Opinions on Pisa as a weekend away?

[colie]

Would appreciate any views on Pisa. Was going to try and take dh to NY for his 40th but too expensive and not enough time.

Pisa is appealing to me because of the cheapconvenient flight times.

We would be going in October and only really have one full day and night there.

He has been to quite a few cities abroad due to his work and football obsession following.

Any thoughts or opinions on Pisa would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

One day and night prob ok but tbh there is not a huge amount outside the obvious to do there- we did stay in a fab hotel on the river there that was like something out of room with a view.

poppy34-don't suppose you can remember the name of the hotel?

There's not an awful lot to do there tbh, other than, you know... Not spesh enough as an alternative to NY or for a 40th, I don't think.

You can hire a car from Pisa and drive to Florence in about an hour - much nicer. Or San Gimignano is also within reasonable driving distance from Pisa and it's really lovely.

here

Florence is much better imo, and there is a bus that goes from Pisa airport to Florence train station that takes just over an hour.

We stayed here and it was fantastic. The location was ideal for wandering and the owners couldn't do enough for us.

The bus website is here and is ideal because only residents are able to drive into the centre of Florence.

I quite like Pisa for that length of time - we stayed in an oldfashioned hotel on the river as well - the Victoria something or other? Theres enough to spend the whole day with the tower and the rest of it and theres an interesting Keith Haring piece by the station and a good restaurant up towards the Square where the tower is that you have to book for...

Agree that Florence is lovely of course though...

Flights to Pisa are good but wouldn't recommend itfor a weekend. Agree with Florence or you could go to Siena easily esp if you drive. Or Genoa and then head down to the Italian Riviera? We often go to the La Spezia area, and flights to Genoa are usually equally cheap/convenient. Pisa is definitely a one-hot wonder in my opinion.

Thanks ladies. I am away to look up ryanair to Genoa bath baby.

My God he better appreciate all the time and effort I am putting into this weekend . I have been seeking advice on here about where to go for his 40th since December!

I apologise if I am getting on all your nerves about this now. I am getting on my own nerves about it.

Seriously think about the Riviera - there are some lovely places. It's not really a city break in the same way, but you could easily spend a day in Genoa if you wanted culture.

Fly to Pisa and then get the train to Florence - only an hour away. I did that on my honeymoon before going up north to Verona.

If you have one night, one day, I would recommend Nice. Beach, old town, little train up to the top of the hill. Lots and lots of restuarants and nightlife and good range of hotels. We stayed at the Hotel Suisse for the weekend.
Easy to get a taxi from the airport. Easyjet fly there too as i recall....

Now I want to go....

Hang on....fly to Pisa then train to Lucca!
Very crumbly old city, ride bikes on walls (sounds a bit strange but mega wide city walls) , little bit of history, quieter and less to get done than Florence and less than an hour from Pisa train station????

Lucca is lovely! Forgotten we'd been there. I discovered that I was PG in the Campo di Miracoli in Pisa. It seemed somehow appropriate.

Lucca, Lucca! Tis perfect for your length of stay, very 'Italian', sophisticated shopping, enough history, nice food, music, and no where near as touristy as Florence. Go and look at Pisa (tower) on the way back to airport - we did this whilst taxi waited for us once!

Pisa is nice enough but once you've seen the tower there's not much else to do.

You can get the train to Lucca and Florence very easily and both are lovely.

We flew to Pisa on cheap flights, camped not far from the tower and it was a very cheap base for sight seeing rather than being a nice town in itself, if you see what I mean.