Stay Pisa or Florence?

I'd recommend your second choice.

I would stay in Florence. There is so much more to see and do there than Pisa.

Stay in Florence. I lived there for 2 weeks and still didn't see everything, and you have easy access to a lot of cool towns.

Florence.

(and yes, I HAD to make a detour b/n Rome and Siena on my first trip just to see the you-know-what. I squealed like a little girl when I saw it. Totally worth the time and trouble!)

Figure out just what it is that you want to see and do, then you'll have your answer. Make sure what you want to see and do will be open on those days...;-)

EDIT: Oh. I see the need to clarify (not that I'm a prude or anything...;-).

The thing that made me squeal was the Leaning Tower of Pisa LOL!!! The OP was asking about staying in Florence or Pisa so in my head, PISA was understood...but it wasn't, and I see why! We went up the coast from Rome to Pisa, then on to Siena. Not Rome to Florence (where I DIDN'T squeal at David's 'hoo-hoo'!) to Siena HA!HA!HA!

Now having said that, David DOES have his charms...8^O

LOL! LOL! LOL!

Florence, I agree. But we were there in October, not supposed to be a peak month, and the place was jammed. Couldn't walk down some streets or across the Ponte Vecchio for the tourists. Why? They have allowed tour buses to come into the city and disgorge tourists at 10am, picking them up at 5pm. Truly ruining this city for individual tourists. We loved Florence at night. Stay in Florence, travel around area, including Pisa during the day, then come back and enjoy Florence at night (other than the museums of course which you have to do during the day). Also be prepared for graffitti on all the walls, everywhere. The city is really going downhill, fast, because of poor city management of this great cultural treasure.

Tuscany area may be a good choice but probably not Pisa. There isn't much in Pisa but I suspect it's oversold to big tour groups which would push the price up.

Florence is very expensive and not that great for staying. I think it's best to choose Florence as your base only while touring Florence, then find another place rather than day-tripping out of Florence.

If it must be one of the two, I'd chose Florence in a heartbeat - Pisa is not all that great apart from the historical center and I'd second Brad in saying you could chose another spot in Tuscany, like the village called Pienza, Montepulciano, Greve in Chianti, Volterra or Sienna. Tuscany is so beautiful, enjoy your trip!

florence. it is the greatest city in europe. small, beautiful, packed with sites, awesome food, wine, wine, wine. i could go on. pisa is a great day trip, but too small to stay for long. have fun, be safe.

Florence! -There is so much to see and discover - we had 2 days and wish we had more. Pisa was a quick photo op completed in an afternoon.

I agree with the others. Florence is a wonderful place to stay with so much to see. I stayed in a B&B near the Duomo. I made day trips to Siena and Pisa. The train schedules are amazing and cheap. Then I returned to Rome for a few days before flying home. It's a great way to visit.

Personally, I'd stay in Siena, Lucca, some other Tuscan town. Florence is ok, not my favorite Italian
city (that would be Venice). However, when it comes
to Florence vs. Pisa, Florence wins hands down.

no question to me, stay in Florence. You can take a bus to Siena for the day very easily.

My vote would be Florence and skip Pisa altogether.

My vote would be Florence and skip Pisa altogether.

Do like Rick says; stay in Siena, and then take the awesome busses to Florence. Siena is magical at night.

Forget about Pisa...there is nothing to see there other than the leaning tower.

In June we did four nites at an agritourisimo in Orvieto, and three nites at an agri in the Chianti area (just south of Florence)

We had a rental car so both places made excellent bases that we used to explore the local areas. Both Agris were awesome; both had self-contained apts with pools, and both were less that $75 EU/nite.