Florence and pisa

[Cruiseaholic07]

Good evening, we are traveling on the spirit and going into Livorno on November 30. We are trying to find an affordable option to travel to Pisa and Florence. We are trying to go see David and also go to the Ufitizi. Is this possible?  The cruise  is in port from 9 to 8, and their options are way too expensive. Any suggestions on transport or how to make this work would be much appreciated.

[Rsparis]

http://www.tuscanybus.com/

 

This may be an option for you.

[Shoppie124]

Pisa and Florence are about 1 hour train ride.  I stayed in Florence and took the train to Pisa.  It consumed most of the day.  There is a wait to get into the tower.  It is a 20 minute or so walk from the train station.  Florence is beautiful but again, the lines to get into everything are long.  I’d recommend only doing one.

[erdoran]

Yes, the NCL tours are crazy expensive!  We used italytours.eu for Livorno for Florence/Pisa, also for a debarkation tour/transfer in Rome, and for Cannes.  They are a fraction of the price and we were very satisfied.

[Sailing12Away]

Trying to do both Pisa and then go to Florence for both the Ufizzi and Academia is nearly impossible if you want to actually see anything and enjoy yourself. Check out the link in my signature for my full review of our Mediterranean trip last May. We went to Florence after the cruise, and there should be links to the Viator trips we did for the Academia & Ufizzi in there.

 

The trains in Rome are a bit tricky.... we missed our connection from Rome to Venice, and then again coming back from Rome to the airport. With a cruise ship to catch, I personally wouldn't risk it to do both Pisa & Florence on the same day, but to each their own.

[Deeliteful]

Just go to Florence. A wonderful city. Nothing but the tower in Pisa you won’t miss anything.

[Cruiseaholic07]

It looks we will be just doing Florence, which is my preference anyway. We were looking at flying into Rome and train to Venice, and then train back to Rome; prior to the cruise. We were looking at train to The port.

[ColeThornton]

JCU, I would ask this on the Italy ports of call forum.  You will get more responses there.  Here is the link for you.  Enjoy your vacation.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/464-italy-ports/

Edited June 1, 2019 by ColeThornton

[old nutter]

Florence or Pisa is a very subjective view.  It depends what you get from your travelling.

 

Florence is beautiful and is full of artistic treasures and is probably one of the finest places to see the best of historical European art. 

 

Pisa has massive significance in the world of science as the birthplace of Galileo. Sitting inside the Cathedral you can be where one of the most significant events in science occurred. You can sit where Galileo watched the great lamp swinging in the wind from the roof and counting his pulse was able to discover the pendulum and so was ultimately the father of clock making and even time itself. He apparently also used the tower to drop two articles of different size and proved that they fall at the same rate.  He also experimented with lenses and after building one of the first telescopes, he studied the stars and the universe.

 

Which you visit first is very much a choice between art and science. Standing in the steps of such greatness is a huge privilege and it depends what you want to experience first.

[FredZiffle]

We took the train in to Florence.  Said hello to David (popular fellow - long lines), saw a few other sights, ate lunch.  Took the train back and had an extra hour, so we got off in Pisa, hightailed it up the hill to the leaning tower, took a few pics, and then walked back downhill to the train station.  The train really is a lot of fun, easy to navigate, and super cheap.

[Son of a son of a ...]

4 hours ago, Deeliteful said:

Just go to Florence. A wonderful city. Nothing but the tower in Pisa you won’t miss anything.

 

Agreed 100% ... with limited time, I would spend it all at Florence