Visiting Florence, Saturday or Sunday

Slinky

We are flying into Pisa for a few days, arriving on a Friday. We plan on visiting Florence by train and have the option of Saturday or Sunday. Sunday would be better from the point of view of recovering from travel, but would more shops etc be closed on a Sunday (in June)? Or am I right in thinking that either day would be much the same?

TIA

Voyager2002

Shops and so on will be far more interesting in Firenze than in Pisa. Anyway, they are not exactly far from each other, so it doesn't matter.

In short: you will probably want to spend at most one day in Pisa, whereas there is enough to keep you busy for a long time in Firenze. If you have already booked accommodation you will probably be making the short journey several times.

Barkin

Voyager2002 said:

Shops and so on will be far more interesting in Firenze than in Pisa. Anyway, they are not exactly far from each other, so it doesn't matter.

In short: you will probably want to spend at most one day in Pisa, whereas there is enough to keep you busy for a long time in Firenze. If you have already booked accommodation you will probably be making the short journey several times.

Gotta agree with this. There's far more to see & do in Florence.

When we went, we jumped straight on the train after landing in Pisa. IIRC it's only 40mins or so to Florence.

We only stopped in Pisa for 1 day/night before flying home.

Indout96

Check direct trains (esp return) before you book any attractions as most attraction tickets cannot be changed once bought. we booked tickets for a Saturday then later found there were no direct return trains to Lucca station (may be more to Pisa) so we moved train tickets to Friday and had to repay for the attraction :-( 
If you book on the Trenitalia app you can change your ticket at anytime until you actually get on the train, you also validate it via the app so no looking round for a validation machine. We go to Lucca in two weeks

jbrassy

I would agree with other posters. You can cover Pisa in a day quite easily. Most of the attractions are in one square (Piazza del Duomo). You can also book a ticket online in advance which will get you entry into all the places in this square.

On the other hand, you really need to spend 3/4 days in Florence to see it all. It's quite easy to get to Florence from Pisa by train. The man in Seat 61 recommends this website to book Italian train tickets and it worked well for me: https://www.italiarail.com/?aff=S61U

If you want to go up to the dome in the Duomo in Florence, I strongly recommend buying tickets online well in advance as they sell out weeks ahead. I would also recommend buying tickets in advance for other museums in advance to avoid queues.

Eldi_Dos

Slinky said:

We are flying into Pisa for a few days, arriving on a Friday. We plan on visiting Florence by train and have the option of Saturday or Sunday. Sunday would be better from the point of view of recovering from travel, but would more shops etc be closed on a Sunday (in June)? Or am I right in thinking that either day would be much the same?

TIA

A bit late to the party I know, please forgive.

I cannot imagine there will be many places shut on a Sunday in a tourist hotspot like Florence, there almost certainly will be plenty of things to do whatever your interests are.We found the Medici Chapels (Medici Tombs) quite awe inspiring, little bit off the beaten track but not too far from the train station.

As others have said Pisa has less to see but a late evening meal at one of the restaurants up by the Piazza del Duomo is a nice way to round off a busy day.By that time of day all the cruise and bus tours will have departed and area has a much more relaxed feel to it.

DullGreyGuy

Slinky said:

We are flying into Pisa for a few days, arriving on a Friday. We plan on visiting Florence by train and have the option of Saturday or Sunday. Sunday would be better from the point of view of recovering from travel, but would more shops etc be closed on a Sunday (in June)? Or am I right in thinking that either day would be much the same?

So you are going to Firenze to do shopping?

It's a major tourist area so most places are open 7 days a week, and if you really are going just for shopping you'll find the shops are open longer hours on a Sunday than the UK. Personally would argue there are vastly more interesting things to do but each to their own. 

Note that some religious sites, eg the Duomo, are not open to tourists on Sundays however you can still visit the Dome etc on Sundays

Slinky

DullGreyGuy said:

Slinky said:

We are flying into Pisa for a few days, arriving on a Friday. We plan on visiting Florence by train and have the option of Saturday or Sunday. Sunday would be better from the point of view of recovering from travel, but would more shops etc be closed on a Sunday (in June)? Or am I right in thinking that either day would be much the same?

So you are going to Firenze to do shopping?

It's a major tourist area so most places are open 7 days a week, and if you really are going just for shopping you'll find the shops are open longer hours on a Sunday than the UK. Personally would argue there are vastly more interesting things to do but each to their own. 

Note that some religious sites, eg the Duomo, are not open to tourists on Sundays however you can still visit the Dome etc on Sundays

Thank you for your comments. Note I did say shops etc. I'm sure you'll agree that wandering round a city when most things are shut isn't really what you want.

RavingMad

The museums in Florence are free on the first Sundays of the month. Found that out from the tour guide we booked through TripAdvisor. Great bit of luck for us! That was 3 years ago.

As others have said, much more to do in Florence. In Pisa, we walked from the train station to the tower and there wasn't much to see or do in between 

Slinky

By chance we will be in Pisa on 16th June, so will be able to see this: https://www.visittuscany.com/en/events/luminara-of-san-ranieri-in-pisa/

I think we will most likely have the day in Pisa on Saturday, perhaps visit the Duomo which we haven't been inside before, and maybe the tower again although we've done it before. We didn't complete the walk around the walls previously so that would be something else to do. Sunday in Florence, Monday will be the Luminara and Tuesday we're off to Monterosso al Mare by train.

Thanks for your help.

strawbeery90

I really get you... Sunday actually works just fine for visiting Florence, especially in June when it’s peak tourist season. Most of the main attractions and shops in the city center are open, and the vibe is still really lively. You might find that a few smaller or local shops close or have shorter hours, but the big stuff like the Duomo, Uffizi, and restaurants are all open. So if you feel like you'd rather have Saturday to recover and take it easy, go ahead and do Florence on Sunday. Honestly, you won’t miss out. Just try to book any tickets in advance if you're planning to visit the big museums since weekends can get busy. Also, if you decide to get a guide, it would definitely make the experience even better. When I travel, I usually book mine here https://gowithguide.com/  they’ve got great local guides who can really bring the place to life.  Safe travels...