Vernazza-Leaning Tower of Pisa--Pisa Airport

3) There really isn't much else to see in Pisa besides the tower and the adjoining church. An hour or so is plenty.

The train station in Pisa is Centrale. We walked to the Tower and it probably took 20-30 min and you go through a min shopping street/area. If you don't want to drag your bags, you can check them at the station and go back for them -- or take taxis to the Tower and airport. If you don't want to go up the Tower, you'll probably be there for 30 min. But if you want to go up and you have limited time, reserve your ticket in advance. It takes about 10 min to get up (unless you're behind folks) and then you're up there for about 15-20 before they ask you to head back down. You also can't even bring a purse up the Tower, but I don't know if that bag check would accommodate your luggage.

1. Pisa Centrale. It's not the closest station to the tower (San Rossore is), but the Centrale has a 'deposito bagagli' (baggage storage) where you can check your luggage while you visit Pisa. Also coming from La Spezia, your train will likely not go or stop at San Rossore station.

2. Since you'll probably check your luggage at the station so that you don't have to drag it along, you will need to come back to the Centrale station first to retrieve your luggage. From the Centrale station there are shuttle buses to the airport. The airport train station is currently closed as it is being replaced by a people mover system which is currently under construction and due to open in 2015.

3. The walk from the Centrale station to the tower is about 25-30 min. The bus ride or taxi ride less than 10 min.
   Once at the Piazza dei Miracoli (Piazza del Duomo) it depends. If you just want to take a photo pretending to hold the tower, like many do, you'll need just 5 min. If you also want to go up the tower, visit the cathedral, the baptistry and the historical campo santo (cemetery) it might take a couple of hours to see everything. Just make sure you leave on time to make it back to the station to retrieve your luggage, get the bus to the airport on time for the flight. The bus ride from the station to the airport is only 10 min.

Thanks for the help! I see there are some other popular sites near the Leaning Tower as well. If you think we set aside a 2 hours that will leave us plenty of time to drop our luggage off, take a bus towards the Tower and other sites, take some pictures and stroll around, then proceed to get our luggage and head to the airport?

Also, any other suggest sites besides the Leaning Tower you recommend we see or places in that area that will a good spot to grab a quick bite to eat?

Thanks for the help!

So I'm looking at trains to get from Vernazza- La Spezia- Pisa and here is my question. The first train from Vernazza to La Spezia is departs at 9:28am and arrives at 9:49am. Now the train from La Spezia to Pisa departs at 10:06am. That would leave us a 17 minute gap to get off our train and get on the next train. Is that going to be enough time? I am not sure how that works and how long that it will take to get us off the train and to validate our tickets in order to catch the next train.

In your experience do you think that time frame should work? Or should we allow for more time in between trains?

Tyler
Plenty of time to catch the next train. if you are checking train times most will on the Bahn.de site will give you the platform #

Tyler, just a hint that the first train out Vernazza to La Spezia Centrale departs at 5:00am. The 9:28am run is the 6th of the morning. Here's a snapshot of the current morning schedule. http://gyazo.com/09bb9ee383685537b45ebdc50f81612c

Tyler - I did the stop in Pisa on our way from Vernazza to Siena. We stayed about 2.5 hours at the Leaning Tower area. Make sure to catch one of the Bapistry guards singing inside (I think every 30 min on :00 and :30 but check Rick's guidebook he has the details).

It's very easy to find the Bag Storage in Pisa, it's at the far end of the platform by the police room. You can search for prior threads with more exact details. It was easy to find with the signs at the station.

For your change in La Spezia there weren't that many platforms. You really only need 2-3 minutes to walk down from the platform you get dropped off on, check the tvs underground for what platform your train is on and walk up the stairs. 17 minutes you can grab a drink from the food area at the station.

Thanks for the tips. Given everyone's advice it sounds like 17 minutes should be enough time to catch our train leaving from La Spezia. So given that, we will plan on arriving at 9:49am, then changing to our train that departs at 10:06am. Now I just sit back and cross my fingers the trains are on time!