Pisa

[Vegastime]

Four of us will be in Pisa and wanted to climb the Leaning Tower. Our ship has a departure time of 7:00pm, so we would need to be back before 6:30. Preferably by 6:15.

 

If we have tickets to climb the tower at 4:40, would that leave us enough time to get back to the ship? It looks like it takes about 30 minutes to do the climb, so we would be leaving the tower around 5:10. We will probably end up having a driver to get us back, as we may do Florence earlier in the day.

 

Would like to book tickets for an earlier time, but, they are not available. We really want to pre-book our tickets, and not wait in line, or, take a chance tickets will not be available.

 

Thanks for any info, or, advice.

[RachelG]

I think that would be cutting it awfully close. It isn't that it is so far from Pisa to Livorno, but traffic can be awful, esp in the late afternoon. Also there is no parking right by the tower, so you will have to walk a little ways--surrounding streets are all pedestrian. We went to Pisa, Lucca, and Puccini on a ship's tour last year. I think it took about an hour to get to Pisa from the port. And when we returned, it took forever to get from the port entrance to our ship--there was a huge line of busses, cars, etc at the entrance.

Too risky for me!

[eh2zed]

We are experienced DIYers. Too tight for me. Bad time of day with traffic.

[euro cruiser]

I disagree - there's plenty of time. They aren't trying to do this via public transportation or driving themselves, they'll have a professional driver who knows the area.

 

With normal traffic it's a half hour from Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa to the port in Livorno. They are allowing more than double that time with this plan (leaving Pisa by 5:10 and needing to be at the port by 6:30). This is plenty of pad time, in my opinion.

[slidergirl]

You are also assuming that all those people in front of you on the climb up the stairs are going as fast as you want them to. And, are you in good enough shape to climb all those stairs in the heat and humidity and potentially claustrophobic conditions??? Do you want to take 15-20 minutes at the top to look around, or are you going to just turn around and head down, checking the box of the "climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa" on your life list?

I honestly don't think you have enough of a "what if something goes wrong" cushion in your times...

[Vegastime]

Thanks for the advice. I am thinking it will be cutting it to close.

 

Would love to spend 15-20 minutes at the top, but, it is my understanding they only allow you about 10 minutes.

[chipmaster]

Tight unless you have a private driver/car waiting. I'd not depend on flagging a cab, catching a train on DIY.

 

That being said don't give up hope. Even if you don't climb its a worthy stop. We did this tour with RIL and didn't book tickets. We got there at the opening and found tickets available. We did the climb, including my 80 old father, he just had to give it a go. Took him the whole 30'+ to make it up and down with 5' at the top. We came down as the next group went up. Honestly you only need 5' at the top to enjoy take a few snapshots. The view is nice, the experience is climbing the worn stairs, tilted stairway and than the view at the top. The worst case is you get their in the AM and all tickets are gone, stiil worth a look and the iconic picture holding up the place. The cathedral is also overlooked and very nice.

 

I personally don't believe all tickets available are pre-resevrable, some got to be for first come first serve, anyone know?

 

 

Good luck!

 

Four of us will be in Pisa and wanted to climb the Leaning Tower. Our ship has a departure time of 7:00pm, so we would need to be back before 6:30. Preferably by 6:15.

 

If we have tickets to climb the tower at 4:40, would that leave us enough time to get back to the ship? It looks like it takes about 30 minutes to do the climb, so we would be leaving the tower around 5:10. We will probably end up having a driver to get us back, as we may do Florence earlier in the day.

 

Would like to book tickets for an earlier time, but, they are not available. We really want to pre-book our tickets, and not wait in line, or, take a chance tickets will not be available.

 

Thanks for any info, or, advice.

[slidergirl]

Thanks for the advice. I am thinking it will be cutting it to close.

 

Would love to spend 15-20 minutes at the top, but, it is my understanding they only allow you about 10 minutes.

 

I forgot about the time limit. The day I was there with my friends, it was pouring rain, so no one was looking to spend a lot of time out there!!!

[GlendaleCruiser]

We had to walk about 10 blocks from the parking lot to the Tower/Cathedral area. We did get up and down in about 30 minutes but traffic is bad in the afternoon there and I personally wouldn't take the chance on missing the ship OR having the anxiety that goes along with almost missing it.:(

[kuldalai]

They only let in 30 - 40 persons at each time window and then you only have a maximum time like 20 mins to be out for the next lot to go in .