Advice for Visiting Lucca

My wife and I will be in port (Livorno) from 7am - 7pm and are 100% certain we would like to visit Lucca.

Looking for advice for the best way to go.

Saw a post and visited the site of Tuscanybus.com that has a trip to Lucca/Pisa - it is only 28 euro per person in a nice bus with wifi. It sounds very convenient as it departs from near the cruise shuttle drop off, but it leaves fairly late at 10:30 am (though a slow morning enjoying breakfast sounds good). It only gives you 3 hours in Lucca and ( 90 minutes in Pisa).

We have never been to Pisa, so we would like to see the tower, but have no burning desire to go inside.

We have also cruised to Italy before and have taken the train (from Civ - Rome and back, and Livorno - Florence and back).

How much more time could we realistically gain in Lucca taking the train? Is it worth it to spend the extra time in Lucca? Could we see the Tower in Pisa without devoting to much time?

Are there any other affordable options?

I can't help with the core question about Lucca. But I can say that, in my opinion, 90 minutes is ample time to "see" the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the surrounding buildings in the area. You would have time for picture taking, the gift shop, and to go inside the Cathedral. One does not have to climb the tower to appreciate it.

Both are very nice to see.

We spent more time in Lucca then three hours but we like to walk and walked and walked and walked.

There is also more to see in Pisa then the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

So if you want to see both you can. Just do the research up front so you know what you want to see in Lucca and in Pisa just do the research as well.

Do build in time for lunch.

Keith

We did both Pisa and Lucca on our trip in August. We were in port from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. We took the first shuttle from the port into town, took the bus to the train station and then took the train to Pisa Centrale Station. We walked through Pisa to the Leaning Tower (about 30 minutes if you just stroll). We did climb the tower, but it was my daughter's first time there. Afterwards, we went outside the square and took a bus to Lucca. We walked the wall all the way around (about 2.5 miles) as well as a fair amount of walking in the old town itself. We walked to the train station in Lucca (just a few blocks outside the walls) and took the train back to Pisa and on to Livorno where we took the bus back to the shuttle drop off point and then took the shuttle back to the ship. We were back in plenty of time and took advantage of the free wifi in the Livorno Terminal building.

Thanks for the replies so far.

I know I can stop at Pisa taking train to Lucca, just not sure I need 90 minutes there.

I also know that there is enough to do in 90 minutes if I choose so.

More interested in how much time to really enjoy Lucca. Would definitely like to bike around the wall.

Thanks for the replies so far.

I know I can stop at Pisa taking train to Lucca, just not sure I need 90 minutes there.

I also know that there is enough to do in 90 minutes if I choose so.

 

More interested in how much time to really enjoy Lucca. Would definitely like to bike around the wall.

personally 30 mins is enough for Pisa to get a few photos of tower and surrounding buildings

have had several port visits to Livorno with Pisa as an add on for that half hour

Lucca or Florence definitely justify more time

personally 30 mins is enough for Pisa to get a few photos of tower and surrounding buildings

 

 

 

have had several port visits to Livorno with Pisa as an add on for that half hour

 

Lucca or Florence definitely justify more time

Exactly. I “had” to go there to see it but once you see it and take photos, you’re good. I just remembered I also picked up some limoncello in a Tower bottle and the ship allowed me to bring it to my room. Lol

Returning to area on another cruise and we are visiting Lucca this time. Thank you for this thread.

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Thanks for the replies so far.

I know I can stop at Pisa taking train to Lucca, just not sure I need 90 minutes there.

I also know that there is enough to do in 90 minutes if I choose so.

 

More interested in how much time to really enjoy Lucca. Would definitely like to bike around the wall.

We spent about 4 1/2 hours there. We did the Rick Steves’ walking tour from his book, walked about 1/4 of the Wall and had a nice sit down lunch in a piazza. We did go into each church that was highlighted on the walking tour. We did spend some time walking through a flea market (we prefer food markets) that we could have missed and not had a problem....it’s off to the east side of the city away from the best sites.

My wife and I will be in port (Livorno) from 7am - 7pm and are 100% certain we would like to visit Lucca.

 

Looking for advice for the best way to go.

Saw a post and visited the site of Tuscanybus.com that has a trip to Lucca/Pisa - it is only 28 euro per person in a nice bus with wifi. It sounds very convenient as it departs from near the cruise shuttle drop off, but it leaves fairly late at 10:30 am (though a slow morning enjoying breakfast sounds good). It only gives you 3 hours in Lucca and ( 90 minutes in Pisa).

We have never been to Pisa, so we would like to see the tower, but have no burning desire to go inside.

 

We have also cruised to Italy before and have taken the train (from Civ - Rome and back, and Livorno - Florence and back).

 

How much more time could we realistically gain in Lucca taking the train? Is it worth it to spend the extra time in Lucca? Could we see the Tower in Pisa without devoting to much time?

 

Are there any other affordable options?

What did you end up doing in the end? Sounds like I am contemplating similarly to what you originally posted. We have decided on Lucca/Pisa for our excursion out of Livorno. We have no burning desire to go up the tower either; a small visit in Pisa simply to see it would suffice on the way back from Lucca. I've been weighing the Tuscanybus.com option versus the port shuttle/Livorno city bus (LAM Blu or LAM Rossa) /train option. And the later 10:30 a.m. departure is why I'm wondering if it would be better to get an earlier start on our own as our ship is scheduled to arrive in port at 7:00 am. If we get the earlier start, I figure we would have some extra time, and we could use that in Lucca. But I have also read elsewhere that the port shuttle may not operate before 8:30 a.m. If this is the case, I don't know if there would be much time savings at all. I think it would create a very tight window to get the 09:19 a.m. train. and that would put us in Lucca at 10:18 a.m., so maybe about an hour of extra time. And it would be at about half the cost. But if we don't make that train, the next train at 09:41 a.m. is €7.80 more each, shrinking the savings, giving us no extra time, and it seems to be more hassle. I would love to hear how it worked out for you.

If you are on an NCL ship, you can get a shuttle directly to the train station which takes some of the hassle out of the journey. It is easy to get a train to Lucca and then stop off in Pisa on the way back. You can get off the train on the stop before Pisa Centrale and then walk from the tower to Pisa Centrale to get your train back to Livorno.

The idea of a later breakfast is very tempting.

I think that 3 hours in Lucca would be enough. I liked it and would be happy to go back - but not because I didn't have enough time, just because I would do the same visit again.

We used the Tuscanybus last year to visit Lucca/Pisa and would highly recommend it. Tour guide gives you info on the trip to Lucca then lets you loose there to do what you want and we all met at a little cafe to get to our bus. Lucca is fantastic (been there several times) and you'll have plenty of time to look around and have lunch. I think we had even less time in Pisa but enough to see the tower and have a drink. Good value for money. BTW the day we wanted to go there was no scheduled bus but there were enough people on our cruise who wanted to do it that they put one.