Florence or Pisa airport from Bristol and any other tips! First time to 🇮🇹

[mechanicalpencil]

Hello!

Have booked an air b&b in Chianti in June but wondering the best way to get there if anyone has any advice? We will be flying from Bristol and then probably renting a car. Which airport to fly to?

The nearest airport is Florence (25 miles)
But I read online Pisa is better (50 miles) not sure why!

Our first time to Italy so any other tips welcome!

Thanks

Bumping as I’d be interested to know too. I had a real job booking a flight in to Florence airport on dates we could make, and it includes flying from a different airport than we usually travel from, and at an ungodly hour.

Then I read that everyone flies in to Pisa as there are many more flights available and the airport is much better. 🤦‍♀️

Pisa airport is much bigger and more of a transport hub than Florence which is still very much a small, mainly domestic flight airport. There'll be better transport links into the centre as a result.

PS Pisa has a train station with regular trains connecting you to Pisa itself. Not sure the one in Florence does.

I can’t help you with Florence Airport.

Pisa is the Ryanair airport for Florence and as such it has a well equipped Arrivals hall with car hire companies. They’re very expensive compared to the UK, so book the car at the same time as your flight for the best deal.

It also has a train station. 30(?) years ago my guests set off in the wrong direction because the train had a permanent sign on it saying “Livorno <-> Pisa Aeroporto <-> Firenze” so that was a bit of a panic! Luckily it was only a short ride to Livorno and I’m sure they’ve fixed it now!

Never ever fly to Florence!

Basically the runway is too short so flights are very affected by any kind of weather, even weather you haven't even noticed.

Flying out from Florence we met people who had been bumped several days in a row, flights were going but they were bumping people at the gate and in the end we did fly but our luggage didn't.

This is very common as they need to keep the weight of the flights down.

When we googled on getting home, found loads and loads of sites saying this is a frequent issue.

Pisa, or Bologna are better options.

I don't know Florence airport but Pisa airport is super-close to Pisa itself (like... look out the window of the plane as you're coming in to land and be like 'ah, there's the leaning tower!' close) and it's very easy to then grab a train into Pisa for onward travel.

Side note, but I really recommend a visit to Lucca while you're in the vicinity. It's lovely.

Pisa if you can. As a pp says Florence has a v short runway and lots of issues with weather,

Pisa has a v good train station with a shuttle directly connecting from the airport.

Not sure of your itinerary, but we enjoyed Lucca more than Florence or Pisa. More chilled and less hassle from street sellers.

Most of the street sellers in Florence were targetting teen girls. We queued behind a school party at one point and the teachers were talking about their struggles to stop the girls being scammed all the time for friendship bracelets.

One tried to pester me at one point and I gave him my best 'WTF I'm grey-haired and middle aged, why do you think I'm falling for this shit?' stare and he quickly vanished.

We got lucky flying out of Florence last year, as Pisa flights were weather affected and delayed/cancelled. Having said that Pisa is probably easier to navigate and collect hire car etc. You could take in Lucca, Vinci etc en route. We flew into Bologna the first time we visited Tuscany, if that is an option for you.

Avoid Florence airport. We weee due to fly out of there at Easter and our flight was cancelled. The next flight out was also cancelled because of 'high wind' which was substantially lower than the wind speed in Pisa which was allowing flights to land and take off without any issue. We ended up travelling to Pisa and changing airline- we got home 2 days later.

The link into Florence from Florence airport is excellent - it is a new team which costs e1.70 to get into central Florence. It is just that the airport itself is unreliable.

Dh travels to Italy a lot and I'm sure he told me Florence airport has a short runway so it's not reliable. He always chooses Pisa Airport when he's going to Florence. He once chose Florence and ended up getting diverted to Bologna so he's never made that mistake again.

Woman at Heathrow who was processing all our luggage claims - they didn't bother to tell us the luggage wasn't flying, we all just found out in baggage reclaim when no bags appeared - said it was always Florence airport, more than anywhere else.

Thanks everyone!
Very useful information to know!

I was in Florence last September with BA and it was a nightmare. Windy conditions meant 15 people were originally bumped off the plane, 8 managed to get on, the rest was ferried by cab to Rome at 8pm in the evening.

The trip from Florence airport to Florence itself is easy, simple tram to the train station.

I love Florence but will fly into Pisa next time.

We have just spent the weekend in Pisa. Flew into Pisa then took the Pisa Mover tram to the city (5 ,Euros). Two stops, final stop is main railway station.

Took bus to our hotel which was minutes from Tower of Pisa. Purchased tickets from newsagent stall just inside station. (Couple of Euro)

Stayed at Villa Tower inn - recommend. Street of restaurants and tower within walking distance. (5mins)

Wasn't much to do in pisa once you had seen the Tower so next day we walked back to train station (30mins) and took train to florence (18 euro), 60 min journey. So easy and public transport so clean.

Came back to pisa, had tea then got 7am flight home next day .

Pisa had loads more flight options when we went. Plus a super-easy train direct to Florence. Sounds like you won't need that though, if you're heading straight to Chianti.

Such a lovely, lovely area. As a PP said, Lucca is a must-see, and Siena is lovely too. And of course the famous Tuscan towns - San Gimignano and Montepulciano are well visited, but for good reason. We really liked Vinci too. A vineyard visit was a highlight for us - we got to taste loads of lovely wine, with accompanying snacks. All served in the garden of the house that owned the vineyard.

Have a great time!