We are traveling on our second European Cruise and are interested in doing things alittle differently than the ship shore excursions would allow. Does anyone have any good advise on how to see Florence and Pisa? Tour?
Posted by
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
8293 posts
I've been doing a little research on that myself and find that cruisecritic.com is useful. Click on to the "Ports" and along with other information you will learn how to do your own excursion-ing.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
There are several great tourist locations within range of Livorno. First, of course, is Florence. You are 90 minutes away on the local train. No train changes. Note that if you are doing this on a Monday, many of the best tourist sites are closed. If you want to see DAVID at the Acadamia, be sure to have tickets in advance. The Uffizi takes about 2hrs or so to go through.
Next, you are 20 mintues by train from Pisa. It takes 30 minutes to walk in to the leaning tower and 30 minutes to walk back out. To speed things up, you can take a bus from the bus stop across the street from the train station. Nothing else to see in Pisa.
Next, you are an hour by train away from Lucca with a train change most likely in Pisa. Great tourist location.
Next, you are 90 minutes from Monterosso in the Cinque Terre (same travel time as Florence). You could easily hit a couple of the CT towns and get back to the ship on time.
Finally, Livorno has a car rental place (I think). You could rent a car and drive to Volterra and San Gimignano. Again, about 90 minutes travel time.
Be sure to get back to the ship on time.