Enough time to see the Tower in Pisa?

Wild guess: five euro each way and twenty to lurk for a half hour? One more option is to take all your junk, lug it a short ways, and then take another taxi back. I've never ridden one, but there are taxi ranks both at the central train station as well as the tower/cathedral area.

Thanks Ed! We won't have much stuff, so i guess we'll ask and see how much the wait cost will be. I think the taxi is worth it if you're in the right ball park :) The bag deposit is somewhere around 3 euros per bag, so we'd be saving 12 euros (2 - 21" rollers and 2 backpacks) and A LOT of time. Personally, I'd skip the tower, but DH really wants to get some photos and he let me make almost all the rest of the choices on what we do this trip so I'd like to make that happen for him.

In 2007 my husband and I did something very similar to what you are considering. We arrived at the Pisa train station, stored our bags at the left luggage counter, hopped on the city bus that took us to the Field of Miracles, ran the gauntlet of vendors selling various knock-off wares, took several iterations of The Picture, got back on a bus, and made it back to the train station... in under an hour. Did we short-change Pisa? Maybe. But we, too, were dealing with a time constraint and it was what it was. With 1h40 minutes, I'd think you'll be just fine time-wise if you don't dilly-dally - and you may even have enough time to pop into the Duomo or Baptistry. EDITED TO ADD: are you pre-purchasing train tickets? If not, then maybe take note of the trains that run later to Siena so that if you find yourselves wanting more time in Pisa you can plan accordingly.

The station and the tower are about a mile apart. Figure fifteen minutes each way if you walk. What I don't know is if the station has a luggage dump. Optionally, take a cab, leave your stuff in it, and pay the waiting fee. From as close to the cathedral as a vehicle can get, it's only a few hundred feet to walk.

Ed, That's an excellent idea! Any idea what a waiting fee may be (or where I could find out)?

Thanks Angela. We're not pre-purchasing train tickets, since its a Regionale route, but we have to be on the 9:54 train because we need to pick up our rental car before the rental location closes at 12:30. The 9:54 gets us to Siena about 11:40. The next train doesn't get to Siena until 12:38, if its on time of course :)

The Pisa Centrale train station does have a luggage storage area. It's down at the south end of the main platform between the last two buildings. Check the operating hours. Plus, you may spend a more minutes checking your luggage in and checking your luggage out than you may like. They make photocopies of your passport picture and attach them to your luggage. You then have to show you passport to get your luggage back. There may also be others in line waiting to do the same thing. The luggage in the cab and paying the wait time looks really good. It will save a lot of time. Also, for us, the walk in was 30 minutes. The best news about arriving early in the morning is that you miss the tourists and all of those vendor stands

"Plus, you may spend a more minutes checking your luggage in and checking your luggage out than you may like" That's exactly what I'm concerned about. An extra 20 euros or so may be worth my piece of mind.

Doh! You mentioned the need for being in Siena by a certain time, but for some reason by the time I put in my edit that detail had left my brain! Hope you have a great trip!

Sounds do-able Amy!
Have a great trip- I cannot wait to hear your reviews when you return :)

Amy That's twice you have mentioned your unmovable deadline for obtaining your car. Yes, the Field of Miracles is zippy, and something we have all seen since a child. I've been and enjoyed. I don't think my life experience would have been less had I missed it. Is it worth the stress and angst, and possible real screwing up of plans, to risk it? I wonder.

Nigel, I only mentioned it twice to reply to Angela's post about checking the train schedule. You're right though, I was quite stressed about missing the train and would totally skip it if it were solely up to me, but DH really wants to see the tower in person and hasn't asked to do much else on this trip. From what I'm gathering, it seems like an hour and 40 minutes is plenty of time if we taxi there and back, so I'm not really stressed about it anymore :)

In 2005 my wife and I got off the train at Centrale, dropped our bags at the check, and walked to the tower. We did not ascend, just took the touristy pictures holding up the tower, and then walked around a bit, then back to the station. Two hours is enough time. Or you could just skip Pisa. It's just a tower that happens to lean.

We went up the tower and it was great - did not want to before

Unfortunately, I don't think we'll have enough time to climb the tower. I'm just glad to know that we'll be able to get to see it. I know its just tower that happens to be leaning, but DH really wants to see it and he's been great about letting me do everything I want to do on this trip, so I'm just glad to make it happen for him.

No it's a internationally known landmark and lots of people could not climb it because when they were there it was closed for fixing. If your partner is keen on it take a later train or skip a museam somewhere else or just rush through everything and take a picture . Better yet don't plan too much and see what you like when you are there - we skipped Seina to go slower - heard that getting there could be difficult