what to do in livorno?

[paulpest]

we are not interested in any tours in florance,is there anything to do in livorno?we thought about going to lucca,just dont want long tour,and long drive.

[Hlitner]

There has been much posted on this subject (much from me) and you do have many options. Lucca does make a great day trip and its a very easy journey. The biggest problem is getting from the pier to the Livorno Centrale train station with the best method being to use a taxi. Since most of the taxis do not want to take the short local haul it helps to be off the ship early in the morning and than assertively make the taxi drivers understand that you need to get to the stazione. If they have a shuttle bus into town, you would still have quite a hike, need a taxi of could use a public bus to get to the station. To get to Lucca you simply take the train to Pisa where you change to the Lucca train (they usually run about once per hour). The train usually leaves from a strange track at the Pisa station (it has a number + the letter "B) and its located towards your right as you exit the station onto the platform, but its way down towards your right..not the track right in front of the door (you need to check the board for the track number because it can change). Once you get to Lucca's station, its a short walk across the street, through the park and parking area and into the very walkable city. We really enjoy this walled city (we somtimes even visit when we are just driving in the region) and it makes for a delightful day where you can just browse shops, enjoy a nice lunch and soak up the atmosphere. If you like to ride bikes it easy to rent a bike to ride around the top of the preserved walls.

 

Hank

[ab0si]

The best thing to in livorno is either:

a) spend the day on the shio or

b) get out of town.

 

It is a rather ugly town (but then it was 90%+ destroyed by Allied bombing in WWII).

 

Lucca is a wonderful town. If you like countryside the area north of Lucca (inland, not the coast) is some of the nicest near wilderness in Ialy. There re local trains to get up there in if you want to do that.

 

BTW, Florence is my favorite city in the world, but unless this is your one and only chance to see it in your life, doing a day trip from Livorno off a cruise ship never made any sense to me. So, I kinda like your idea.

 

You will probably have to connect in Pisa for the train to/from Lucca. The total trip there or back is usually 1:10 or so.

 

Paul

[CasaM]

Tom Ogg has done a port review on Livorno. Here it is:

 

http://www.europeportreviews.com/Florence3.htm

 

We are in the same boat (so to speak). We did Lucca last trip, and did Florence on a land trip. We have 2 intensive all day tours planned for the previous days, so we want a more laid back day in Livorno. We're thinking of just spending the day (or part of the day, however long we are enjoying it) to look around Livorno and have lunch.