Tower of Pisa

If you want to climb the tower, you should make reservations in advance. There is a lovely church and an even lovelier baptistry - the tower was to be the bell tower for the church. Not much else in Pisa, especially compared with nearby towns.

When are you going?? Rick Steves Italy guidebook will answer almost all questions, you'll want one for future use, cause you WILL go back. In my opinion, the tower is worth going to, possibly half a day excursion.

I'll second the baptistry as a cool place to go. Here's a video clip that shows off the acoustics: Pisa Baptistry from our trip in May 2008.

Thank you! I really enjoyed the video clip of the baptistry and we will work on getting tickets before we leave on the 13th. For some reason my computer does not connect with most of the websites, but I'll keep trying. I appreciate your help and advice!

I wouldn't buy tickets ahead of time, unless all you want to do is climb, and not necessarily see the beautiful view. If the weather is bad, you won't see much. Just go to the Tower, buy your ticket and see everything else in the Field of Miracles while you're waiting. The lines shouldn't be too bad in September, especially if it's not a weekend. There's also a great little souvenir store on the corner near the Tower.

I had to laugh at the reference to the one little souvenir stand. (^_^) Check out a different video clip that I took, and watch it all the way to the end to see the souvenir stands: Campo in Pisa

I guess I should clarify my post. Climbing the tower is a separate ticket. You can only go with a group, limited in number. During "tourist season" the groups fill up rapidly. If you will be there in June, you should reserve in advance IF you want to do the climb. If you are there in January, you can probably get tickets on the spot.

Note that if you want to buy tickets online to climb the tower, you must do it between 15 and 45 days in advance of the ticket date.