Florence & pisa

[GOODIES]

Assistance is needed, traveling on NCL in May,

we stop in livorno & trying to decide should I take a pass on Pisa & spend less time in Florence.

Is Pisa really worth seeing, other than the Tower trying to do this on my own with getting train tickets and not shorting my time in Florence,

Any help greatfully appreciated

Thanks

[59_golfer]

Florence every time for me

Much more to see there

[Miss JAD]

Hi - If you haven't seen Pisa then I say you need to see it. The tower was beautiful and the drive through town was pretty. If you have already been there then I wouldn't go back. Seeing the tower was a highlight of the trip for me!

[Nightengale31]

My husband and I returned from a Med cruise on the Epic last week and went on an excursion that included Florence and Pisa. Pisa was an awful experience with so many in your face trinket hawkers that lined the way to the tower, had we known this would happen we would have not booked this excursion and did one that only included Florence which every minute there was magnificient.

[fabnfortysomething]

we did Pisa and Florence as part of a private tour

we stopped off at Pisa 8.30am when it was still very quiet and got the touristy holding up the tower shots and a few photos of field of Miracles

You really only need about 30 minutes there to say you've seen it and spend most of your time in Florence

[Turtles06]

we did Pisa and Florence as part of a private tour

we stopped off at Pisa 8.30am when it was still very quiet and got the touristy holding up the tower shots and a few photos of field of Miracles

You really only need about 30 minutes there to say you've seen it and spend most of your time in Florence

 

We did pretty much the same thing. Six of us on a private tour, we beat the tour buses out of Livorno, got to Pisa very early to see the Tower. Hardly anyone was there. It was quite peaceful, and the Tower was more charming than I expected.

 

Then we went off to Florence, and had the vast bulk of our time there.

 

Florence of course is exceptional, but I'm glad we stopped in Pisa.

 

(And this thread, btw, really belongs on the Ports of Call/Italy board. :) )

 

 

(photo by turtles06)

[Midwest_Traveler]

If you're doing this on your own from the trains, I would recommend skipping Pisa. The Field of Miracles and Leaning Tower (really the only sights) are about a 25 minute walk from the train station if you're a quick walker and don't get lost. A cab ride still takes around 10 minutes. It's not hard to find but eats up a lot of time.

 

With the limited amount of time in Livorno, I would recommend maximizing your time in Florence. The Leaning Tower is cool, but it's maybe about 10 minutes total and the rest of Pisa is quite frankly a dump. I got stuck there overnight (thanks Ryanair!) and it was probably one of the most interesting experiences in my life that I never, ever want to repeat.

[ollienbertsmum]

I was in Pisa from the Epic last week. We just went to Pisa (we needed a lie in:o) but we enjoyed it. I had previously been up the tower so didn't need to do that, but I had not been inside the Duomo and wanted to spend time there. I found it quite beautiful, the arches were literally Moorish!!

 

We went DIY using the ship shuttle to the train station. It took an hour to get from leaving the ship (10.30 am ) to standing in the train station in Pisa It then took considerably longer than 25 minutes to get from the train station to Miracle Square but that was because I stopped to do some shopping. I also found Pisa quite attractive in general. There were lots of students around, it gave it quite a vibe.

 

However Florence is more glamorous and if you only have one day in Tuscany and prefer to DIY by train, I would recommend sticking to Florence.

 

I think the choice is either Pisa and Florence on a tour (ship or private) or Florence DIY.

[spanishguy1970]

In 2009 i went on my first cruise that went to PIsa/FLorence, I enjoyed it a lot because it was my first time. If i went back i would skip Pisa and go directly to Florence. Hope you have a great time.:)

[laughing husky]

we did Pisa and Florence as part of a private tour

we stopped off at Pisa 8.30am when it was still very quiet and got the touristy holding up the tower shots and a few photos of field of Miracles

You really only need about 30 minutes there to say you've seen it and spend most of your time in Florence

 

Totally agree. There was absolutely no one there at that hour when we were there last year, and it was wonderful...then spend the day in Florence. BTW, there were no hawkers when we were there either...