Pisa + Lucca in the same day with a car

We stayed in Lucca on our Village Italy tour. We rented bikes as a group and rode around the circle..it was a highlight of the trip. I suggest you do that while in Lucca. I think the kids would love it.

Lucca is wonderful. I have never done Pisa though. They are only about 45 minutes apart by car as I recall so, logistically, it will be fine. Check the day of the week you plan to go as I believe Lucca has a weekend antique market that my kids loved.

there is more to the Field of Miracles than the leaning tower. Don't cut yourself short. Yes, they are close. Where will you park your vehicle?

We did Pisa and Lucca from Sienna without any trouble. The biggest challenge was finding a parking place in Pisa. There is a lot to see in Lucca and we found it very pleasant to walk around.

The other thing we still remember from Lucca is a Bag full of local cookies from the town square ... they looked like Pringles and had a mild anise flavor .. very tasty.

Lucca is great. The antique market is held on the weekend of the third Sunday every month. Worth it if you can work it out.

We did both Lucca and Pisa in a day from Florence but we took the train and didn’t have kids. Riding bikes on the wall around Lucca was great fun…we got a tandem which the kids might enjoy. I’ve never driven in Italy but did wonder about parking. Trains between Lucca and Pisa were frequent and quick when we visited…would parking once in Lucca and taking the train back and forth be possible? We have sometimes spent as long looking for a parking space as we did for whatever reason we chose to visit some places. Just a guess. Have fun…lucky kids!

According to the latest RS Italy guidebook, there are some lots at Pisa and Lucca, so my plan was to attempt to park in one of the lots listed in the book. In my ideal scenario, we arrive at Lucca early enough in the day to avoid a mad crush in the parking lot, and arrive in Pisa late enough in the afternoon and avoid the same as most of the day trippers would have moved on by then.

Park here to visit Lucca:
https://goo.gl/maps/NwwYdWRcL6VkxWg28

Park here to visit Pisa:
https://goo.gl/maps/QDeb8d4zDHEsq5uf8

Save them on your phone.

You could potentially park in Pisa and take the train to Lucca using the Pisa San Rossore station that is near the parking lot suggested. It's up to you.

I would spend most of the day in Lucca first, then I'd go to Pisa later in the afternoon for the end of the day. Pisa is one trick pony. Once you've seen the Piazza dei Miracoli (Tower, Duomo, Baptistery, and maybe the cemetery), you are done. The parking lot I suggested is where I usually park. It's right next to the Piazza. From Pisa back to Cerbaia is a quick 1 hr drive. Leave Pisa for last, because driving in the dark from Lucca you might get lost between Altopascio and Santa Croce on the Provincial roads there. Do that (in the reverse) when you go in the morning with the light. Coming back from Pisa is easy freeway driving that you can do easily at night.

But it’s a very cool pony. And something I’d guess children of that age may actually recognize and would love to see. Who wouldn’t?

Sorry, but I am from Florence and a Florentine cannot possibly speak well of Pisa. We've been hating each other since the XII century.

Even Dante, famous Florentine poet, wished in the Inferno that Pisa and its people drown in a flood:

Ah! Pisa, thou opprobrium of the people
Of the fair land there where the ‘Si’ doth sound,
Since slow to punish thee thy neighbours are,
Let the Capraia and Gorgona Islands move,
And make a hedge across the mouth of river Arno
That every person in thee it may drown!

(Inferno C. XXIII)

"Meglio un morto in casa che un pisano all'uscio," eh?