Train or car from CT to Pisa
 

After staying in CT we plan to head out to Greve for a few nights but first stop after leaving CT is Pisa then Lucca and then end up at our accommodation in Greve later that night.
Just wondering is it better to pick up the car hire in Pisa or pickup in La Spezia.
We are a family of 5 ( 2 ad & 3 ch )
Thanks so much.

Money-wise you might as well get the car in La Spezia and prevent paying for further train tix (although they don't cost very much on those short regional routes, possibly with freebies for the kids depending on ages).

But parking can be a drag, and the dreaded no-go zones (ZTL) with cameras that zap you are an additional risk in the centers of towns, so you'd have to know where you're going and where you'll park to make it work.

In Lucca you pretty much need to stay outside, in Pisa you need to go around to reach the Field of Miracles where the baptistry, the cathedral, and of course the leaning tower are located.

Thanks michelhuebeli, This is good advise. The kids ages are 14, 11,9 yrs.
I think I would probably prefer to get the car from Pisa but then we have our luggage to store in the meantime, so perhaps easier to just hire the car from CT and find where to park. Apparently there are street parks along the river?
Will do a bit more research on the car pick up.
thank you again.

Would someone tell me how much the train is? I went onto the rail but couldn't find a price.

Not knowing your exact location among the 5 (Cinque) villages, as a random example I input 2 adults and 3 children from Manarola tp Pisa and it returns totals of 29.60 Euros or 38.60 Euros depending on which train combinations you pick at what time (both with a change of trains in La Spezia) and 32.60 Euros with a change of trains in Monterosso.

From Pisa Centrale to Lucca it's 11.70 Euros, again for 2 adults and 3 children.

Oh - how did I find them? At www.trenitalia.com, click on the grey "Tutti I Treni", and use tomorrow's date.

We also have a family of 5 (adults though) and I'm curious waht size car yoou're getting.

Thanks so much michelhuebeli, in the send we thought just go with the car so we have booked the car from La Spezia and will drive to Pisa then onto Lucca. We have hired a Lancia Y or similar. Seats 5.
Just a question, we are staying in Venice before travelling to CT by train. The train from Venice to Monterosso ( we we will be staying ) in early August. Do we need to pre-book this?

A car that can carry 5 adults plus 5 carry-on or larger luggage is a large car with accompanying stepped up rental price tag. Be sure you understand this before making a car rental an integral part of the itinerary you cannot back out of. Lancia Y = Lancia Ypsilon = super mini? might "seat" 5 people, but I don't think it has a space for 5 adult size luggage.

There is no way 5 people + luggage can ride in an Lancia Y.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancia_Ypsilon

It's smaller than something like a Ford Focus, or Toyota Prius so if you see one of those in a parking lot or car dealer, try to imagine yourselves + luggage fitting in there.

We visited CT this August and traveled by train to and from Pisa. We didn't prebook and there was plenty of room on the trains (we were on a late afternoon train to CT and mid morning train to Pisa when we left). There is a place to store luggage in the Pisa train station. The cost is 3E per bag. We dropped off our bags and then took a bus to the Field of Miracles.

We have 3 children, ( 2 of which are small children ) we won't have 5 large suitcases. Inface we are taking only 2 x back packs. So I hope this will fit in the boot. ( yes we are travelling very light ) we are staying in self contained accommodation throughout our week travels. I like the idea of visiting PIsa on a day trip from CT. I didn't think of that and think thats a great idea. So we can catch a morning train and be back in Monterosso later in the day. Excellent idea. Thanks for concerns and suggestions.