Meeting Your Trip in PISA


On this page, you will find information about meeting your trip in PISA. Topics include...

We suggest that you print these pages out, and bring a copy with you to your trip.


When and Where:
In Pisa, on Sunday morning at 9a, at our “usual hotel” (the one on the trip's hotel list), even if you are staying somewhere else. Your coordinator will materialize at breakfast by then. Pisa is a mid-sized city just east of the Mediterranean, a 3-hour ride north of Rome by express train.

If you are arriving via overnight sleeper train, or travelling directly from elsewhere in Italy on Sunday morning, you will meet instead in Empoli, a town at the midpoint of the Florence-to-Pisa rail line, between 11a and noon. This alternate meeting is discussed below, in a separate note. Please, if this is where you intend to meet us, be sure that we know your arrival plans in advance. Otherwise, your bike will have stayed back in Pisa!


Included in Your Access Package, if you subscribed to it:
A train ticket to Pisa, as well as a detailed timetable of the train for which you are reserved, if any.

If you are arriving in Pisa via a Saturday daylight train, a hotel room in Pisa is also included. If you are arriving via an overnight train, a couchette berth is included on board the train (or a sleeper berth if you chose to upgrade).

Travel Documents will have been sent to you in advance, unless you are arriving via Paris, in which case they will be supplied by our Paris office. You will receive either a train ticket, or a railpass with accompanying explanation regarding its use, and a schedule for the train that you have reserved.


Getting to the Trip
The following routings are described. You may follow the link to jump directly to yours, or just scroll down.

Information on getting to your hotel from the Pisa station is offered at the start of the next section, "Practical Information."

If you are meeting the trip in Empoli instead of Pisa, information on that meet is offered at the bottom of this sheet.


From Rome
From the Airport to the main station in Rome (called “Termini”), an express shuttle train (the “Leonardo Express”) runs every half hour, making the trip to Rome's Termini train station in half an hour. Beware: other trains from the airport go to other places in Rome. For the convenience of your connection to Pisa, find the express to Termini. Termini is the final stop for this train.

Once you reach Termini, catch the next train to Pisa. Expresses currently (as of April '07) run at 7h35, and then at 46 mins. past every odd hour, through 17h46. (There is an additional express at 17h00). In addition, locals depart about 15 minutes behind every express, taking 4 hours to make the run. After the 17h46, there are locals pretty much all night long.

The express trains seem to randomly require that you reserve seats, or not, and the requirements change constantly (seat reservations are available on all trains, at a cost of $11 US / seat). For instance, at this writing, the 9h46, the 11h46, the 17h, and the 17h46 require you to book a seat, the others do not.

If a seat reservation is required, it will be available until just minutes before departure, provided you can get through the ferocious queues at the ticket windows. Or, you may book your ticket though us, including a reserved seat. But if you then change your plans or miss the train, you may be required to buy a new ticket (we are not sure: perhaps your train-specific ticket can be modified locally in Italy to be used on an alternate train).

There is also a long history in Italy of random enforcement of the seat reservation rule, particularly on quiet trains. There is a very good chance that if you simply board the train with a ticket which does not included a requisite seat reservation, the conductor will only charge the cost of the reservation when he comes through the train to collect tickets (about 5 €). Even if he charges you a fine, it is likely to be no more than 10 additional euros — a sum you will be happy to pay to save 2 hours waiting for the next train.

To help you locate the next departing train on the departure monitors: they all have one of Turin (“Torino”), Genova, Savona or Ventimiglia as their final destination. Journey time on an express is a shade over 3 hours. Beware: all schedules are subject to change. If you have not reserved a seat, just get on, and locate a seat not reserved by anyone else.

If you just miss a train, ask at information if a quicker service is available via a connection in Florence. This route takes no longer, but it costs more and requires a train change in Florence....


From Milan.
A frequent bus service runs from the airport to Milano Centrale station. We suggest taking this, especially if you are at Malpensa airport, since the ride from Malpensa is quite a long one, and thus expensive by taxi. We do not recommend the tempting airport train, which runs to its own city-center terminal, and not to the main railway station.

From Milan, take the next train to Pisa. There are only four useful direct trains on this line, currently (April '06) scheduled at 8h10a, 16h00, 17h25, and 18h10. All except the 17h25 require that you reserve a seat in order to ride. This can be done in the station until minutes prior to departure, provided that space is available.

Otherwise, trains run on two different routes: via Genova, or via Florence. Your ticket is written for travel via Genova, and such tickets are also valid on the shorter direct route. But you may use it to travel via Florence by paying a modest additional charge at the ticket window (where you must also reserve a seat, as trains on this route require seat reservations).

Trains via Genova do not routinely require reservations - board any one, and occupy any unreserved seat.

Journey time is roughly 4 hours, whether on the direct train across the mountains, or on the connecting services via Genova or Florence.


From Florence.
The Florence airport is small, and not many people arrive here via air. If you do, the airport is reasonably close to the town, and served by a city bus which runs to the main station (called S.M.N., or Santa Maria Novella) every 20 - 30 minutes.

It is more common to arrive in Florence by overnight train. The Paris train (and a couple of others) come into the Campo di Marte station, on the outskirts of town. You can reach the downtown Santa Maria Novella station by frequent shuttle train, without purchasing an additional ticket.

Trains from Florence to Pisa Centrale are frequent, 2 or 3 per hour, and tickets are not train-specific. They can be used on any train without formality. Journey time is a bit over an hour, up to an hour and a half if you catch a local. Use caution, as most trains continue beyond Pisa Centrale, to the Pisa Airport, to Livorno, or elsewhere. Pay attention after the first hour of the ride, and get off when you come to a huge station with 10 or 15 tracks. That will be Pisa Centrale.


From Nice, Switzerland, or Elsewhere via Daylight Train
Most trains from Nice require a connection in Genova, while daylight trains from other points require a connection in either Milan or Florence. If you are coming from another point than Rome or Milan via daylight train, and set up your travel through us, you will presumably have received a detailed schedule for the trip, showing connection points.


From Paris, or from Elsewhere via Overnight Train
The overnight train from Paris requires reservations. It offers accommodations of various sorts on board, up to and including private cabins with ensuite showers. It also offers a dining car. It departs Paris (Gare de Bercy) the evening before your trip meeting, at about 7p (consult your ticket for the exact departure time). Your tickets will be waiting for you in our Paris office.

Assuming you take this train on Saturday night, you will meet your trip on Sunday in Empoli, instead of going all the way to Pisa. Information on this alternate meet is offered at the bottom of this sheet.



Arriving Pisa by Plane
The Pisa airport is just minutes from the city center. There is a cheap train, or a taxi would probably run 15€, no more.



Practical Information in Pisa

Finding Your Hotel.
Our usual hotel is across the street. Exit the front of the station, following the broad avenue that leads away from it. In the first block, a covered passage leads off to the left. The hotel, Albergo La Pace, is in this passage, on your left. Be sure to give the name “Blue Marble” when you check in: the hotel should have a rooming list. Your trip’s coordinator generally arrives late this evening, and can be called upon in case of emergency.

Albergo La Pace
Via Gramsci,14 (Galleria B)
56125 Pisa, ITALIA
Tel. (39) (050) 293 51 or 488 63. Fax (39) (050) 502 266.

Arriving in Pisa with Your Bike
Ask (politely) at reception if they will keep it safe for you. They usually store it in a hallway on the ground floor.

Combatting Jet Lag
Trips starting with our Tuscany itinerary assemble on Sunday morning, but if you arrive via a Saturday train we will have reserved a hotel room for you. If you have just landed from the United States, we strongly suggest that you not use that hotel room, at least until 11p or so, since even a short nap when you arrive will ensure that you are wide awake and raring to go between 2 and 6a for the next couple of days.

Getting Advance Information on Tomorrow's Ride, Contacting Your Coordinator
Tomorrow’s route sheets (the daily documents we distribute to describe that day's route) will be available this evening if we arranged your hotel room in Pisa. They will hopefully be placed in your room’s mailbox at reception by your harried, but smiling, coordinator. He will typically spend the night at the trip's “usual” hotel, and you can leave a note for him there if you need to reach him in advance for any reason.



What to do With Your Time in Pisa
Pisa is not the prettiest of towns, though it has a cheerful bustle to it if you arrive before the stores close. It is, of course, famous for its leaning tower, part of a pretty ensemble that is much more than the tower alone.

You can taxi to the tower, of course, but a city bus makes the trip every 20 minutes from the railroad station, just feet from our hotel.... Ask which one at the hotel reception, but if memory serves, it may be number 11. Tickets for city buses in Italy cannot generally be bought on board, but there is a bus ticket window by the bus stop, and if it is closed you may purchase bus tickets from the newsstand inside the station. You could walk to the tower if you had your heart set on it, but it is actually quite a distance, and there is nothing particularly pretty to recommend the walk.



Saturday Dinner Option
The nature of our Blue Marble trip coordinator's work in Pisa (late arrival in town with lots of administration to handle) is such that we have not spent much time exploring local dinner options. Here is one, though:

“Lo Schiaccianoci,” Via Vespucci 104A, Tel: 050.21024. Turn right out of La Pace and then straight across the 4 lanes of traffic, thru the little alley you see on the other side. It is 100m ahead. They accept credit cards. Good service and the locals seem to like the place, usually a good sign.

If that doesn't suit you, a simple restaurant can be found by turning left out of La Pace's gallery, and following the main street that leads away from the station a few blocks to the edge of the old town. There is a restaurant at this busy intersection of the "Cheap n' Cheerful" variety.

If you find something you like better, bring us a business card!



Meeting in Empoli instead of Pisa
If you have chosen to spend the night prior to the trip (Saturday) in Florence or Venice, or are travelling to Pisa via overnight train (generally via Florence), you will meet the cycle trip in Empoli, instead of in Pisa, though also on Sunday morning. The Empoli meeting is at the railway station, between 11a and noon (your coordinator normally arrives there by train from Pisa at around 11a).

Please, if this is where you intend to meet us, be sure that we know your arrival plans in advance. Otherwise, your bike will be back in Pisa!

Empoli is the midpoint on the Florence-to-Pisa rail line. All trains travelling from Florence to any of Pisa, Livorno or Siena, stop in Empoli. Service is about every half hour, and the latest train you can take to get to the meeting point on time departs Florence at about 11a.

If you are coming from Venice, this means taking a Venice-to-Florence train with an early departure from Venice (circa 6:30a in the current schedule - alternates are available at 7:30a and 8:30a, but they both require double connections, ambitious at that hour of the morning). If you arrive via this route, we will probably have sent you a ticket as far as Florence - look at it to make sure (sometimes we are able to issue tickets all the way to Empoli). If your ticket is only to Florence, you must buy the Florence-to-Empoli local ticket at an Italian railway station (it will cost about 5 euros). Trip time to Empoli is half an hour.

You will find your group on the platform where the station building sits, milling about with their bikes, raising and lowering their seats, and eyeing each other suspiciously.