Best way to see Leaning Tower of Pisa?

[MUN]

We plan on visiting Pisa on a day trip from Florence next year before our Med cruise. I think it's an easy train ride from Florence. Our cruise stops in La Spezia where we plan on exploring Cinque Terre via train.

MUN

 

[oufpat]

We also did the Disney excursion, yes we could have done it on our own, yes it is a tourist trap,but it was easy and we had a very good tour guide explain the different buildings to us. Then we had free time to explore the "tacky" souvenir stands and little shops, but overall, I was very happy we did this.

 

[HuskyGal]

Oh, wow- they were working on it a long time! My dad is an engineer, so all the work they were doing was interesting to me.

And, yes, I did write a trip report for our Alaska cruise last year!

Oh nice. I’m sure he could tell you all kinds of interesting things about the lean and the stabilization work. Engineers have got to be the most detail oriented people.

I was looking into the dcl alaska Cruise and found your trip report. I loved it! Thank you for posting it.

 

[cruiser21]

Take the train. Easy and cheap. I would get rick steves med port book. It explains everything. Toms port guides online is awesome too.

 

[aggiedog]

Consider taking the train then to Lucca. It's a quick trip up the line from Pisa and Lucca has a great old walled central city you can ride bikes along the park at the top. The train station has rental bikes and is directly across from the main gate of the walled part of the city. It's a less crazy day then a whirlwind Florence tour. The bikes come with locks so you can stop and wander parts of old town as you want.

 

[kiford]

Best way? In photos. In all seriousness, it’s such a tourist trap. I haven’t been via cruise, but the only way I’d do it is if it’s a stop on the way to or from something else. A fifteen minute pit stop is all you need. It’s not worth wasting a port day to go.

I enjoyed Pisa. I thought the Baptistry and the Duomo were actually somewhat more interesting, architecturally, than the tower. However, we did also climb to the top of the tower which was well worth the time to be there. It's a half-day at best and I don't need to return but I'm glad to have seen it in person. What's nice about doing it on a cruise is that, since most of the other stops tend to be longer days, it's nice to be able to do Pisa and still have some time on the ship.

 

[Joel0917]

thanks all..i booked Gobe. $84 for the four of us there and back. i'll buy climb the top tickets when they go on sale.

 

[Joel0917]

how do i buy the climb tickets? when? i see a couple links and some it's $28 and some it's $40. are they set times?

 

[Joel0917]

Update- was just informed by GOBE that the tour operator will no longer be offering the excursion to PISA.

 

[anjuan]

Thanks for the new info on GOBE. I was just looking at their site last night and the tour was still listed there! That's a bummer that they are no longer an option.

 

[fredandkell]

Update- was just informed by GOBE that the tour operator will no longer be offering the excursion to PISA.

Nooo! So you booked it, then they contacted you to say “just kidding?” That is very disappointing considering they are owned by Royal Caribbean which is why I figured they would be a good reliable choice for port excursions. Hmmm, guess I will now be looking at the Tuscany bus.

 

[fredandkell]

Thanks for the new info on GOBE. I was just looking at their site last night and the tour was still listed there! That's a bummer that they are no longer an option.

No kidding, I was also on the site last night and it was still there. I just clicked on the URL I provided in an earlier post in this thread which was a direct link to the excursion and now it takes you to a page that says…oops this page cannot be found. Boo hiss!

 

[ironz]

Oh nice. I’m sure he could tell you all kinds of interesting things about the lean and the stabilization work. Engineers have got to be the most detail oriented people.

I was looking into the dcl alaska Cruise and found your trip report. I loved it! Thank you for posting it.

You're welcome. The Alaska cruise was so much fun!

 

[remlap]

We did Florence and Pisa DIY via train using Rick Steve's book.
We had prepurchased David in Florence at 10:30 AM and Leaning Tower climb tickets at 3:30 PM

Arriving at the train station in Pisa, the ticket office sold bus tickets with instructions clearly posted in English on where to catch the bus and what number. We took lots of the "tourist photos" but heck we were tourists. We had about 15 minutes to kill before our climb. For what it's worth, we enjoyed the climb to the top and would recommend it. Makes the trek there more than just a photo op. We walked back to the other side of the street from where we got off the bus and took the next one to train station and hopped the train back to the port.

Full Day!
We exited the ship at all ashore, took cab to train station, and got the first train to Florence. Had a lovely walking tour to the Ponte Vecchio and back. Went to see David. Then joined the long but fast moving line to see inside the Cathedral. (the dome beautiful, but beyond that, the Cathedral looked better outside then in) We had lunch upstairs at the Mercato Centrale. We all got to pick our own things and eat together. Ditto on dessert. Afterwards, we grabbed a drink at the Hard Rock Cafe and then headed back to the train station.
The days in Rome and Florence/Pisa set new records on the fitbit step counts.

 

[anricat]

Update- was just informed by GOBE that the tour operator will no longer be offering the excursion to PISA.

Is Tuscany Bus all booked up? That's who we're using.

 

[kiford]

how do i buy the climb tickets? when? i see a couple links and some it's $28 and some it's $40. are they set times?

We booked a DCL tour so I can't tell you what the price is or why there is a differential. But, yes, there was a set time. They brought a group of people in, gave a bit of information about the tower and the re-engineering project and instructions about the climb. It gets very narrow at the top - barely wide enough for one person - so they control the number who climb at any one time. There are two places you can go outside to take pictures (great views!) and when you leave the first level to go to the top, there is a person who controls at the top and bottom because no one can pass on the stairs so you have to wait. You also have to leave everything in a locker before climbing. I think you were allowed a camera (obviously - DH took a thousand pictures) but no camera bag, no purse, no backpacks.

 

[fredandkell]

Hey @Joel0917 and others - check out https://www.gobe.com/ now - they have completely ceased operating! Crazy, since they were owned by Royal Caribbean! Now here's hoping Tuscany Bus stays in business at least thru the summer, haha!

 

[longboard55]

we did private tours in Florence and rome. Not cheap, I think around $600 but for four or more that will be cheaper than the Disney group tour and you see a lot more

 

[TestingH2O]

Just got back, and we did the excursion called Pisa. It was about $89 for adults and included a guided tour of the square, the baptistry, and the church. I was very opposed to visiting Pisa since I had very unimpressive memories from several years ago, but DD really wanted to go. The DCL excursion was easy and fast since I added it on at the last minute.

TBH, I really enjoyed it. I'd never been in the other buildings before, and that was very interesting. Our guide was also very good. While there are certainly still vendors, they are much more contained than they used to be.

DCL uses Trumpy tours in Pisa. I think you might be able to book with them directly.

 

[tlprice]

We just got back and did Tuscany bus and got our own tickets online ahead of time. The shuttle bus from the cruise port dropped us off right where the Tuscany bus was. We hopped on and headed to Pisa. Walked from the bus lot to the tower, took some pictures, checked our backpack in the cloak room, and climbed to the top of the tower. It was a fun climb and glad we did it. Stayed at the top for about 1/2 an hour. The only issue with Tuscany bus was that we only had a little over 2 hours in Pisa. We would have liked a little more time (not a lot more). But, it was fine and saved us $295.