My Angle on PISA

Advantages: Big WOW factor
Disadvantages: None

...One of the highlights of our trip to Tuscany last year was to be our visit to Pisa. To be accurate, the main attraction was not so much the city of Pisa itself, charming though it undoubtedly is, but the Field of Miracles*. Well, to be punctiliously precise, it wasn't even the Field of Miracles that had our anticipatory juices flowing, but The Leaning Tower of Pisa in particular. * The Field of Miracles is the area housing the Duomo, Tower, Baptistry and associated buildings. To be honest, if you discount the Field of Miracles, I'm not sure that much else in Pisa merits a visit although I expect some Pisaphile will soon put me straight on that count. However, it can't be denied that the seething masses that are constantly disgorged from the tourist buses usually have one thing in mind and that's to take one of those corny snaps...

proxam 13.01.2007 (15.02.2009) · Read review
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Review of The Leaning Tower of Pisa

I wanna a Pisa that erection!

Advantages: Breath taking views, easy to get to and around
Disadvantages: Them damn bicycles

...Last Wednesday a few of my work colleagues and I went along to Pisa for the day, after spotting a bargain on the Ryanair website which involved us paying 2p per ticket with Ryanair and £20 in Airport Tax. Having never been to before this was a first taste of Italy for me and I was especially looking forward to seeing the Leaning Tower in all its glory Pisa is located in Tuscany, still surrounded by its 12-century City Walls on the north bank of the river Arno with just over 100,000 inhabitants. The centre of Pisa is easily accessible from Galileo Galilei Airport, which is about a mile away from the City Centre. The Airport itself has numerous facilities including a Bureau de Change, Cash machine's and ATM's as well as car hire centres, restaurants, café's and bars and a few shops. To get from the Airport to the centre of Pisa we...

kappaslappa 03.10.2005 · Read review
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Review of Pisa (Italy)

Pisa off on holiday

Advantages: Good price, great rooms and breakfast
Disadvantages: not best surroundings

...This was a definite 'how far can we go on a budget at Easter where it might be warm?' affair. Thank God for budget airlines. Me, the wife and the nipper/satan spawn off to Pisa on Ryanair from Liverpool for about £140 should do it. But where to stay? I was all for sleeping on a beach but Italy in April wouldn't stop hypothermia I was told. So it was time to scour the internet for somewhere with 5 days availability, vaguely out of season and cheap. We had about £400 to play with. Not too bad. The wonders of the modern family meant that some of our kids were spending time with their real parents so we were down from 5 to 1. It wasn't my idea to conceive a child between us that we couldn't ship out. Damn female hormones. Rather than spend our time mourning, we thought it best to bugger off of on holiday without them to ease the pain...

dhillcrest 27.03.2008 · Read review
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Review of Green Park Resort, Pisa

Love is in the air in Pisa!

Advantages: reasonably priced for a four star hotel!
Disadvantages: Location, far out from the centre of Pisa

...We stayed in this hotel in February 06 when visiting Pisa The main drawback, it has to be said straight away, is the location. It's about 10 minutes by bus outside the main town of Pisa. There is a bus which stops right outside the hotel about every 15 minutes and tickets can be bought from the reception desk, so this did not put us off and didn't cause any problems for us while we were there. If you are willing to travel for a great hotel, then this is it! I believe that there is a shuttle bus during peak months into the centre of Pisa. This four star hotel has 55 double rooms, and 2 junior suites. 2 of the double rooms have disabled facilities. The rooms are large and ours had a double bed, large desk, satellite television, mini bar (which was very reasonably priced!!), large bathroom which is well lit, wardrobe, easy chair...

sharkel 19.01.2007 · Read review
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Review of Hotel Repubblica Marinara, Pisa

Pisa was good for a city break

Advantages: Easy to get to, good base for a few days
Disadvantages: Crowded with Tourists, touts selling cheap watches

...Ryanair offered 99p flights, so we decided to have a 4 day break in Pisa. We arrived at Pisa airport which was only a mile out of town. I expected to find leaflets packed with info at the airport - but no. So we wandered outside and found the bus stop & I had already found out that is was apparently easy to get a bus into the centre. We tried to buy a ticket from a machine, but it wouldn't give us tickets so we asked the driver of a bus that drew up and he tried to help & had a problem, so he sold us a couple of tickets for 1.50 Euros. I was starting to feel that Italy didn't really want Tourists to find out anything! Anyway we saw a sign to our hotel, hopped off the bus and a few yards down the road was the hotel. They were brilliant, they checked us in at once- at 10am in the morning! There were signs all over Pisa to...

flyingfox 18.05.2005 · Read review
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Review of Pisa (Italy)

Galileo Galilei will you do the fandango...

Advantages: Good central location for Tuscany
Disadvantages: It's an airport!

...Pisa International Airport, or, as Ryanair like to call it, 'Florence airport' likes to call itself 'the Strategic gateway to Tuscany'. If all that weren't confusing enough, its Sunday name is Pisa International Airport - Galileo Galilei. Of course, it doesn't really matter what its called - what matters is whether the flight you want goes there...and I suppose, departs from there. When we took a trip to Tuscany last year, it rather conveniently did. Actually, the description of the Gateway to Tuscany isn't a bad one as most people travelling there will have to use Pisa - Florence airport is smaller although I think there are plans to enlarge it. Not that it matters all that much, Florence isn't all that far from Pisa and there are excellent communication links. In fact, the railway station is literally on the doorstep...

proxam 10.01.2006 · Read review
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Review of Pisa Airport (PSA)

AVERAGE HOTEL DOUMO

Advantages: Fantastic location
Disadvantages: In need of refurbishment

...Having an early morning flight back to Edinburgh, and looking to spend our last night of our recent trip to Italy in Pisa, we chose the Grand Hotel Doumo. Why? Well, if you're looking for a hotel which is ideally located for all that Pisa has to offer, you'd be hard placed to find a more suitable one. It's literally a few steps from the famous tower and in fact, many of the rooms have a magnificent view of the tower and Doumo (hence the name). that explains the Doumo part of the name...you could hardly be more accurate. And describing it as an hotel is pretty spot on too. But Grand? Me no think so. The hotel may indeed have been grand once upon a time (possibly around the time the builders had forgotten their plumb line and were erecting said tower with all haste), but it sure ain't now. Dated, tired and in need of a general...

proxam 13.07.2008 · Read review
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Review of Grand Hotel Duomo, Pisa

Nightmare Navigation but Perfect Pizzas

Advantages: It's Italy, so you can expect good weather, nice people and amazing food, plus a well located airport served by budget carriers
Disadvantages: There's very little to do there

...HOW TO GET THERE By plane to Pisa’s airport, handily located on the city borders about 10 mins drive from most hotels. Taxis are reasonably priced too – it shouldn’t cost more than 10 EUR (~ 6 GBP) including a tip unless you arrive in the middle of the night and have 2 million suitcases with you. Alternatively take the train from Rome or Florence. The main station is walkable from the center, and surrounded by several shopping streets. If you’re staying at the youth hostel, get off at the San Rossore station instead if your train goes here – much closer to both this and the Duomo / Tower complex. GETTING AROUND Pisa is compact enough to explore on foot. If you want to venture further afield, there are plenty of busses although they annoyed the whatever out of me. It’s the routes, you see...

zoe_page 07.01.2003 · Read review
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Review of Pisa (Italy)

Tuscany's 'other' city.

Advantages: interesting, tower, cathedral
Disadvantages: a bit dull

...Without being too cruel, I was fortunate enough to spend 2 days in Pisa, which was probably about 1.5 days too many! Honestly, though, it is a pleasant enough city, further downstream of the Arno from Florence and about an hour away by train. Home to an impressive and well-established University, Pisa has young population, heavily influenced by the student population. Of course she is most famous for the sights on the Campo dei Miracoli, the ubiquitous Tower, the Cathedral, the Baptistry and a couple of museums. The tower itself is one of those things which is more impressive at close sight, I found it so anyway. It is going to reopen this year, possibly before the summer, after years and years of attempting to prop it up. I'm not entirely sure I'd want to venture up, but apparently it was 'tested' on groups of Italian students...

womble 07.02.2001 · Read review
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Review of Pisa (Italy)

A VERTIGO VIEW OF THE LEANING TOWER

Advantages: Gives you something to do in Pisa
Disadvantages: No safety fence.

...We were having a lovely few days in Pisa, the tilting to the Leaning Tower had been arrested, it is even said it is now being reversed, but for obvious tourist reasons I do not envisage that it will be bought back to a level state. History says it was begun in 1173 and that it has always tilted, subsidence disrupted the foundations so that when they had only errected 3 of the 8 storeys they knew they had a problem, so for the next 180 years a succession of Architects were employed to try and correct the fault. By 1350 it was accepted that the angle would be accepted and the tower was completed, I imagine some far sighted business man had clocked onto its potential. The tower was eventually closed to the Public in the 1990's with an overhang of 5 meters off the true. Much work has been done in reversing the lean and it is open...

poshtroika 30.03.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Leaning Tower of Pisa