Lucca back to USA
 

I am planning a trip to Italy in May-June that ends in Lucca. Accommodations are complete for Venice, Florence, and Lucca, but no air travel is booked yet. What are the best options for leaving Lucca by train to somewhere close by (Florence, Pisa, ?), spending an afternoon and night, and getting to an airport for an early morning flight?

Thanks.

Pisa airport would be the closest, about 30 mins from Lucca. You may be able to take an early bus or train the same day depending on time of flight. A more expensive option would be to get a private transfer ( I paid about 50 euros but that was in 2006) Where are you flying to? In those months Delta flies non stop to New York. In addition, from Pisa you can fly to Rome, London, Madrid, etc to connect to other points.

Pisa (PSA)

I am flying back to Des Moines, Iowa. Flights from Pisa and other locations leave around 7:00 a.m., so I would prefer to avoid same-day transfers.

Well then, I guess you'll need to move to Pisa (or Florence) to spend the night. Pisa is closer and if you haven't been there that would be a nice place to spend the afternoon. Both Pisa and Florence are very easy to get to from Lucca. I prefer going by coach express bus.

What about going by train? Also, can anyone recommend a hotel in Pisa nicely located for arrival by train and departure by air?

Yes, you can go by train also . Check www.trenitalia.it for schedules. Sorry, have never stayed in Pisa.

Train from Lucca to Pisa is about 20-25 minutes and easy enough. Sorry, cannot help with hotel advice.

Lucca/Pisa bus schedule.
http://www.pisa-airport.com/aeroporto_di_pisa_197.html

It appears that air connections out of Pisa are fewer and much less convenient than Florence, so now I am considering train connections to Florence, spending an afternoon and night there, and taking an early morning flight from the Florence airport. I had hoped I could have made something other than Florence work because we will have already spent three days there prior to Lucca. Any advice on connections, hotels, etc.?

Is there any way you could switch the order of your visit between Lucca and Florence?

For other readers, as a general rule, it's better to book your flights in and out before you book your hotels.

Not sure if I agree 100% with that "rule". Dont know the personal situation with OP but usually hotels cancelation is possible whereas airline tickets not. I wouldn't want to be locked into transport logistics and then find out that desirable hotels are not available for my dates.

I think pretty much agree with the "rule," but in this case, we are a group of 5 who were interested in booking apartments where we wanted to stay, and acceptable apartments quickly started to disappear so we booked them first. If I had it to do over again, I would at least try to look a little closer at the flight options before settling on the order of the placees we wanted to stay. At this point, the question is moot. Apartments are booked and deposits paid.

cwj,

Would you consider going to Rome? The last time we were in Lucca we took a train from Pisa to Rome( it left around 9 AM so we had a car service take us to Pisa train station) and arrived Rome around 1 PM. Had a lovely afternoon/ evening in Rome and took our flight back to the US the next morning. You could do train from Lucca and connect in Pisa to the Rome train , or go to Florence and change there).

I've used Lazzi bus between Lucca and Florence as it was summer and the bus had AC (old R trains between Lucca/Florence didn't at the time and might not now).
http://www.lazzi.it/