Flying into Pisa - where for a family holiday?

[Fivefootoffun]

Hello,

we have been to Lake Garda for the past 3 summers and would like a change. Can fly to Pisa from a local airport - could anyone recommend any areas for a family of 4 (kids 6 and 8). Must be accessible by public transport as we won’t drive in Italy.

we have been to Lucca before and loved but not sure enough to do for the kids? My youngest is disabled so whilst he can’t swim he loved sitting at the waters edge in Garda.

can also fly to Milan - had thought about lake Como but not really sure where to start!

TIA

Elba - we loved it!

Stresa, Lake Maggiore is lovely and there is a transfer from Malpensa. Boat trips to the Islands, there's also Alpy Land and a wild animal park. Lots of places to eat with reasonable prices. Nice lakeside prom. We've stayed in Sestri Levante and Deiva Marina and used the train to get up and down the coast - Cinque Terre villages, and Portofino, Genoa etc. Nice beaches.

Sestri Levante is great, a super base for such a broad area and just a quick train ride from Pisa. The trains are cheap and frequent. There are ferries up and down the coast with multiple places to hope on and off for siteseeing.
Rapallo is similarly handy. Both have beautiful old towns around harbours.

However, if you go high season the cruise ship throngs across the Italian Riviera and Cinque Terra can be bloody awful.

It looks lovely - did you find enough to do activity wise for kids? Thank you!

Fantastic, thank you - this is exactly what was looking for - much appreciated 😀

Fantastic, thank you so much for this.

There’s not much to Elba besides nice hotels, restaurants and beaches plus it’s not that easy to get to! What about the Tuscan coast? Milan is a great city to spend a few days in and there’s trains to the lakes from there. As others have said, enough for dc to see and do. Driving in Italy is ok by the way. Just take it steady. Our DC loved staying just outside San Gimignano. We hired a car and went out in the afternoons and saw fantastic hilltop towns. Not driving is a bit limiting.

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

Great info here! I’m following to hopefully book something similar.

Elba. San Vincenzo is fab

Yes we did, went to different beaches every day. It’s a lovely island. There’s a shipwreck located off one of the beaches, was fun to check it out with snorkels. We loved it, would definitely go back.

Elba is great if you just want beaches but if you want more, it’s limiting. So think about what interests dc. You do have to travel down the coast to the port and then get to Elba via a ferry. With no car, it’s difficult to enjoy Elba. You are better off based near a station on the mainland if you won’t be driving otherwise you have to rely on the travel on the lakes.

If you fly to Milan you can get a train to Varenna on Lake Como. We are going next year so can't tell you what it is like yet - but it looks beautiful!

Can't help with Pisa I'm afraid.

Thanks for this. Have looked at Como and Maggiore too - just worried we’d be comparing it to Garda as we LOVED Garda! Heard great things about Como though - hope you have a great time

Viaregio on the Tuscany coast.. accessible by train.
From there you can get to Florence for a day trip if you fancy.

Second vote for viareggio.