My Ultimate Travel Guide to Pisa, Italy

One of my dreams has always been to see the leaning tower of Pisa, Italy. I thought it was just this leaning tower to see in Pisa, but oh I had so wrong! For a long weekend, I flew directly with Norwegian from Stockholm to Pisa, which was very smooth. Here comes my Pisa guide for those who are interested in experiencing something magnificent in Italy.

What you must see and do in Pisa

Many tourists are coming here just over the day, others stay overnight. I stayed 3 nights in total which I thought was nice because I wanted to avoid stress. However, I arrived late in the evening so it was nice to wake up and spend all day in Pisa, doing what I wanted, whenever I wanted.

I recommend to go up early to see the leaning tower, there are more tourists than you think here.That’s why I chose to arrive the night before so I could be in time and do what I wanted, as long as I wanted and not hurry up this moment. I hate to stress through something I find important 🙂 

The first thing I wanted to do was to get up in the tower, mostly because that’s why I’m here. It costs 18 Euro and you can stay for as long as you want up there. You can also choose to visit any of the other buildings around if you think there is a lot of money to spend on the Pisa Tower.

Best Time to go to Pisa

As you can see in the picture, it´s organized groups of up to 30 people in each group. The screen shows different times you can choose when you want to go up. I took the earliest time available, which was at 13.15 the same day even though I was there already in the morning. My tips is to book on their website before you arrive or come very early in the morning if you don’t want to spend the whole day here waiting for your time until you can get up in the tower.

I didn’t mind waiting for a few hours. Meanwhile I waited for my time I enjoyed the view and tried to soak in the environment I had around me. I like to watch people and here you will have a laugh from now and then watching tourists taking funny pictures! 😀 This is probably a once in a lifetime experience so for me it’s important to take care of the opportunity 🙂 

Other things to see in Pisa

I also strolled around to see the other buildings, including the Piazza dei Miracori, which is adjacent to the tower itself. Absolutely incredible buildings! Interesting to know is that in 1987 the Piazza del Duomo was set with the cathedral, the cemetery, the baptistery and the leaning tower to the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Then it was my turn to enter the tower. Please note that you CAN NOT carry your purse / backpack with you up in the tower, only camera and phones are acceptable. You go through a security check before you get into the tower and they are very strict with this. At the ticket queue where you bought your ticket up to the tower, there is a storage room where you can put all your valuables. This is free of charge.

The Leaning tower of Pisa

To walk up all the stairs was kind of hard actually. Because it leans, I felt the swung for every step I took. The feeling is identical to when riding a roller coaster, it is leaning in all directions and it feels freaking weird honestly. However, I think that is fascinating what an impact it actually has on me and my balance. It was a little hard to get up and down because I felt the slopes in each direction. My body automatically leanded first to the right side and few steps later it automatically fell to the left side 🙂

It takes about maximum 10 minutes to get up here. But when you are here you have a great view of Pisa! : D

It is also a MUST to take “funny” pictures when you are here. I met several people who traveled alone who asked me to take a photo of them and vice versa. If you find a like-minded person, which I did, you can have fun for a long time doing funny pictures!

Where to eat

The pedestrian street just below the Pisa tower offers many restaurants and ice cream cafes. You will not get hungry from here. Rather, I would recommend eating lunch at any of these Italian restaurants. Very good and friendly service. What I especially thought was the best is that they don’t take overpriced food just because it’s touristy, rather the opposite!

When you get along with the Pisa Tower, keep the pedestrian street with all the restaurants down until it ends and you reach the Arno river. It´s walking distance everywhere in Pisa and I didn’t take a taxi once. It’s quite short distance and cozy alleys so it’s quite fast walking around 🙂 It takes about 15-20 minutes to walk from Pisa Central Station to the Leaning Tower.

On the other side you see the church Chiesa della Spina, which is a nice building to pass by.

In the end you reach Pisa’s shopping street where all possible fashion brands are available, both local and international. You will find even more restaurants, pubs, ice cream cafes and various shopping boutiques. I chose to settle down to enjoy an Aperol Spritz and melt all the impressions I got during the day.

After shopping and a full day’s walk, I decide to go back to my hotel, Grand Duomo. Sat on the roof top with a book and enjoying the view of the leaning tower I have just in front of me .

I like to have pictures with both daylight and nightlight. Because my hotel was 1 minute walk to the Pisa tower I decided to take some evening pictures aswell 🙂

My Tips for Pisa:

• Come early in the morning, it will be a lot of tourists in the middle of the day
• Take “funny” pictures of the tower
• Go up in the Pisa Tower – I think it’s worth it
• Have lunch at one of many nearby Italian restaurants just below and enjoy a lunch with a lovely view
• Stroll around Pisa shopping street
• Take both day and evening pictures of the Pisa Tower if you have the opportunity. It will be amazing pictures at sunset.

Have you been to Pisa, what did you think about this city?

Happy Travels!
//Charlotte