Meeting Your Trip in PISA or EMPOLI

This page offers help (concrete or informational) on reaching your trip. Topics include...

1. Where you Join Your Trip (see immediately below)
2. Our “Access Packages,” designed to help you to do so.
3. Suggestions on how to time your trip to the trip, whether you are having us arrange your travel, or doing it yourself.
4. Service information regarding train travel to your trip start location.
5. Suggested pre-trip visits, especially when these are not geographically obvious, but are rendered economical and convenient by direct rail connections.
6. Hopefully helpful hints for those setting up their own travel to the trip.

If you wish to arrange some or all of your travel through us, please tell us what by means of this response questionnaire, designed to collect all the information we need to be able to book your travel.

1. WHERE Do You Join Your Trip?

The trip assembles on Sunday morning at 9a in Pisa, at our hotel.

An alternate meeting is proposed at the Empoli railway station, between 11a and noon.
Empoli is midpoint on the Florence-Pisa rail line, less than an hour from either. The Empoli meeting is useful if any of the following apply to you:

• You have spent Saturday night in Florence, and have no interest in Pisa.
• You have spent Saturday night in Venice, Milan, Rome, or any point in between, and do not mind a very early Sunday start (boarding a train at 7a or so, 8a from Rome).
• You are arriving in Tuscany via overnight train from a neighboring European country, or from Sicily (the overnight trains arrive via Florence, not Pisa).

Discussion:
If you are arriving from another continent, the trip meets are too remote for you to reach them on the same day that you land in Europe. You must thus reach Europe by Saturday (flying on Friday night from North America, for instance). Our “Access Packages” all include a bed of one sort or another on Saturday night.

The first scheduled Sunday flights from London to Pisa or Florence do allow you to reach Empoli in time for the trip meeting, if they are on time. But we suggest that you fly to Pisa the previous evening (Saturday) and spend the night there. Otherwise, a late flight can cause you to miss the first day of the trip, and cost you the price of shipping your cycle forward to the first night’s stop.

If you wish to make your own way to the trip (in other words, not to set up your travel arrangements through us), hints on reaching Pisa are offered at the bottom of this page.


2. Our ACCESS PACKAGES
as of April 28, 2008

Base (Starting) Access Package Price: 89€ (73€ if travelling to Pisa from Florence).

If you are a North American traveller, the $ price (US or Canadian) on your price chart applies until 35 days prior to trip departure. Otherwise euro prices are transcribed to your invoice in its currency, converted at the exchange rate of the day on which the package is requested (rounded to the nearest whole dollar). Current “mid-market” rates can be consulted from the site we use for conversion. We use the mid-market rate on the day of conversion, and add 2% to cover currency broker exchange commissions (our conversion rates are thus as good as, or better than, any you could obtain, including via your credit card, unless you are a professional currency trader).

Availability is normally good until 35 days prior to trip start (payment received by us). Within 35 days, availability must be confirmed, and costs may be higher (especially the costs of shipping rail tickets). Some extra-cost options have higher prices if ordered w/in 35 days.

Included:

• 2nd class daylight train tickets to Pisa from Rome, Milan, Florence or Genova / Cinque Terre, including seat reservations where required (see service information, below).
  Tickets are not refundable or exchangeable once ordered. Changeable tickets are available at an additional cost, and are suggested if you wish to attempt a tight plane-train connection.
  Or, you may opt for an “open” ticket, valid only on express trains not requiring reservations, and on local trains (but reservations on other trains can be made locally for an additional charge).
• A printed schedule / itinerary, highlighting any connections.
• Our “Route Sheet to the Trip,” helping you through your journey.
• A hotel night in Pisa, based on shared occupancy, including breakfast. Singles willing to share are guaranteed the share price (even if we do not wind up finding you a roommate), until 35 days pre-trip.
  

Options Offered at an Extra Cost (subject to availability)
Prices are in addition to the “Base” Access Package Price. For a general discussion of train upgrades, see here. Topics include the relative comfort of first versus second class, and different types of accommodation available on overnight trains.

• Saturday tickets from Venice: 12€ additional.
  Tickets are not refundable or exchangeable once ordered. Changeable tickets are available at an additional cost, and are suggested if you are attempting a tight plane-train connection.
• First class upgrade (in lieu of 2nd class):
  - 16€ from Rome, Milan, Venice or Genova.
  - 25€ from Nice.
  - 49€ from Switzerland, Germany, Austria, or France other than Nice. A discount rate of 25€ is sometimes available When it is, it is a great bargain for these long trips.
• Changeable / refundable tickets: +20€.
  These come as two separate travel coupons, ticket on the one hand (without mention of a specific train) and reservation on the other (train and seat assignment). Should you miss your train, you may make a new reservation locally for between 10 and 15€, using the original ticket. The ticket portion is refundable less 20%.
• Alternate tickets are available from points further afield.
  You may either travel to Pisa in daylight on Saturday (a long trip, but the trains are comfortable, and the scenery is beautiful), or overnight on Saturday night to Florence, with a Sunday morning connection to Empoli for the meeting there.
  Overnight trains include a couchette sleeping berth on board. “Comfort Couchette” and sleeping car upgrades are available on night train (see general info about upgrading on night trains).
  Sample additional cost from these cities: Paris, Geneva, Zurich, Munich or Vienna, 89€. From Nice: 29€. From London, 158€ if you are also purchasing tickets back to London (from the end of any of our trips), 198€ if not, or if you prefer a changeable return (for 1st cl. on the Eurostar from London to Paris, add a further 48€; 1st class tickets include meal service).
• Private single room in Pisa, 23€.

Alternate Arrangements, in lieu of our usual packages (subject to availability)
Prices are complete (in other words, they are not in addition to the “Base” Access Package Price)

• Sunday morning tickets from Rome, Milan or Venice direct to Empoli, including required seat reservation on the first of the two trains required to make the trip: 45€.
• Hotel in Pisa (additional nights, or without rail tickets): 55€ shared occupancy, 70€ single. Shared occupancy rate guaranteed to singles on the pre-trip Saturday night only.

3. TIMING Your Trip

Pisa is not particularly interesting, but the much-ballyhoo’d tower is part of a beautiful ensemble, absolutely worth a visit. And you will not have time to see it on Sunday morning (when the trip assembles). So, if you are able, try to schedule your arrival in time to take a quick look.

Most trains to Pisa require seat reservations, though local trains offer a carefree alternative if you don’t mind an extra hour on the train. Use this facility to leave your travel plans open, and come in when you are ready on Saturday....


4. Service Information
Schedules are approximate – exact timetables can be consulted at http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/fares_schedules/index.htm.
Best trains are mentioned. Others are slower or have multiple connections.

• From Rome, Termini station: travel time on an express is 3 hours, on a local closer to 4. Both express and local services run every 2 hours.
  In ‘08, expresses depart Termini at 7h35, and then at 46 mins. past every odd hour, through 17h46. (There is an additional express at 17h00). Locals depart 15 minutes behind every express except the 17h00, taking 4 hours to make the run. After the 17h46, there are locals pretty much all night long (as well as a last express at 21h16).
  Express trains seem to randomly require that you reserve seats, or not, and the requirements change often. For instance, at this writing, the 9h46, 11h46, 17h, 17h46 and the 21h16 require that you book a seat in order to ride. The 7h35, the 13h46 and the 15h46 do not.
  From the airport to the Termini station: an special airport train runs from Fiumicino airport (the main, international airport) to Termini station, from whence trains depart for Pisa. Trip time is 31 mins, service is every 30 mins (scheduled at 6” and 36” past each hour in 2008).
• From Milan. Trip time is 4 - 4.5 hours, by direct train at 7a, 8a, 4p, 5p or 6p. At other times of day it is necessary to change trains in Genova, adding an hour to the trip.
  Most trains require advance reservations, but direct trains at 7a, 4p and 5p can be ridden with an open ticket.
• From Florence. Frequent service all day long (generally 2 trains per hour). Reservations neither required nor available. Trip time oscillates around 90 minutes.
• From Nice. Trip time is 6.5 - 7 hours, one or two connections are required. Seat reservations are required.
  There is also a direct overnight service, but which arrives Pisa at 5:30a. If you are riding this train overnight on Saturday night, we’ll treat you to breakfast at the hotel, across the street from the station. But it won’t start at 5:30a....
• From Geneva or Zurich. Both routes: trip time ±8 hrs., trains run every 2 hrs. Connections in Milan, Genova, or both (there is one direct train from Zurich at 11a). On each route, reservations are required on one train of the sequence, available at additional cost (but not required) on the other(s). Particular comfortable services depart Zurich at 7a, 11a (direct) and 1p, Geneva at 9a.
• From Paris. Daylight: dp. 8a, arrive 7p. Overnight, dp Saturday 7p, with a connection in Florence for Empoli on Sunday morning.
• From London: 15-hour trip in daylight, with 3 connections. Overnight: depart London Saturday at 2p via Paris (station change). Morning connection in Florence for Empoli.

5. Suggested PRE-TRIP VISITS

Good Saturday night trains can get you to Tuscany from Vienna, Munich, Paris, or Switzerland. Another option is to visit Sicily, which is beautiful, and travel to Tuscany via overnight train on Saturday night.


6. Hints on TRAVELLING INDEPENDENTLY to the Trip
Guests subscribing to an “Access Package” need not read this section.

See also “Timing Your Trip” and “Service Information,” above, as either of these may additionally help.

We gladly provide travel consulting (schedule or routing information) concerning pre-trip individual travel. In particular, we have invested a great deal to become railway experts. Our service fees are reasonable: a 20€ charge for all but the most complex projects – or the most simple (for instance, only a 10€ charge applies if the service is limited to the preparation of a routine rail ticket). You will generally find them well-justified by the time they will save you in research, standing on line, overpaying for your tickets, or all three.

But, for some, this type of research is fun. So, here are some hints, intended to start off hardened “do-it-yourselfers.”

Trains. Schedules for all routes can be consulted on this web site:
http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/fares_schedules/index.htm

Pisa is on the main rail line from Rome to Genova and Nice. Frequent trains also run cross-country from Florence. Overnight sleeper trains come from Paris, Switzerland, Germany and Austria, via Florence.

Planes. Pisa has an airport, served by intra-European flights, and by Ryanair from London Stansted. The nearest intercontinental airports are in Rome and Milan. Other local airports closer than these are in Florence (75 minutes away, frequent train service) and Genova (2 hrs. away, hourly service with some 2-hour gaps). But if you book a direct flight into Rome or Milan, and get on the train from there, you will find your trip faster overall, and more comfortable, than if you book a connecting flight into one of the smaller, more local airports.


If you wish to arrange some or all of your travel through us, please tell us what by means of this response questionnaire, designed to collect all the information we need to be able to book your travel.