Lucca as an option from Florence?

Loved Lucca. So want to move there. Much slower paced than Florence and I do think your family would enjoy it. It was a pleasant added surprise on the RS 7 Day Florence tour last December. I even did the bike ride around the walled town. Much fun. It's about 40 miles from Florence. We had a chartered bus. Here's what another webiste says of train travel to and from Lucca. Getting to and from Lucca

Lucca's train station is two blocks outside the ramparts (enter at Porta San Pietro) on the south side of town in Piazza Ricasoli. Lucca is on the Florence-Viareggio train line, with frequent service to Florence. It takes 70 minutes to an hour and a half to go from Lucca to Florence. Here's a map of Lucca showing the train station, a suggested walking route, and the major attractions.

Be sure to make the climb up the bell tower that has trees on the top. Think of the film "Vertigo" as you climb.

We did exactly this trip last September. Lucca is beautiful in its own right and a welcome, quiet respite after Florence. We took an early train from Florence to Lucca for the day and walked through the town, visited some of the sights, and rented a tandem bicycle to ride around the top of the walls. It was a fantastic day. The ride is an easy one along a beautiful and well paved, wide roadway with walkers and other cyclists. We took two spins around the walls,had a nice little lunch and walked back to the station. Actually, we found the train schedule could sneak in a trip to Pisa as well, so we went there, spent a leisurely couple of hours at the Tower/Baptistry/Cathedral and returned by train from Pisa to Florence that evening. Looking over this now it seems like we did an awful lot that day but it wasn't rushed nor hectic. You could skip the Pisa portion and spend a longer time in Lucca. You are reading the schedule correctly. The trains run frequently and are very easy to use throughout Italy. Have a wonderful time!

Thank you both for the replies. I am quite excited to have found out about this to do. I like the idea of Pisa. We are doing a day tour that has a stop there. (two days before I plan to do this) If I find the tour wasn't enough time then we can stop again on the way back to Florence.

Can you buy the tickets the morning of, or should I go get them the day before?

thank you again
Viv

I suppose you can buy your tix to Lucca the morning of, but if you are near the station or a travel agency, I would buy them earlier if only because it may open up an Amica fare that may not be available on day of travel. Particularly if you know the day you plan to travel to Lucca you might as well buy early. We often bought our next ticket out of town the day we arrived at the station in that town...just saved another hike to the staiton or reduced the time/worry factor on travel day. Tickets are super easy to buy from the kiosks in the staions, and travel agents don't charge an additional fee. Check into the Amica plan. I can't really recall the specifics but it can save a lotta lira. Have a ball!

Thank you Denny for the help :-)

Thank you everyone who helped me with this. We will be going to Lucca on a Saturday. I forgot to ask (since I didn't know at the time~that there were more than one train station in Florence. ) Which station will I go to~ to buy tickets and then to take the train to Lucca for the day. When I buy the tickes do I have to choose a firm return time? I hae no idea of how long I want to stay there until we go... We plan to ride bikes, walk around, have a nice quiet lunch and just take it easy... Can you just leave whenever you want? (within reason of course) thank you Viv

thank you all again.

Viv - Just go to the main train station in Florence - Santa Maria Novella (Firenze SMN on train schedules). You don't need to buy train tickets in advance, so take your time in Lucca and come back to the train station when you're ready. There are bike rental shops just inside the walls of the town.

Viv, you will traveling to Lucca on R trains from Florence. There will be no train number or departure time on the ticket. It's an "open" ticket that is good for 60 days from the time of purchase. Once you validate it, its good for 6 hours. You can purchase both the outbound and return tickets at the same time and only validate them just before you board the train.

You can easily view the train schedules for yourself on www.trenitalia.com. Select English from the top and fill in info required. For a date, use something a few days out. Then press continue. If you select an early time in the day, you will see five runs. Press Next to see more. There are lots of runs. You'll see all of the runs and journey times. Give it a try.

the trains between Lucca and Florence should be Regional trains. No reservations or seat assignments, the tickets are good for six months from issue and for six hours from when they are validated.

It appears that there is a train leaving Lucca for Florence about every hour until the last train around 10:30 pm. You should be fine.

The Main train staion in Florence is Fi. SMN.

Larry,
I first want to thank you for your help, However in doing my homework (which always includes the advance search of this site) I was confused about what train station I needed to go to.. I never asked nor implied that you do anymore than that. Or was this message sent to you directly... Since I have only taken point to point trains in Europe before~ that up to this trip have been arranged for me by travel agents.. this is the first time I will be traveling to a certain location and then wanting to return to my starting point. I wasn't sure how the open ticket worked until you validated it..
I hope your comment was not intended to be as rude as it sounded.. Especailly since I reached out to a helpline well for ~ help.
Ron, and Doug~ THANK YOU for your very kind and to the point answer, My tired eyes appreciate it.

Sorry Viv, it wasn't meant to be rude. Just a suggestion to give it a try. I've modified the sentence above.

Larry thank you for taking the time to fix the sentence and for saying sorry... I knew I must have read it wrong...

I literally spent all day on the computer doing nothing but research... I guess I got defensive when I heard that~ to me it sounded like "hey what did you do all day" :o) thank you again.

And for your help!!!
Viv

Viv, on the way to or back from Lucca, give Pistoia a try and see a real Italian small city. It's on the train route from Lucca to Florence and the train station is about 4 blocks from the original town center.

After bumping into fellow tourists at other well know spots, we find Pistoia to be quite refreshing!

Bob, thank you for the great suggestion. I only have Rick's book on Italy. And that town wasn't in the index.. so I will surf the next today looking into it... I love the idea of a small real Italian City. Can you tell me more of what you did there? We will be biking in Lucca.... (kids love to do that) And of course anything to do with food perks my interest~ second only to photography... :o)

thank you again!!