pisa by train

[danelover]

Is it possible to travel from the port to Pisa by train. My grandson wants to see the tower and I don't want to try to crowd two cities into one day. Can we get a train see the tower and return with plenty of time to spare.

 

vickie

[tom_uk]

Yes, you can get to Pisa by train from Livorno. There are a few issues, however.

 

First, you have to get to Livorno station. What we did was use the cruise line shuttle bus into the centre of Livorno, then got a bus from there to the station - it's more than a mile away. You might be able to get a taxi, either from the ship to the station or from the town centre. We got our bus ticket (about €1 each) from a tobacconist's shop close to where the shuttle bus dropped us. As I recall, there were signs in the window saying 'tickets to station'. We could have bought the train ticket as well, but we preferred to get that at the station.

 

At the station I can't remember if we bought tickets from a machine or not, but we might have.

 

The train ride wasn't very long, and there were trains in each direction every half-hour. This was a Sunday, so they might be more frequent on a week day.

 

Arriving at Pisa we found that the station is on the opposite side of town from the Campo dei Miracoli, which is where the Tower is. We walked; it was about 20 or 25 minutes steady walking. I think there were taxis at Pisa station which we could have used instad but we preferred to walk.

[agabbymama]

I plan to take the train from Livorno to Pisa, then take the Hop on/Hop off bus from the train station over to the Field of Miracles, then back to the train.

 

http://www.city-sightseeing.com/index.phtml

 

This is the Ho Ho bus, and if you save your first ticket, you get 10% off subsequent tickets in other towns.

[danelover]

The Ho Ho bus looks like a good idea. I need to determine if there is a stop near the train station

 

az vickie

[hylasgirl]

I was just looking into train times... I do want to return to Livorno Central right? It lists two stops for Livorno.

[lambs2]

If you are just going to Pisa and not doing Florence too that will make for a nice leisurely day. Definitely take the train. We caught a taxi with some other folks to the Livorna Centrale train station. We had planned to take the bus #1 to the station, but we ended up getting the taxi with six other people so that was quite inexpensive. We bought our train tickets from someone who spoke excellent English and so could tell her exactly what we wanted to do that day so she made sure we had all the right tickets. We did Florence first and then stopped at Pisa on the return trip.

 

Make sure to book your times to climb the Leaning Tower (if you want to do this) at this site: http://www.opapisa.it./

The ticket price to climb the Tower is now 15€ and an extra 2€ to buy it online. I missed the date to buy our tickets last year by one day! I had been checking for weeksand it was too early, but then I got real busy and the next time I had a chance to look I was one day too late! If you have all day then you can plan to buy tickets there as you will save the 2€ online fee. Since we had spent a number of hours in Florence by the time we got to Pisa there were no tickets to climb it left for the time we were there. We could have climbed an hour or so later but didn't want to cut it that close to sail-away time in Livorno. After we took exited the train in Livorno we caught the #1 bus back to the square by the port. Last year they had shuttle buses to take us into the port, but I heard (on this board) that you can now walk into the port. Not sure about that since we had a shuttle bus last May. HAL (our line) didn't have a charge for theirs but the Carnival ship in port with us was charging for shuttle tickets, so I guess it depends on your line.

I am sure you will have a wonderful day in Pisa. You can also tour the church, museums and enjoy the shops there. I believe there is also a botanical garden if you are interested. We actually walked both ways from and back to the train because we wanted to see more of the town of Pisa. It was a nice walk, but then DH and I walk at least four miles every day!

[danelover]

thanks lambs2 I knew if I kekpt checking these boards I would find a way to avoid the expense of ships excursion and with a 10 year olds I really don't want to try to join with others for a private tour. the train will be perfect

[agabbymama]

The Ho Ho bus looks like a good idea. I need to determine if there is a stop near the train station

 

az vickie

 

Sure does. I already checked that out. Looks like it's right across the street, and it says you can board the bus and pay at any stop.

[GSPLover]

I was just looking into train times... I do want to return to Livorno Central right? It lists two stops for Livorno.

 

Yes, you do want Livorno Centrale!