Livorno to Lucca by train

[bbqbears]

Our NCL cruise will stop in Livorno (Florence) for 12 hours and am considering taking the train to Lucca.  Has anyone done this?  Two members of our party have mobility issues-how difficult is it to get to the train station from the port?  

[mapleleaves]

Our trip was in Sept 2019, so hopefully someone with current experience will chime in. 

To make life easy we paid $25pp to take the NCL shuttle from the pier to the Livorno train station. 

(Otherwise, it appeared that we had to take a free shuttle from the pier to the port entrance, then a city bus to  the station.)

 

We went to Pisa then Florence.

 

[euro cruiser]

Yes, the hardest part is getting from the ship to the train station in Livorno and back.  If your ship offers a shuttle, even though it seems like a lot of money to be driven about three miles, take it.

 

Otherwise you can sometimes get a taxi for about 25 or 30 euro each way, but there's no guarantee you'll find one.

 

The last option is as noted above, the ship shuttle to Piazza del Municipio followed by either a taxi or the public bus to the train station.  From the cruise ship drop off point to the station is one and a half miles.

 

Once you're at the station it's pretty easy.  There are often long lines at the ticket windows but there are fairly easy to use, multilanguage touch screen ticket machines you can use instead.  You could also buy your tickets on line ahead of time.

 

There are no direct trains to Lucca, you'll go to Pisa Centrale and change trains there for a train to Lucca.  Pisa Centrale is a good sized station and there are elevators at every track to make it easy to get from one to another.

 

The trip takes a little over an hour, the exact time depends on the connection you get.  

 

Once at Lucca you'll walk across the piazza and follow the path toward the city walls and through the opening.

[bbqbears]

This is very helpful information.  Thank you so much! Kathy

[carlmm]

When you take the option with the shuttle into town and bus to the train station, note that you can buy a ticket including bus and train at the tabacco stores. No additional buying at the station.

[bbqbears]

carlmm, that's good to know.   Do many people at the little tobacco or other shops in the port speak English?

[Hlitner]

Euro cruiser answered most of the questions.  I would just add that doing that day trip with mobility issues is probably not a good decision.  The walk from train station to the walled town (in Lucca) is a few hundred yards and once inside the walls it is all walking.  And most visitors also want to climb up to the top of the walls to take a stroll.   Another caution is that the last time we did this day trip it was a long hike in Pisa to get to the Lucca train which was on a distant platform.  This may have changed, but then again...........

 

Hank

[bbqbears]

Hank,  thanks for the tip.  Especially since we are going to do the hop on/off bus in Rome.  My friend can simply stay on the bus and loop around while the rest of us walk, but she's definitely going to do more walking that day than she's used to-we hope to walk through the Forum. After starting out all enthusiastic for Lucca, but after considering everyone's comments, I think we'd better stick with Florence and just plan to take it slow. 

 

Again, I appreciate everyone's comments.  So helpful in making travel plans. 

[wcook]

Hope you enjoy Florence! One other option would have been to rent a car and drive to Lucca. When we did this it was super easy as the rental company had cars ready right off the ship. 

[bbqbears]

Hmm, rental car.  That may be a good option too.  Thank you for the suggestion!