Livorno to Lucca

[mancunian]

We are going to Livorno in October. We have previously visited Pisa and Florence on a land holiday and we fancy going by ourselves to Lucca. Has anyone done this? Any advice?

[ilovhywd]

I think I've answered this question a few times, but in case you haven't seen the previous threads....

Lucca is a wonderful small town with good restaurants, good shopping, a great Roman oval, and city walls that you can walk around on.

We rented a car at the pier in Livorno (Avis), and it was a short, easy drive to Lucca. Other travelers have done this trip by train, but I think they may have had to change trains in Pisa. (I'm not sure!)

About 8 km north of Lucca is Villa Reale with terrific renaissance gardens. Well worth the visit if you have a car.

[Mike Andrews]

We have done it by train with an average journey time of an hour,and as ilovhywd says most journeys require a change of trains in Pisa. I liked Lucca and if you have visited Florence a few times it makes a worthwhile alternative.

Mike

[Hornblower]

Probably the best way to get to Lucca is by hire car. Lucca is not that far from Livorno and can be done in less than a hour. If you decide to go by train you will have to get off at Pisa and then get the local train for Lucca. As Mike said it probably can be done in about an hour.

If you require other info for Lucca, a good starting point would be the not fully complete English version of the ATP Lucca website: [url="http://www.luccatourist.it/"]Lucca Tourist[/url].

On this website you have:

How to get to Lucca: see the left hand column at “Come arrivare a Lucca” .

Where to eat: see the right hand side at “Ristorazione”. Here select from the drop-down menu the type of “Struttura” [meaning either a restaurant (ristorante), pizzeria, trattoria, etc.], and the area “Comune” (council). Naturally select Lucca.

For art, culture and events go to: [url="http://luccapro.cribecu.sns.it/ENG/index.asp"]Lucca Culture[/url]

Cheers

[Mike Andrews]

Hi Hornblower,

Some great information on a place we enjoyed.

Mike

[mancunian]

Thanks very much for the info. I must admit we had not considered going by car only wondered about the train. It is however, an attractive proposition if we can hire at the port. Many thanks again.

[Hornblower]

Mike, I'm very happy to help out anyone who's interested in visiting Lucca. It’s the birthplace of my dad and also a place we used to visit during the 6 years we lived at Bagni di Lucca, a small town about 26kms (16 miles) north of Lucca.

Lucca hasn’t been on the tourist map that long, missing out to Pisa for many years. I really think it is a very good alternative, like San Gimignano and Siena. I guess if time were permitted I would also consider visiting Pistoia, Vinci (of Leonardo fame) and the Chianti region.

My last visit to Lucca was in 2002 with my wife.

Some useful distances:

Livorno to Pisa is: 21kms (13 miles)
Pisa to Lucca is: 20kms (12.4 miles)

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Cheers

[ppiew]

Just came back from Lucca. We had intended to rent a car, but a taxi driver on the pier offered to take us for 200 euros for the day. (plus he could translate for us!) It was a great idea. We stopped (briefly) in Pisa for pictures, then on the Lucca where we spent several hours just walking around. In Lucca the taxi's are allowed to park in the walled (old) city, but private cars are NOT!! Saved us a lot there. We then went north east to Collodi (hometown of Pinocchio author) and then our driver took a different route back thru the Tuscan hills and it was truly beautiful! Loved Lucca - very NON touristy. It didn't have hundreds of t shirt and postcard shops at all. Just a town where people lived, worked, shopped. Wall surrounding town is great. You can rent a bike and ride the bike around if you want to.