Lucca or Volterra from Livorno

Has anyone gone from Livorno to either Lucca or Volterra by taxi -- and back. Wondering if there will be taxis at the port when we dock, and if we get to one of these towns, how likely it will be to get a taxi back to the ship. Any suggestions?

If you want to go to Lucca it is relatively easy to take the train. You would need to get a taxi to the Livorno train station and you do have to change trains at Pisa...but its not a big deal. The train station at Lucca is within walking distance of the walls.

As to Volterra, we have only visited that city when we had our own rental car. Using a taxi from Livorno would cost several hundred Euros as its about 100 miles round trip.

Speaking of rental cars, if you simply rent a car your could probably drive to both Volterra and Lucca in a long port day :). The local Hertz Franchise which is Sifracar (http://www.sifracar.com) will deliver a car right to your ship's pier and handle the paperwork when you walk off the ship. When you return to Livorno you will be able to drop the car right next to your ship. Hard to beat this company for convenience although they do charge a little more money for all the great service. Parking at Lucca is easy as the walls are surrounded by several parking lots. In Volterra we usually park in a large indoor parking garage located just inside the lower entrance to the city.

Hank

Totally agree, very easy to go by train to Lucca : I did it last year and had a very good day. As all the taxis at port were booked in advance, I took a bus to the station (but it was 7h30 am at the beginning of may, maybe some taxis came later). If you really want to visit Lucca by taxi, it would probably be better to book in advance, specially if you're on a big ship.

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Lucca is very easy to do by train and very cheap, but we have also used the rental car company that Hank suggested above. They are wonderful. They even had programmed into the GPS where we should park in Lucca, etc. They were a delight to work with and dropping the rental car right back next to the ship was a bonus.

Stephanie

We have done Lucca by train and Volterra with a driver, the journey to Volterra was longer but very scenic. I am not sure I would chance a taxi but would either take the driver we used Papillon tours and they were excellent or the car hire option.

The train to Lucca is indeed a good option. Just an advice: Choose a connection before on http://www.trenitalia.com/ and be early to allow for potential delays.

Currently there are no direct trains from Pisa to Lucca between 10.20 and 12.20. Being delayed from Livorno to Pisa we once missed our planned train to Lucca. We did not want to wait for two hours and took a taxi from Pisa to Lucca for about 80 Euros.

Thanks, everybody, for these wonderful suggestions. I appreciate your help.