Afternoon in Pisa

4 hours at least.. When I was there, I walked from the train station to Field of Miracles and entered the baptistery & duomo. Also had lunch nearby before backtracking to the train station. All in, about 5 hours, taking into account an hour spent having lunch.

We spent 3 hours at the most, including eating lunch. Are you traveling by train? We took a cab from the train station, which we shared with a couple of guys we met on the train. We took the bus back. They have a place to check you luggage at the station.

It is a quickie and three hours is about right if not a touch too much.

Just a note that Pisa is not anywhere between Milan and Florence. You will be intentionally routing west to get to Pisa but so what. I'm being silly. It will take about 4+hrs to get from Milan to Pisa via Genoa. Interestingly, it's just over 3.0hrs if you route to Florence first on the high-speed and then take the Regionale train to Pisa. Go figure. Once in Pisa, there is a staffed Left Luggage facility where you can leave your luggage while visiting the tower and Field of Miracles. Standing on the train platform with your back to the tracks, turn right and walk down to the last two buidlings on your left. Go between them for the facility. It's very secure and you will need your passport to get your luggage back. For the tower, its a 25-minute walk in and a 25-minute walk out. How long you stay at the tower, duomo, baptistery and Field of Miracles is up to you. But, the whole thing, including checking in and picking up your luggage will be at least 2 hours. You could easily be there for 4.0hrs especially if you have lunch along your walk as we did. As Andrea indicates, you can take a taxi to and from the tower and really cut your visit time.

I have a different slant on it, albeit agreeing to a degree with prior posts. Because in order to go Pisa from Milan on the way to Florence you have to go through Florence (so Milan>Florence>Pisa>Florence), why carry your bags around? Why not drop them off at your Florence hostelry and then go on to Pisa? We wandered all around the Campo and photographed the people photographing each other "holding up the tower", and had a nice time. I had a nice coffee at the end of the Campo nearest the bus stops. We enjoyed ourselves. Not counting the bus both ways or the train trip we were at the Campo about 1 hour. We then went on to Lucca but that's another story. It does seem mad to me to carry luggage from Florence to Pisa and back to Florence.

Nigel has a brilliant idea! Drop your bags in Florence and you won't have to pay to check them at the train station in Pisa. If you have time on the day you go to Pisa it would be so easy to stop for a few hours (or however much time you have) in Lucca. I loved Lucca. Rent bikes and go around the wall. Just stroll the streets. It doesn't have the fame that the Leaning Tower does, but I enjoyed it so much more.

I'm also going to voice my support for Nigel's plan if only because when I happened to visit Pisa en route to Florence, the left luggage employees happened to be on strike and I was forced to tote our bags all over the town. Believe me, the hoteliers in Pisa must hate day trippers who won't pay to stay because I couldn't convince any hotel to hold our bags for love or money. Granted, the chances of are slim you'd face the same problem, but why chance it? If you can be free of your bags while you tour Pisa, do it.

Thanks for all the responses. I especially like the idea of dropping our bags in Florence. Now I'm even thinking of maybe not doing Pisa that day but doing a half day trip in the middle of our Florence stay instead. The trip isn't until October so I still have time to think about it.

If you go to Pisa, please please please see more in the Campo than just the tower. Both the duomo (cathedral) and the baptistery are amazing. Here are some pics and video clips from our daytrip to Pisa in May 2008. Be forewarned - there are souvenir stalls that run the entire length of the campo. Happy travels.

How many days are you staying in Florence? Taking a half day trip to Pisa may not be worth it if it's going to sacrifice time in Florence.

We will be in Florence for 4 nights. We will be going on to Siena for 4 nights afterwards and will probably spend half the day in Florence on the day we move. I don't think we would be sacrificing any time in Florence if we do the half day trip because we get there much earlier on the day we arrive if we don't go to Pisa that day. No worries about only doing the tower. We definitely plan to see the baptistry and duomo as well.

If you plan to go to Pisa one of your Florence days I suggest you make a full day of it and stop in Lucca too. It's on your way.