La Spezia, Lucca, Pisa

[BMWman2006]

Hi

 

We would like to travel from La Spezia port to Lucca & Pisa. Can we have some advice on the best way to do this by train. Should we go to Pisa or Lucca first. We are 4 people and have from 7am to 7pm.

 

Or is it more cost effective by taxi?

 

Thank you

[TLCOhio]

Hi. We would like to travel from La Spezia port to Lucca & Pisa. Can we have some advice on the best way to do this by train. Should we go to Pisa or Lucca first. We are 4 people and have from 7am to 7pm. Or is it more cost effective by taxi? Thank you

 

For a stop in this general Pisa/Tuscany area, you need to look at costs in . . . BOTH money and time factors. There are so many great options here that time-efficiency is important, too. La Spezia is not ideally close to some of these great options. It would actually be closer for Cinque Terre. Are you aware of the super options there and its special charm and beauty?

 

For Pisa, Lucca and maybe more, I would strongly suggest doing a private tour. Last June we used RomeInLimo and it worked out super well. With a group of four their pricing is decent. If you had another couple or two join you, the cost would be much better. We were going from the Livorno port near Pisa.

 

We super loved Lucca. This town does not get the attention that Florence and Sienna do. We had done about three days in the area in 1999, allowing us more flexibility on this cruise stop of 2011. Below are some added pictures on Lucca, etc., to prove why we loved it so much. The shopping, churches, style, pace, etc. for Lucca was wonderful. Wish we had had more time there.

 

Reactions and comments? Tell us more on your personal interests, past Europe experiences, travel style, etc. What other stops are you doing on your cruise?

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 85,197 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

 

 

It was a big “WOW” for our first visit to Pisa. This tower is much taller than I expected. They just completed a major cleaning of it in early 2011, making things perfect, except for that little historic foundation problem with one tower. Also impressive here are the Pisa Baptistry and Duomo (main) church. Pisa has a couple of major universities here. There is another church here that also has a leaning (and shorter) tower. We drove by that site, also. Two leaning towers in Pisa! How many knew that? See my picture below for how is the slant at land level.:

 

 

 

 

 

In Lucca, this is the San Michele church, built in the 11th-14th centuries. It is in the heart of this walled town.:

 

 

 

The most famous son of Lucca might be the great composer Puccini. There is a statute of him on the main street. This charming town wonderfully lacks much contemporary development. Just lots of historic charm and character. Lucca also has so many cute and interesting shops. Here is one example that we enjoyed so much. It is the Antico Caffe Dei Simo at Via Fillungo 58. Its origins date back to 1846 and has seen famed artists such as Verdi and Puccini pass through its doors.:

 

 

 

We had visited San Gimignano in 1999 with our son, but it is a town that is always impressive in history and architectural styles. We had lunch here. Below is a long-shot of the hill town with its tower from the wonderful countryside below and nearby.

 

 

 

Within San Gimignano, here is a view of the main Cathedral Square, etc.:

 

[euro cruiser]

Hi

 

We would like to travel from La Spezia port to Lucca & Pisa. Can we have some advice on the best way to do this by train. Should we go to Pisa or Lucca first. We are 4 people and have from 7am to 7pm.

 

Or is it more cost effective by taxi?

It would never be cost effective to go by taxi as it is about 120 miles round trip.

 

You can easily accomplish this by train. I would go to Pisa first, as it is the furthest destination, then work back toward the ship.

 

For example, there is a train from La Spezia at 8:20 (allows time to tender in and get to the train station) that arrives at Pisa San Rossore at 9:21. This station is very close (about three blocks) from the Leaning Tower. There is an earlier train at 7:39 that arrives in Pisa at 8:38 but I doubt that you could make that one.

 

If you don't want to climb the tower you can be back at the train station in time for the 10:25 to Lucca, arriving there at 10:47. If you do want to climb the tower the next train to Lucca isn't until 12:25, unfortunately. The good news is that would give you plenty of time to see the Tower, the Duomo, the Baptistry and the museum and still get to Lucca in time for lunch and a stroll around the town.

 

To get back from Lucca there is a 3:59 PM train that arrives in La Spezia at 5:40 PM. There is one later one that could be your back up train, departing Lucca at 4:30 and arriving La Spezia at 6:19.

 

Odds are that your last tender will be between 6 - 6:30 so that second train would only be if some emergency kept you from making the 3:59.

[BMWman2006]

Eurocruiser

 

How does the train ticketing work? do we have to buy individual tickets for each trip or can we buy a day pass each & are the tickets valid on the different trains i.e regionale? How come the train says the tickets for 20/06/12 can't be purchased? Is it because they can only be purchased a few days in advance?

 

We do not want to to climb the tower so we can take the 10.30 Pisa Rossere to Lucca.

[euro cruiser]

In this case you'll need to purchase individual segments. Regional tickets, which is what you will need, are only available for sale on line about a month before. Tickets for June 20th should be available now, I'm not sure what the issue is. At any rate, it will be easy and quick to buy them at the station on the day of travel if you can't get them on line in advance. There's really no such thing as a regional train selling out.

[BMWman2006]

Thank you for all your help, I'm confident that we can do both sights and have an enjoyable day.