Livorno is a bit of a dump. It’s claim to fame is its proximity to Pisa, Lucca and Florence. Don’t waste your money on the Livorno city tour, not much to see. Beware, the taxi drivers have quite scam going and seem to have a ‘mafia’ like grip on all the taxis in the city. Our plan was to take a much less expensive train to Lucca and hit Pisa on the way back to the ship. We are a family of 4, so paying for a tour on a per-person basis can get fairly pricey. Train travel is more adventurous and much less expensive to see the same sights.
We got off the ship and tried to hail a taxi from the ship’s terminal directly to the train station but none of the taxis would work with us. The taxi company refused to call a taxi for us, insisting they were only doing tours of Lucca/Pisa/Florence. Clearly, they didn’t want us getting to the train station and going it on our own. It was very frustrating so we hopped on the 5 Euro shuttle bus into town thinking we could get a taxi from the city center to the train station a few miles away. Once in town, we and several other passengers ran into the same problem. The taxis would only do the Lucca/Pisa/Florence tours for 25 Euro per person with a group of 8 people, or you could take a bus tour for 15 Euro per person to Pisa only. Exasperated, frustrated and really ticked off, we opted for what seemed like our only choice…Pisa by bus tour for 15 Euro per person. I was really disappointed that it was IMPOSSIBLE to get to the Livorno train station on the other side of town so that we could explore on our own. (We later were told that there is a city bus that goes to the train station, but we didn't have time to figure out how that worked.)
Now I understand why there is no Uber service in Italy as the Taxi Mafia has prevented them from doing business in Italy! It is not at all in the best interests of the tourist. I was certain once in the city we could hail a taxi without any problem. The pickings were ripe for the taxi drivers. All in all, lots of passengers VERY disappointed with the taxi mafia and lack of choices.
By the way, the 15 Euro R/T bus trip to Pisa (with 2.5 hours there) was fine. Air conditioned bus and decent wifi. Were I to do this over, I would pre-book that trip (I think it's 10 Euros if booked ahead) and skip the hassle of looking for a taxi.
Sharing advice on getting to Pisa from Livorno
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Livorno is a bit of a dump. It’s claim to fame is its proximity to Pisa, Lucca and Florence. Don’t waste your money on the Livorno city tour, not much to see. Beware, the taxi drivers have quite scam going and seem to have a ‘mafia’ like grip on all the taxis in the city. Our plan was to take a much less expensive train to Lucca and hit Pisa on the way back to the ship. We are a family of 4, so paying for a tour on a per-person basis can get fairly pricey. Train travel is more adventurous and much less expensive to see the same sights.
We got off the ship and tried to hail a taxi from the ship’s terminal directly to the train station but none of the taxis would work with us. The taxi company refused to call a taxi for us, insisting they were only doing tours of Lucca/Pisa/Florence. Clearly, they didn’t want us getting to the train station and going it on our own. It was very frustrating so we hopped on the 5 Euro shuttle bus into town thinking we could get a taxi from the city center to the train station a few miles away. Once in town, we and several other passengers ran into the same problem. The taxis would only do the Lucca/Pisa/Florence tours for 25 Euro per person with a group of 8 people, or you could take a bus tour for 15 Euro per person to Pisa only. Exasperated, frustrated and really ticked off, we opted for what seemed like our only choice…Pisa by bus tour for 15 Euro per person. I was really disappointed that it was IMPOSSIBLE to get to the Livorno train station on the other side of town so that we could explore on our own. (We later were told that there is a city bus that goes to the train station, but we didn't have time to figure out how that worked.)
Now I understand why there is no Uber service in Italy as the Taxi Mafia has prevented them from doing business in Italy! It is not at all in the best interests of the tourist. I was certain once in the city we could hail a taxi without any problem. The pickings were ripe for the taxi drivers. All in all, lots of passengers VERY disappointed with the taxi mafia and lack of choices.
By the way, the 15 Euro R/T bus trip to Pisa (with 2.5 hours there) was fine. Air conditioned bus and decent wifi. Were I to do this over, I would pre-book that trip (I think it's 10 Euros if booked ahead) and skip the hassle of looking for a taxi.