Florence/Pisa 1st time

[Littleribbie]

Starting to get a bit overwelmed with looking at tours for our Ports in Italy. Florence/Pisa 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Can anyone recommend something. We are healthy 50+ (walking is fine), foodies, love, cool buildings,  (not churches as we already have a couple excursions where we will see these) also love water/ocean/cliffs (for photos). It doesn't have to be an actual tour just some highlights that shouldn't be missed if they are walking or short cab ride distance. Im also using ItalyTours EU for a couple other ports but was hoping to perhaps save some $$ and do something on our own...unless there is something that shouldn't be missed.....does anyone have a favorite restaurant we should try? Thank you so much for any help.

 

[Karae]

I don’t know what Cruise Line you will be on, but our ship has an excursion in Florence called Florence on Your Own, which we plan to do.  They basically drop you off and pick you up.  Florence is a beautiful city and wonderful for walking.  The Dumo there is beautiful, and I think everyone should go to the Galleria dell'Accademia and see the statue of David, if you are interested in doing this you can buy your tickets online beforehand and skip the lines.  I have eaten at numerous restaurants there and so far, they were all good.  Unfortunately, I do not have the names! We plan to spend our time there leisurely walking.  Do some research on Florence and make a list.  Happy Planning!

[cruisemom42]

You will dock in Livorno. It's unclear to me from your post whether you already have planned a way to get to Florence and/or Pisa -- or whether you realize that Florence is about 90 minutes (driving) from the port.

 

Can you clarify? There are ways to get to these cities on your own via the train or via a bus that departs from Livorno. Or you can take a ship tour that provides only transportation to both places (if it's a long enough time in port) or just to Florence.

 

[nybumpkin]

We did the "Florence and Pisa on your own" through the cruise line and wished we had done the tour through Italy Tours EU (we booked Rome and Marseille through them).  The "on your own" tours are nice enough, but in our case we didn't know whether we would go to Pisa or Florence first so we couldn't book advance tickets for anything. If we hadbooked with Italy Tours EU we would have been able to book tickets for the Accademia and the Duomo.

[George C]

Best tour we ever did was papillon tour of Pisa and Florence, we had 8 total me and wife and 6 others from roll call, did Pisa first then Florence they prebought tickets to museum with David and also skipped the line plenty of time for lunch and shopping then we went to a organic vineyard for a wine tasting, guide/driver was great , new Mercedes van, cost was a little under 100 per person. 

[Karae]

On 12/5/2018 at 8:29 PM, nybumpkin said:

We did the "Florence and Pisa on your own" through the cruise line and wished we had done the tour through Italy Tours EU (we booked Rome and Marseille through them).  The "on your own" tours are nice enough, but in our case we didn't know whether we would go to Pisa or Florence first so we couldn't book advance tickets for anything. If we hadbooked with Italy Tours EU we would have been able to book tickets for the Accademia and the Duomo.

Nybumpkin, I am choosing Florence on your own as I have visited Florence many times and have done the museums.  This time I just want to spend my time there leisurely seeing what I want.  We have 3 tours booked through Italy Tours EU and I am glad to read the positive comments!

[wheezedr]

To the OP, if this is your first time, I would spend it all in Florence and skip Pisa.  There is just so much to see in Florence, the David, the Duomo, the baptistery and the doors.  Really just beautiful to wander.  Only decision would be doing it totally OYO or using  the ships bus for transportation.  

If you have previous experience with Florence and are looking for an alternate , I highly recommend Lucca.  It is a wonderful walled city and can easily be combined with Pisa as you make a train change anyway.

[Langoustine]

I agree with everything wheezedr wrote. Especially: Skip Pisa.

[dogs4fun]

12 hours ago, wheezedr said:

To the OP, if this is your first time, I would spend it all in Florence and skip Pisa.  There is just so much to see in Florence, the David, the Duomo, the baptistery and the doors.  Really just beautiful to wander.  Only decision would be doing it totally OYO or using  the ships bus for transportation.  

If you have previous experience with Florence and are looking for an alternate , I highly recommend Lucca.  It is a wonderful walled city and can easily be combined with Pisa as you make a train change anyway.

Agree - this would be my advice as well.

[b_cruise]

Do you like Wine?  I took a wine tour with a quick photo op at Pisa (which was well worth it in my opinion) but not to spend an overly amount of time in Pisa, just to see it- I mean who doesnt want to see the leaning tower of Pisa once in their life...  I took the tour through Joe Banana Limos which was excellent. They took us to a family winery for lunch and a nice tour around the winery. The scenery was amazing. We had a stop at Pisa and also a couple hours in Florence.  It definitely was one of my highlights. 

 

[wintertexancruiser]

Curious how far Pisa is from Florence. Just trying to decide if it is doable to go to both. We are in port 13 hours. (Livono)

 

Thanks

[dogs4fun]

20 minutes ago, wintertexancruiser said:

Curious how far Pisa is from Florence. Just trying to decide if it is doable to go to both. We are in port 13 hours. (Livono)

Pisa is about an hour via car or train from Florence. I assume that you are docking in Livorno? Some cruisers elect to do both on the same day as it is doable. Personally, I would focus on just Florence as there is so much to see here.

[cruisemom42]

5 hours ago, wintertexancruiser said:

Curious how far Pisa is from Florence. Just trying to decide if it is doable to go to both. We are in port 13 hours. (Livono)

 

Thanks

 

Pisa is easily reached en route to Florence. If you take the train, it is one of the stops between Livorno and Firenze.  Are you going to be doing it on your own?

 

While I personally agree with the above poster that it would be better to focus just on Florence if you only have a day, there are a number of people who do both, albeit in a very limited way. (Usually easiest done with a private tour.)