subsoiledwriter

Hi, we will be flying out from Pisa airport in mid october for our journey back home to the US. We'll be traveling that morning from cinque terre to pisa to catch our flight at 1:45PM to london.

Couple of questions:
We were planning to catch a 9AM Spezia train to Pisa centrale (leaving us with the option of taking a 10AM train incase of delays, etc.) if we go straight to the airport. If we decide to see the leaning tower on the way, I have a couple of q's.

1. Is it too risky time wise?
2. If we should do it, what should be a safe train departure time from spezia (1 hr train ride to pisa centrale) to get to theleaning tower and to the airport by 11:30 at the latest.
3. Is there a place by pisa centrale to leave luggage that we can pick up after we see the tower?
4. Once we get to pisa centrale, how far to the tower. And how far from tower to airport.

Thanks in advance.

J62

An option you should consider is going straight to the airport, checking in, then take a taxi to the tower. That way you'd have met the check in time requirement, could drop off any checked bags. Then you'd just need to be at the gate for boarding.

I don't know about luggage storage at Pisa for sure, so I won't guess. Pisa airport is a 5min train ride from Pisa Centrale, so it's very close to town.

You can get from Pisa Centrale to the tower in 10 min by bus (not including waiting), or about the same by taxi (no waiting).

From the tower it would take you no more than about 15min by taxi back to the airport. There might be a bus route all the way - I'm not sure.

Viajero2

Honestly been so close to the Leaning Tower and not going is almost foolish, specially when this is one of those sights that if you do not dilly-dally you can enjoy and be on your way in 15 minutes! You can walk from Pisa Centrale to the Leaning Tower (about 20 minute walk) and be back in plenty time to continue on to the airport. I would just taxi (approx 6 Euros one way to the station). I like the suggestion of heading out to the airport; secure your luggage and then heading out for a bit sightseeing. BTW, there is a lot of see in pisa besides the Leaning Tower. The walk from Pisa Centrale over the bridge is beautiful.

charnees

Most people don't know that there is also a lovely church in the same complex as the tower. the whole area is called the field of miracles.

DalaiLlama

Pisa airport is not huge, if you're there by Noon it should work.

You don't state which town in the CT you're starting out from, so you have to figure out the first leg yourselves. Doesn't necessarily have to be a train that you board at La Spezia - some trains go all the way from CT towns like Monterosso to Pisa. But you'll figure it out at www.ferroviedellostato.it.

You should be in Pisa Centrale by no later than 10AM, so aim at taking the train that leaves from la Spezia at 08:20, arr. P.C. 09:35, it is perfect.

As you can see in the last column of this table

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...003f16f90aRCRD

there is a Deposito Bagagli (left-luggage counter) at the P.C. station. Use it, and look up the times for the trains from Pisa Centrale to Pisa Aeroporto so you know what train to shoot for when you come back. Buy a ticket if you don't already have one for that last leg to the airport.

Then set out for the square called Piazza dei Miracoli where the cathedral, the separate baptistry, and the leaning tower are located. They are all well worth a look!

From the Pisa Centrale station you can walk in about 20 minutes or so, or take a bus. If you walk, look up the way from the station to the bridge Ponte di Mezzo then go up Borgo Stretto and cross over to Piazza dei Cavalieri on the way to the Piazza dei Miracoli. It is a very nice walk, and the Piazza dei Cavalieri has that look to it that transports you back by a few centuries if you ignore certain modern trappings.

Now if you wish to go up on the tower, you need to book in advance - they allocate timeslots and only take small groups up at preassigned times, which may not work for you. The website for that is http://boxoffice.opapisa.it/Torre/index_ita.jsp

But even if you don't go up, it's worth the visit!

flanneruk

When last we did this, we found the bus (every 10 mins or so, though less frequent round lunchtime, +/- €1 each way, about 25 mins each way) the quickest and most straightforward way of doing it. Your airline may be different, but Ryanair didn't open checking till 2 hrs before, and is an absolute sod about closing checkin, so we had to leave the city centre with enough time to get back, retrieve our bags then complete checkin 40 mins before takeoff. We found leaving the Cathedral complex 2 hrs before takeoff was more than ample for this.

Ask to be put off at the Piazza dei Miracoli stop. Don't waste time doing much more than having a quick look at the Tower: DO invest serious time loking round the glorious Baptistery and the reasonably average (by Italian standards, which means outstanding by anyone else's) Romanesque cathedral.

subsoiledwriter

thanks everyone for the advice.