Village Italy Tour: Train from Lucca to Pisa

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/side-visit-to-pisa-from-lucca

There’s probably more if you do a search because it seems to be a common question.

This would be fairly easy to do if the Leaning Tower is a must for you. I think many forum members find the tower underwhelming but then we've seen it, haven't we, lol??

Going later in the day you may miss some of the crowds and the silly people who spend WAY too much time trying to set up shots where they appear to be pushing the tower over or holding it up or some such thing.

I'd touch base with your guide the day before and just let them know what you are planning. There may also be others on the tour who want to do this as well.

I thought that I wanted to do that but the guide and others said there were better things to do in Lucca. We rented a pedal carriage built for 4 and drove on the wall. It was a lot of fun. We also found a tower to climb.

I don't think you would have any problem getting there if that is what you decide you want to do.

Enjoy the tour!

I took this wonderful tour in 2023. Our tour guide gave detailed instructions for how to do this for those interested. I don’t remember if anyone actually followed through. I think most of us were happy to have extra time in Lucca.

I enjoyed Lucca MUCH more than Pisa (when I visited on another trip). It was a must see for my daughter, but a total yawn for me. I took the obligatory photo of her holding up the tower and then we left. In Lucca I went to a Puccini concert and had a bike ride around the walls. It was much more enjoyable. I loved the Village tour by the way.

Thank you Margie for the link!

Thank you everyone for your input! Much appreciated. We've always heard that Pisa is not worth a special trip, so we won't push it and just see how things work out.

We did the tour last year and the guide gave great directions for those who wanted to go after the olive oil mill, and our coach driver even swung by the train station on the way back to the hotel so those who wanted to go could jump off there rather than going back to the hotel and backtracking! YMMV.

You’re welcome. Lots of opinions out there but if you haven’t seen it and really want to, by all means go. I was impressed with it the first time we saw it. There were several on our tour that did go after the olive tasting with no problem. We had already seen it on the Best of Italy tour so we spent the rest of the day in Lucca.

If you do decide to go see the Leaning Tower, the train station Pisa San Rossore.will save you an extra 10 minutes instead of going to Pisa Centrale and walking through the town.

I’m also not a big fan of Pisa. The gimmicky photos & tacky souvenirs are a big turnoff. I did stay in Pisa during one of my trips to attend the Luminara di San Ranieri event where 70,000 wax candles are placed on wood designs similar to shaped trellis to outline all of the buildings’ windows on the river during that one night - June 16. It’s beautiful with only the candles lighting the scene!

It’s a shame that most people’s idea of Pisa has been swayed by tourists taking tacky photos. The area around the tower is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Tower, Cathedral, Baptistry and Cemetery - the Square of Miracles - are remarkable. In my opinion, sure beats a four person pedal bike on the walls of Lucca.

We rode bikes from Lucca to Pisa; it was a lovely ride, and bike rentals in Lucca are very easy to find. Just an idea/option if you are looking for an alternative.