We are planning on spending three days in Florence. One day we are thinking of going to Pisa, of course seeing the tower, and the church next to it if I remember is pretty cool too. My question is we have a teenager who would like to go to the beach, how much trouble, what does it take etc . to go from Pisa to the beach, spend the afternoon and be back in Florence in time for bed.

Hi Jol - From Pisa it's only a short train ride (- 15 mins) to Viareggio.

You can find train timetables on:

http://trenitalia.com/homepage_en.html

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Article from yesterday's NY Times that mentions Viareggio and other Tuscan beaches:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/06/07...07Tuscany.html

Thanks for the tips, I guess it's very doable. . think we will give it a try!

Other day trips from Florence:

* Lucca

* Cinque Terre

* Chianti region - Panzano, San Casciano, Greve, Castellina, Lamole, San Gimignano, Monteriggioni, Montefioralle, Radda

* Siena - about 1hr by SITA bus from Florence

* Castiglione della Pescaia - Grosseto region - a lovely beachside town 1 hr south of Siena. A friend of mine has just spent a few days at the beach there.

Have fun in Italy.

Melissa

Hello Jolina:

We did two day trips by train from Florence. One to Bologna, which is easy and offers an interesting city. The other to Portofino on the Italian Riviera, which is 3+ hours one way but definitely worthwhile. On the way, we passed Pisa and I got a glimpse of the tower. From what others have said, that, frankly, is probably sufficient. Good luck. Gradyghost