In July my sister (80) and I ( 72, also female) are traveling to Florence and are flying into Pisa. We will take the train to Florence and back. I have a few questions.
1) We get in late to Pisa so will get a hotel for the night. Should we stay by the airport or by the train station. What midrange hotel would you suggest. I'm typically a Marriott / Hilton guest, to give you an idea of my level of hotel.
2) What is the best way to travel between the train station and the airport?
Thank you in advance.
We've decided to approach Florence from Pisa rather than Venice.
You would take the PisaMover from the airport to the train station--a 5 minute ride on a train.
The closest hotel and a short walk would be Hotel NH Pisa--a 4 star property.
Your train trip into Florence will be approximately a 1 hour ride.
I imagine you have a good reason for flying into Pisa rather than Florence. Perhaps your flights will be on one RT ticket in and out of Pisa. You don't indicate whether you'll be spending much time in Pisa at the end of the trip (or any time at all, really). If Pisa is not of much interest, I would strongly suggest flying in and out of Florence, and have that be your home base for the trip (or most of it, if you'll be traveling to other parts of Italy). The Florence airport is not far from the Centro, and it would be an easy taxi ride from FLR to your Florence hotel or apt.
A day trip to Pisa is feasible from Florence. The Piazza dei Miracoli alone would be worthwhile as there are so many interesting sites all in one place. And there's so much more to it than the Torre Pendente (leaning tower). The Duomo and Baptistry are architecturally interesting. And yes, it will be touristy in July (per your earlier post that outlines your itinerary).
Sorry, I know this doesn't answer your question about where to stay in Pisa. But, from reading your earlier post (in which you indicate you want to make it easy) and learning that most of your time will be spent in Florence, I was left wondering why not fly into FLR?
NH Hotel right across the street from the train station that I would recommend.
See this link for getting from airport to main train station.
https://www.visittuscany.com/en/ideas/from-pisa-airport-to-pisa-centrale-train-station/