Climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa

[Vitamin Sea]

I am planning on doing Princess' Florence & Pisa tour, which does not include climbing the Tower. Is it possible to climb the tower on my own in the free time (maybe 30 minutes)? Is it worth the climb? I would appreciate your thoughts. :)

[cruisemom42]

You have to reserve ahead in order to get a ticket. It would probably be difficult to figure out the exact timing of when you'd need the reservation. I haven't tried to do this while on a cruise tour. However, I did climb the tower many years ago and didn't think it was all that.

[grandbanksguy]

I am planning on doing Princess' Florence & Pisa tour, which does not include climbing the Tower. Is it possible to climb the tower on my own in the free time (maybe 30 minutes)? Is it worth the climb? I would appreciate your thoughts. :)

 

They only let a limited number of people climb the tower each day, so be sure to purchase tickets on line at 17 euros if you are planning to climb. But I’d forget Pisa and spend more time in Florence if you are interested in seeing some truly wonderful sites.

[texancruzer]

We did the Florence and Pisa On Your Own on our Brilliance cruise. Since the cruiselines all use the same local tour companies - this would be the same tour.

 

We found out that some of the tours will do Pisa first - then Florence and some of them will reverse the order and do Florence first - then Pisa. This is so ALL the buses don't head to the same place at the same time. Makes sense. So - point is you will not know which place you will be going first.

 

We did Pisa first. The Tower was not open yet when we arrived and we would not have had time anyway. 30 minutes is not long to look around when the bathroom line was as long as it was !!!!! Seems everyone had the same idea when they got off the bus, walked the 10 minutes or so from the parking lot to the Field of Miracles....... bathroom break :o

[mazza]

Hi

We climbed the tower in 2004, and I really enjoyed it. It didn't take that long and wasn't at all difficult to do. I've attached a photo from the top (badly merged!). But, the tower is the only thing in Pisa worth seeing so if you have limited time, Florence is a better place to spend more time.

Maree

 

http://www.maree.smugmug.com/gallery/1898533_6Xj6g#95761128_N6gzb-A-LB

[wildcruisers]

I am planning on doing Princess' Florence & Pisa tour, which does not include climbing the Tower. Is it possible to climb the tower on my own in the free time (maybe 30 minutes)? Is it worth the climb? I would appreciate your thoughts. :)

 

If you haven't booked it yet, why not consider hiring a car. We did this from Hertz and it worked out really well. They brought it to the cruise ship so no hassles there. We could spend as much time as we wanted climbing the tower (which was well worth the climb and much more impressive than in pictures) and we wandered around the baptistry and church as well. As someone else said, 30 minutes is about enough time to go to the toilet and take a couple of pics, you're not really making the most of it. Because we were on our own schedule, we then went to Florence (guided by our Satnav which made it very easy) and spent the day there doing what we wanted. Just an option to consider

[lisiamc]

I have to stick up for Pisa a little bit. I climbed the leaning tower a few years ago and thought it was the bees' knees. The steps go up, of course, but since the tower tilts, you climb up and tilt down at the same time, as you go round and round. The view from the top is gorgeous. I also enjoyed the fact that my feet were walking on the same steps that Galileo walked on.

 

Not only is the tower worth climbing, in my opinion, but the cathedral is attractive, and the Baptistry has interesting art. If you go to the Baptistry at the right time, you might get a singing guard. The way the building is constructed, if someone stands at the right spot and sings a note, they will get echoing harmonics - they can sing in several-part harmony with themselves!

 

Also within the Piazza dei Miracoli is the Jewish Cemetery, dating back to 1648. If you are interested at all in Jewish history, it is a great place to go.

 

Across the city, near the river, is the church of Santa Maria della Spina, a beautiful little gothic jewel box of a church, built in 1230, and later taken apart piece by piece and reassembled on higher ground.

 

And that's just a taster. Of course it's important to see Florence. But if someone has already "done" Florence, I think it's a mistake to dismiss Pisa as a five-minute drive-by and a cheesy photo of someone holding up the tower, taken in a hurry on their way to somewhere else.

 

Lisa

(can you tell I like Pisa?:))

[Tesla]

Hi

We climbed the tower in 2004, and I really enjoyed it. It didn't take that long and wasn't at all difficult to do. I've attached a photo from the top (badly merged!). But, the tower is the only thing in Pisa worth seeing so if you have limited time, Florence is a better place to spend more time.

Maree

 

http://www.maree.smugmug.com/gallery/1898533_6Xj6g#95761128_N6gzb-A-LB

 

Those are gorgeous pictures mazza!