Yes, both are easy by train, being a little over an hour to either destination. It is also possible to do both in a day and many here have done that. Leave Florence fairly early for Pisa, see the tower and duomo, then take a train to Lucca for a late lunch and exploring the town, then back to Florence in the afternoon.

I can't get the prices on Trenitalia right now, but I'd say either trip is about 25 euro roundtrip. You can do both together in a round trip for about the same amount.

Here's the site for looking up train schedules and prices: http://www.trenitalia.com/home/it/index.html

cmt, you helped me out on this a few days ago. I just went there to find this info for ingrid, and although I'm using the Italian site and getting the timetables, no fares or ticket purchase options would show. Instead they all said "NO".

First class has wider seats, reclines, more spaces in-and-around the seats, definitely more comfortable, less-occupied cars, and generally less noisy and more subdued passengers.
I'm in my early 40s and my wife in mid-30's and we want to eliminate as much stress and be as relaxed as we can during our travels. As far as we are concerned, first class is the only way to travel on trains in Europe.

Patrick: I think that just means that you can't purchase the tickets over the internet for certain trains.

No, I was wrong. That can't be, because I just put in a route that is served by Eurostar, so I know it can be purchased online. I got the same "no." Maybe the site is partly not working. (Webmasters' strike tonight )

Florence-Pisa is € 9.70 return/roundtrip
Florence-Lucca is similar.

As Patrick says, you can do both in a day-trip. This would be about € 11-12.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Hi Patrick,

When you look up fares on www.trenitalia.com change to date to the next month and you will find the prices, usually.

Thanks, Ira. Usually since I'm looking for too far in the future, I do just change the date to next month. But in this case it wasn't working, so I played with several combinations of dates withing the next two month and all of them said NO for tickets. Maybe just a temporary glitch. My cost estimates were based on RailEurope prices less about 20% or so.

Yes, I see it was temporary and is working fine this morning. Wow! What a mistake. I knew Rail Europe was high, but they quote one way second class from Florence to Pisa at $18 US, or $36 round trip. Guess to estimate I should have taken the RailEurope price and reduced by 75%!!!!

That's why we always advise people NOT to book through Rail Europe.

It seems to have been set up specifically to rip off Americans. They doing very well out of it too ...

Steve

So we where thinking, and I would definitely need your insight into this. We were pricing out our entire trip from Rome to Florence to day trips in Seina, Lucca, Pisa and Gravagna(which is not reachable by bus or train). We received a price of $282.15 from AutoEurope, using the autostrade website and figuring the gas mileage for a Fiat Punto, do you think this would be better for two people traveling together?

Depends on how far you are going, or how long the trip is. We have gone Eurostar and 2nd on some routes. Timetable was often as important.

Agreed....do not buy your train tickets from a third party prior to going to Italy. You will pay much less if you purchase them at the train station or (my preference) at a local travel agent in Italy. I think they add a small fee such a 1E per ticket-well worth it.