Lucca: Daytrip or Overnight?
 

Most of the posts here lead me to believe Lucca is usually done as a daytrip from Florence.

I know about the city walls, but what else is there? How does it compare to Sienna or San G in size and attractions.

Is it worth an overnite and could you stay two nights and see something close by via public transportation?

Hi Dumas,

I think Lucca would make a nice overnight; you could passagere (sp) along with the locals and see the town at night.

OTOH, you can do both Pisa and Lucca in a day from Florence and be back in time for dinner at Il Ritrovo.

We spent 2 nights just outside the walls of Lucca last June. While the city was lovely, in retrospect I would just daytrip there. We were flying out of Pisa and had just spent a week at a self catering farmhouse, so we thought we'd stay the extra 2 nights in Lucca. It was nice but next time I'd just add another week to my rental or spend the time in Fiesole and then drive to the airport direct

Thanks for the inputs. As a general rule, I dislike one night stays, so plan to daytrip unless some compelling reasons are cited to stay over.

Do you take the train or bus to Lucca from florence and is it an hour or so?

Hi Dumas,

You can take either the train or the bus to Lucca. Train takes 1 1/4 hr and costs about 20E RT 1 cl. It is a pretty ride.

Train station is just outside the walls, and you walk into and over the wall to get into town.

ira, thanks for the transport info.

Prego, Dumas

We visited both Lucca and Montecatini Terme the day we traveled from Florence to Portovenere to see the Cinque Terre. We were able to stroll the Testuccio spa in Montecatini Terme which is incredibly beautiful and a real throw back to the era of Art Nouveau luxury and then move on to lunch at Buca San Antonio in Lucca then stroll that city a bit to see both the cathedral and one secondary church before taking off for Portovenere. We missed a lot of Lucca but saw a lot as well. Unfortunately I don't know about public transporation between Lucca and Montecatini Terme. I assume there must be buses.