Florence transfer from port.

[whitelilly]

Any advice?

[CruiserBruce]

Just a ride back and forth from Livorno to Florence, or touring? Check out Rome in Limo.

[Hlitner]

Several options depending on your circumstances and desires.  Trains, taxis,   Private car service, excursions or even rental cars.  Over many decades we have used them all.

 

Hank

[travelerdi58]

I am also looking for ideas on transfers from port to a private cooking class in Florence. Did contact 2 car services which they were very high priced. Does anyone know the price of a taxi? How easy is it to get a train from port to Florence? 

[combine]

Really easy to get a bus from Livorno port to station and a train to Florence, we did it last week. 

Walk from port across the bridge to the main road Via Grande. Buy your bus ticket in the tobacconist on the right and catch the bus Lam Blu to the train station. Think it was €1.50 each one way. Dont forget to validate your ticket on the bus, its a small machine near the front. Journey is about 8 mins.

 

You can buy train ticket from the ticket desk or the ticket machine. We used the machine, very easy to use. We caught the 9.12 arrived in Florence at 10.33. Dont forget to validate the ticket on the platform. Price was €41.60 for two for a return journey. We chose a specific timed return journey , came back about 16.30 ish.

 

The bus ticket for return to port can be bought in the shop in the station or you can buy two at the start.

 

I’m banging on about validating tickets but from our cruise we spoke to 6 people who got fined. Its easy money for the inspectors when the bus pulls into the station.  It does say on the ticket validate but many dont know. Four were fined €42.50 each for not validating, and two were fined for not having bought a ticket for the bus. 

Edited May 7, 2023 by combine

[Travel To Be Free]

To get out of the port area in Livorno, do you have to take a shuttle?  If you prebook transportation to Florence, are they allowed to pick you up at the ship?

 

I am not a huge fan of all the moving parts of a taxi to the train station and buying tickets.  Last year in Genoa we missed getting our ticket for the next train to Santa Margherita because the line was so long and the machines weren't extremely user-friendly. So we had to wait about 45 minutes for the next train.  It wasn't a great start to our day.  

 

 The transport companies are VERY HIGH THOUGH!!!  Much higher than Rome and Naples.  

 

I read about Sightseeing Experience, which has buses across from where they state the ship's shuttle stops in the city.  Their prices aren't bad.  Has anyone used them?  

[mskaufman]

Most on this board will probably disagree with this, but...

 

We bought a ticket from the cruise line for the HOHO bus (it was less than the price of their transfer to Florence). The only time we used the HOHO was to get into the center of town.  It was useless for much else. However, it was still less expensive than the straight transfer.

[euro cruiser]

You cannot walk out of the port of Livorno from most ships, a few smaller ones can berth in places from which you are allowed to walk but I wouldn't count on that being the case.

[travelerdi58]

Do you remember how long it took to get from the port to the center of town?  I do see the cruise line has a HOHO bus leaving at 8 & it seems like we should be in Florence around 9:30. 

[mskaufman]

I think it took something like an hour to get from the port to the bus terminal where we got on the HOHO. 

[euro cruiser]

Florence is 90 km/55 miles from the port at Livorno.  Best case in a bus is about 90 minutes.

 

Before you sign up for this, be aware that the historic center of Florence cannot be entered by buses, all the HOHO buses do is drive around the edges, you must walk in from there.  You can't really see anything from the bus.

 

You can see the map of the HOHO lines here:  Volta_depliant_firenze_Aprile 2023-tutti giorni-internet.cdr (city-sightseeing.it)

[mskaufman]

Agree that the HOHO bus is fairly useless.  We only used it because the transfer from the cruise ship was less expensive with the HOHO than without.  We only used it to get to town.  Never got on it again.