, and got a taxi from the port to the railway station (port area isn't very scenic - it is a typical working port), taxi cost was 15 euros. On the way back though, caught the No. 1 bus to the shuttle drop off area (we followed some people to the stop, otherwise we may have had trouble finding it), and then caught the shuttle back to the ship. Very easy and we saved a fortune on the price of the ships trip. didn't stop off at Piza though - thought we may have done it on the way back (same train route), but we didn't have enough time as we dawdled in Florence!

Regards

Joan

[TravelingAnn]

This is what I found on http://www.europeportreviews.com:

 

Visiting Florence by train is a great way to maximize your day and avoid a long motor coach ride to boot. When your ship is cleared in Livorno, simply debark the ship and engage one of the many taxis waiting right at the ship to take you to the train station. The fare will be around 8 euro. Ask them to take you through downtown Livorno (by the harbor) for some aditional sightseeing opportunities.

 

Once you arrive at the train terminal purchase a round trip train ticket to Florence (currently costs 12 euro, in September, 2005) HINT: Do not forget to validate the ticket by inserting it into the little yellow validation box located on the track that the train leaves from. You must also validate it on the return trip from Florence. NOTE: If you are caught with an unvalidated ticket, the fine is 40 euro on-the-spot!

 

Since the train originates in Livorno and terminates in Florence simply stay on the train until it stops in both directions. Be aware that the train does make intermediate stops, however.

 

Once you arrive in Florence, the train station is only a few blocks from the epicenter of Florence tourism. When you leave the front exit of the train station look for the cathedral spire across the square. The road that will lead you to the Duomo is right on its left. You can't miss it. Be sure to get the retur4n schedule to Livorno so that you make it back in time to get to the ship. There will be taxis waiting at the train station in Livorno.

[Hlitner]

Regarding the question about train stations, the one you want is Livorno Centrale.

 

Hank

[JLC@SD]

I will be on the Grand Princess leaving out of Venice on Aug 18, 2005.

Check out Princess' Florence on Your Own Tour. When we were on the Grand Princess, we found this to be very convenient and we were assured of not missing the ship since it was a ship sponsored tour. It was inexpensive and gave us all of the time in Florence on our own.

[BHN]

Good day

we are leaving in less than 10 days and one of our stops will be Livorno.

Since it is July do you recommend to purchase the ticket ahead of time?

Did I understand correctly even though you purchased a ticket you can get of and on the train? If you purchase a ticket Livorno - Florence, how much is the detour ticket to Pisa?

Thanks for your feed back.

 

In Livorno, we shared a taxi with 2 other people to the train station (15 Euros). We then bought a roundtrip ticket to Florence (11.80 Euros pp). This allows you to get on and off in Pisa.

 

For train schedules in Italy, go to this website, and you can find any route you want. http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

 

We then hopped a train to Pisa [from Florence]. The ride to Pisa is about one hour. Pisa Centrale station is a long way away from the Leaning Tower. However, you can take a train from Pisa Centrale to Pisa San Rossore station (a 4 minute ride). From there, it is a 5 minute walk to the Tower.

 

We then hopped a train back to Pisa Centrale and then changed to one to Livorno for the 20 minute train ride back. The cab ride back to the ship was 20 Euros or so.

 

You cannot walk to the train station from the ship in Livorno.

[jigsaw101]

Thanks for your posting on Livorno - great information. We will be docking at 7:00 a.m. and departing at 7:00 p.m on Thursday, Oct. 4 on Celebrity Century. We want to see both Pisa and Florence and plan on taking the train as you did. We have a couple of questions:

1) In your opinion, would it be better to stop at Pisa on our way to Florence or on our way back?

2) How does the ticketing work? Do you just hop off the train in Pisa and then back on with the same ticket when you're ready to travel on to Florence (or vise versa) or do you need to have the ticket reissued?

3) How do the Pisa Centrale to Pisa San Rossore tickets work. Do we need to purchase them when we make our initial purchase to Florence or do we buy them at Pisa Centrale?

4) The prices you gave for taxis - is that per person or per taxi?

Thanks for all you help.

Lorraine & Al

[Dr.Oz]

I have a friend whose daughter is studying in Florence and I asked her about taking the train from Livorno to Florence. Here's her reply.

 

"Taking the train is not a good idea with a ship to catch and the train station in Pisa is a good hour walk from the leaning tower - trust me, I walked. Also, Italian trains are frequently late and that would make for a very nervous day without the freedom to enjoy the sites. So, you did

well to hire the taxi company. They will make sure that you see both Pisa and Florence and that your ship does not leave without you."

 

I'm sure a lot of you have taken the train without any problems, but I'm just not a gambler when it comes to missing the ship.

[Love Cruis'n]

We were there on July 22 this year - a Sunday, and the trains were on strike. Very few taxis available either.

Heard some very upset folks in the bar that evening talking about it - they never got to Florrence and yea - they were very :mad: upset.

[jigsaw101]

Thanks for the input Dr. Oz.

What did a "taxi" for the day cost to tour both florence and pisa?

thanks