Florence to pisa and cinque cinque terre

You can take the train and do it yourself
Trying to fit both Pisa and CT in one day might be a bit much

A guide would be unnecessary in the Cinque Terre and you can hire a local one for Pisa's monuments. Or rent an audioguide. Or download a 30 minutes mp3 file about the Tower from the official site.

Most would take the train instead of spending hours on a bus. On www.trenitalia.com/en.html use a day of travel before June 11 for planning. Make multiple searches entering both Florence stations in the "From" field. Some direct trains to La Spezia could leave from C.di M. station.

Hello rola.h.shewayhat,

I think Pisa and CT in one day is probably too much. My advice would be to choose between Pisa and Lucca as a day trip or concentrate on CT all by itself to maximize your time. La Spezia (the southernmost big train station near CT) is about 2 hours away by train - and almost as long driving directly - so you'll spend 4+ hours on transportation to CT all by itself.

It's a little over an hour from Florence to Pisa on the train. You can get into Pisa a little after 9:00 at the earliest and spend some time checking out the sites. Also keep in mind that logistics on the ground are a consideration. The Pisa train station is over a mile from tower site so either you'll need to factor in time for the walk or organize a number of cabs or public transit for this transfer both ways. Google maps public transportation tab has worked fine for me using buses in northern Italy. Buy tickets at the train station - probably a newstand or other store if you're taking the bus. (Bus tickets from Florence will very probably work there but I can't guarantee it.) Maybe the group is such that getting 12 people - including teenagers - across town isn't a concern but it sounds like a challenge to me.

La Spezia is another :45 to 1:15 away. I figure that puts you near CT about 1:00pm at the earliest and then a local train and there are lunch considerations given the number of people involved. See a town or two and then reverse this back to Florence. Pisa is on the way - you'll probably pass through or change trains in Pisa anyway - so I can see the appeal but adding hours to this already long day with that many people sounds like a lot to me, but that decision is up to you.

Cost considerations may or may not tip you back towards a tour to save time. The train is about 40e roundtrip per adult between Florence and La Spezia but times 6+ (kids 14 and under are 50%) the train tickets are going to set you back some money so there may be some advantage if you can organize a tour by van or something similar.

I can see how that many people makes planning such an issue since even cheap train tickets add up and there are probably too many people for a typical van tour. Hopefully someone with larger group organization experience has some ideas and recommendations but this is my take on it.

Hope you find a plan that works for everyone,
=Tod

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my inquiry. This was really helpful.
We will be arriving to Florence from Rome. To use my 2 days in florence wisely, I am thinking to travel directly to Pisa and stay the morning then go to florence for the afternoon ans stay the night.
Next day I will go to cinque terre.
Now my question, is there a direct train from Rome to pisa? And what's the train number.
Thank you so much for your help
Rola

Check Trenitalia

Just checking a day later this month there are 2 direct fast trains in the am 6:23 and 6:57
Others are much later in the day

All others involve a change in Florence

There is a direct IC train at 9:57

You will need to check your bags in Pisa then the 30 min walk ( or bus) to the Field of Miracles

You only have 2 days in Florence?
You won’t have time to see much of Florence with your planned day trips.
Why go to Florence if you don’t plan to spend any time at all there?
Which day of the week is your half day in Florence? If 7/17 that’s a Monday when most museums are closed

With just 2 days in Florence, I would spend that time exploring Florence and forget any day trips. There is an all-day trip that will take you to a few different towns, including Pisa through the tour company Walk About Florence, they also do Cinque Terre as a separate day trip, but again, if you want to see Cinque Terre, then go there and spend the night. Walk About Florence is very reasonable for what you get.

rola.h.shewayhat, I'll agree with Christine and Letizia that you need to decide upon spending your time in Florence or to spend it in Pisa and the CT. As I'm not seeing interest from you in what Florence has to offer - and your current itinerary doesn't provide adequate time for it - then book a hotel in Pisa and day-trip the CT from there.

Thank you so much for your time and feedback.
I considered all your feedback and we will be eliminating CT and spend more time in Florence and quick vist to Pisa.
Have a wonderful day
Rola

My only caution with going straight to Pisa if you plan to stay in Florence is that means you will probably have luggage when you get to Pisa and bags for 12 is probably no small amount to try and stash, see the sites in Pisa, collect the bags and then return to Florence.

It sounds like your must see list is Pisa, Florence and CT which is probably just too much for two days. If you really want to see all these things I would consider maybe staying in Pisa. You could travel Rome to Pisa, drop off your bags (even if you can't check in yet), see Pisa and then essentially day trip to Florence with the rest of that day. Pisa to CT is an hour closer and logistically a lot easier than Florence both going there and getting back.

I know it's hard advice to take but I would remove one of these and the one I would suggest is CT just because of time and distance. Then you could land in Florence, stash your bags at the hotel, spend the day in Florence. The next day trip part day to Pisa (and Lucca if you want) and then the rest of the day in Florence. This is still short changing Florence but it will at least give you some chance to see the city.

[Update: I didn't see your last post before I posted. I know it's hard with so many things to see but as Rick says "Tell yourself you wil be back."]

Have a great trip,
=Tod

I agree with you Tod. It is hard to see all 3 places in 2 days.
I will be eliminating CT;.
We will arrive to florence in the early morning; drop the luggage and spend more time enjoying the city.
This also will give us a chance to do a short trip to pisa on the next day, have lunch there without the hassle of rushing and changing multiple trains.
Thank you again
Rola

If you're arriving in Florence on Monday when the museums are closed, I hope that anyone on your trip that's into Renaissance art can skip Pisa and stay in Florence on Tuesday.