Help with itinerary - Traveling with a 8 year kid

Abhi

New member
Hi! We are planning a 3 day trip to Tuscany (need to complete the booking by the end of this week Oct 17), we will be taking the train from Milan. I would like to do a day trip to Pisa (mainly for our boy). The other two days I would like to have an easy relaxing time with my wife and kid in Tuscany region.
Lourdes - I have seen several responses to other posts and would truly appreciate if you could throw some light.
1. I am thinking of having the base at the Renaissance hotel at Lucca. Is that a good choice?
2. We are still evaluating whether we can do without a car. Does having a base in Lucca mean that I need to rent a car for sure?
3. Since we will be coming from Milan, I think there are direct trains from MIlan to Lucca (just checked the web site - http://www.virail.com/train-milan-lucca). Would like to confirm.
4. Is it possible to do a day trip from Lucca to Pisa, since we are closer to Pisa than from Florence? (I have seen day trips being organized from Florence, but not from Lucca)
Are there good transportation from Florence train station to Lucca - bus, taxi at night - say after 9 pm?
5. Good place to explore around Lucca for a day.
6. Good options to explore Florence for a day. We would like to spend more time outdoors than indoor museums.
Thanks again,
Abhi
 
Ciao Abhi,

I started by checking train timetables directly on the Trenitalia website (the main Italian train network): www.trenitalia.com
The bad news: there are NO DIRECT trains from Milan down to Lucca. You either have to change trains in Viareggio, Pisa or Florence for all of them.

So while Lucca is a great town to base yourself in, you should consider that to get there you will need to do a train change first... minimum train travel will be around 3 hours (and more). In that case, it might be better to base yourself in Florence, and cut down on travel time coming down (will you be heading back to Milan after the 3 days or continuing on down to Rome?).

If you decide to base yourself in Lucca, Pisa is a great day trip and a very short train ride away. If you stay in Lucca, Pisa or Florence - you can move around solely with trains, no need to rent a car.

If you're here for just 3 days, I suggest you spend time in Florence, Lucca and Pisa - you don't even need to visit museums in any of the towns, you can spend most of the time just exploring the city on foot and enjoying the sights. Although you could fit in a museum or two ;-)

http://www.visitflorence.com/itineraries-in-florence/two-days-in-florence.html

http://www.discovertuscany.com/lucca/one-day-in-lucca.html

http://www.discovertuscany.com//pisa/one-day-itinerary.html
 
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