Trip to Pisa

We are planning a trip to Pisa, and fancy one of those offered by the ship - the one with the boat and trolley train. Anyone done that trip who knows if there is time to actually go up the tower? I have heard that it is important to pre book, but have no idea about timings for booking the trip up the tower. Advice? Thanks.

I'm doing this trip during my cruise in the next 2 weeks so can let you know when I get back on July 16th.

That will be great! Hope you have a brilliant time! What other shore excursions are you planning?

Just so you know, and aren't disappointed, the short walk from the coach park to the tower is through a housing estate that isn't as nice as you'd expect it to be. I was surprised to find such a wonderful landmark that looked liked it had been plonked in the middle of a foreign council estate.

The tower and neighbouring church are as lovely as you'd expect, but surrounded by unsavoury men handing you a free but utterly useless gift, but then asking for money in return.

Just so you know.

We have done that trip although it was with RCI not P&O, I'm sure it will be the same as I think they all use outside companies for the tours. We didn't actually get that much time so I'm not sure you would have time to go up the tower as it wasn't something we attempted (heights :eek:). I think we only had about an hour, maybe it['s possible to find out from P&O.

If it is the same as ours I'm afraid you'll miss out on the delights of the council estate lol - the trolley train took us from the boat to the centre so we didn't walk from the coach park, it picked us back up in the same place and took us back to meet up with the coach. We rarely do the ship's excursions, preferring to do things on our own but we thoroughly enjoyed this one because of the different parts and Pisa was so much better than I expected, much more than just a bendy tower lol.

Have a great time

Gill

Sounds interesting Big Stevie... Gilpet, I like the idea of the Trolley train and boat, but want to go up the tower.... Am torn with what to do. :confused:

Because we had no intention of going up the tower we didn't even look to see if there was a queue so I'm afraid I can't be any help but hopefully Triplalot will pop back on to tell you. The only other thing I can suggest is to contact P&O or I know that on the excursions pages of one of the cruise lines they sometimes have reviews of the tours, but I can't remember which one.

We haven't done Pisa on our own but we have done Florence and Lucca (separate occasions) on our own from Livorno and Pisa is the easiest of the lot. You could take a taxi from the port to the station but we actually used the shuttle bus into the town centre, there is a tourist office right by the drop off point and they advised us where to get a bus to the station, it's only 15 minutes on the train to Pisa so very easy and then your time is your own. It would mean missing the boat trip which would be a shame but the road train really isn't very exciting so that wouldn't matter (in my opinion).

Gill

Thanks Gill. I will wait until I hear back from Tripalot, and then make a decision. I am sure that it will all be lovely, whatever we decide. :-)

Just got back from oceana, and did Pisa ourselves. Very easy just took the shuttle into town, the same company run a bus to Pisa, 30-40 min journey. It was only €15, the trolley train was nothing special and unfortunately ran someone over whilst we were there.

The one time I was due to visit Livorno, P&O offered one excursion that gave time to climb the tower, and all the others specifically stated that there was not time to climb it. If that still applies, then you'll know which to book.

(It was too windy to dock, so we didn't get to go up. :( )

Thanks very much.

I'm doing this trip during my cruise in the next 2 weeks so can let you know when I get back on July 16th.

Hi Tripalot. I was wondering how the Pisa trip was. We go in a couple of weeks and still not decided what to book for Pisa.

We enjoyed this trip especially since it was a very hot day and there was not very much walking involved. It included a 20 minute coach journey to a National Park where we picked up the Trolley which took us to the centre of Pisa (circa 15 minutes) where we stayed and did our own thing for about an hour before re boarding the Trolley which then took us to the river Arno to pick up the boat. The boat trip is very scenic and ends back in the park where the coach was waiting to return to the port. The guide was very good and informative. Pisa historical centre is quite a walk from the train station so we were glad that we didn't opt to take the train in the heat. Since we didn't want to go inside the tower an hour was enough and included time for gelato and a beer in the square whilst we waited for the guide to rejoin us. Pisa historical centre was stunning, better than I expected.

we enjoyed this trip especially since it was a very hot day and there was not very much walking involved. It included a 20 minute coach journey to a national park where we picked up the trolley which took us to the centre of pisa (circa 15 minutes) where we stayed and did our own thing for about an hour before re boarding the trolley which then took us to the river arno to pick up the boat. The boat trip is very scenic and ends back in the park where the coach was waiting to return to the port. The guide was very good and informative. Pisa historical centre is quite a walk from the train station so we were glad that we didn't opt to take the train in the heat. Since we didn't want to go inside the tower an hour was enough and included time for gelato and a beer in the square whilst we waited for the guide to rejoin us. Pisa historical centre was stunning, better than i expected.

Taken from my phone so not the best quality :)

We went to Pisa on our own when we cruised with RCI - can honestly say it was one of the most underwhelming places I've ever been and we wish we'd not gone at all. We were literally there for 25 mins, took a few pictures to prove we'd been there and then we left to go back to the ship. It wasn't helped by the fact it was a Sunday and so most of Italy was shut down.

If we were to go to the area again we'd definitely go and explore Cinque Terre or Florence instead.

We found there is so much more to Pisa than just the Tower - I think tours which just stop off for what us essentially a photo stop don't give people time to appreciate what else is there. Miracle Square had a great deal of interest - the Duomo, Baptistery, thr Tower and the Cemetery too which is inside a walled garden with lots of statues and well maintained gardens - worth a walk through. We probably spent 3 hours there including drinks in one of the cafés on the edge of the Square.

We too went by train - picked up the local bus from the Square in the centre of Livorno to the station (5 mins), then caught one of the fairly frequent trains which took about 20 minutes to Pisa. It is about a 15 walk from there to Miracle Square but the route takes you over the river and through decent streets of mainly old buildings which were quite interesting (no housing estate - that must be from a different direction). There were two parallel roads - we returned by the other one from our approach. That was more interesting as I remember. But on a hot day I take the point that the trolley bus and or river trip might have more appeal.

However it is straight forward and very cheap to get there independently should you wish and that would give you the freedom to spend more time there also deciding on your priorities in terms of what you most want to do. Can you pre-book tickets for the Tower (not perhaps a good idea if there is a danger of not being able to dock though). Whatever, you have quite a few options. I hope you enjoy your trip to Pisa however you choose to do it.

Thank you everyone... I think we will DIY. Really looking forward to it! :-)

P. S. If you do DiY remember to validate your train ticket on the platform (put the ticket in the little box which date and time stamps your ticket). Sorry if I'm teaching my grandmother to suck eggs but if you're not familiar with the routine I'd be very sorry if you got caught out as there are spot fines for travelling with a ticket which hasn't been validated. Happy travels.

Thanks for the tip kruzseeka. I didn't know about that.

We went on the P&O Pisa trip in June and it was a complete waste of money. We were bussed to the outskirts of Pisa and deposited in a car park where we picked up the trolley train. That took us to within about 200 yards of the leaning tower where we were given about an hour to wander around. Apart from the tower and church there is not much to see although some of the surrounding streets were attractive.

We met up with the guide and then the trolley train took us uncomfortably through some backstreets and along the river. We were back on the ship before lunch.

My advice would be to take a taxi to Pisa and wander around in your own time.

we are on Azura in September

If we took a taxi from the port to Pisa can anyone tell me how long is the journey and how much please?

we are on Azura in September

If we took a taxi from the port to Pisa can anyone tell me how long is the journey and how much please?

There is quite a lot of info on getting to Pisa in this Tom's Port Guide (amongst a lot of other info). He says 23Km and a 30 minute drive but doesn't give an idea of taxi costs.

http://www.tomsportguides.com/Livorno-09-25-2013.pdf

This site advertises at €72 return - but don't know if that's typical.

http://www.tourshuttle.com/EN/ITALY/transfer_Livorno-Port_Pisa-City-Centre.html

One Livorno tourist site mentioned bus and private tours possibly available in the square where the shuttle drops you off. Don't know if a Google would throw up any companies offering that but might be worth checking out.

Further to my earlier post one probable cheap method of getting to Pisa from Livorno is as follows:

Taken from Trip Advisor:

The ship's tour was extortionate. We did use the ship's shuttle to get to Livorno town ($8) then a 1euro bus ride on the number 1 bus from the square to the train staion, the train ride was 1.70Euro in each direction.Train tickets were easy to purchase from automated machines , no need to worry about language problems and the trains were regular.A 90 cent bus ride completed the journey from PIsa station to the tower. Then you just did the reverse.

The distance is 31.6 kms but contrary to my earlier post I think a taxi will be expensive - around 120euros according to one post I read but you can of course share with other trippers but the advice to get to Livorno first by the ship's bus (which will probably be free) is probably the best way to go as you won't know where in the very large port the cruise will dock.

Thanks :-)

I was in Livorno from Oceana recently and when disembarking in the terminal building there were booths offering taxis and tours to Pisa and Florence, and even car hire. We were on an organized tour and so just walked straight past so I didn't make a note of the prices.