Pisa Tower - Stop Over

Seems a bit tight

Regional trains do not have reserved seats-that could be a problem for your group

My two cents is to skip Pisa. Too many moving parts, not enough time.

I visited Pisa on an unavoidable train layover earlier this year but I had 6 hours and I didn’t have little kids in tow. That said, it was still unexpectedly stressful for 2 reasons: 1) so crowded! 2) no taxis were available when I needed to get back to the train station from the Field of Miracles (a staff member telephoned for me) so I had to hoof it.

If it were me, I’d choose the ~3.5 hour direct Frecciarossa train from Milan to Roma.

Hi. Hard to picture it being worth it. A direct train from Milan to Rome is less than 4 hours. Your plan would change that to 8+ hours of train plus a lot of rigamarole in Pisa. If your kids were teenagers, you all might think it was a fun adventure. But with the ages you mention, doesn't seem like it makes sense. Have a great trip!

I recently returned from a Mediterranean cruise.

Pisa was included in our excursion to Florence. It was ok. The buildings were pretty and I think there were some pretty green spaces. But I would not go out of my way to see Pisa.

It was mostly free time.

And when we got back to the meeting place, our tour guide said something like "Well now you have seen Pisa. and there is no reason to come back here again". The tour guide was not very impressed with Pisa.

The Piazza dei Miracoli with its Duomo and Tower is an ensemble representing a fundamental advance in art, architecture, and city planning. To regard it as a stopover is headline superficiality - not a good example for future travelers even in the unlikely event they remember a single moment of it.

It seems to me the question here is visiting Pisa sites worth 8+ hours on the train, wrangling luggage and kids across town to the tower and back on strict schedule versus 3.5 hours on the train direct Milan to Rome. And I would have to say "No, it doesn't seem like it".

If you were passing through Pisa anyway then stopping off might worth it but almost tripling your train time adding at least one change and all the hassle to see the tower and associated buildings versus getting on the fast train in Milan and arriving in Rome 3ish hours later. I just don't see it.

Only you can say what your "must sees" are but while the leaning tower is interesting it isn't something I would divert an entire day and add 5 hours of train travel just to see it. Wait until you are in Florence and it is a day trip without luggage or time pressure.

My $.02, have a great trip!
=Tod

Hi Mike,

I wish that I knew what I was seeing when I was there especially since I have a degree in city planning.

We were all on our own and had very little time but I have some pretty pictures.

Sometimes when traveling, you do not know what you were looking at until after the fact.

Hello back bostonphil7
Right you are, even with the best guides I feel that I'm only scratching the surface. In Pisa, though I've been a dozen times, I know I still need to see Nicola Pisano's Pulpit inside the Duomo, walk on top of the city walls, and visit the Jewish cemetery just outside the city walls - one of the world's oldest. I sent you a PM.