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.

a selfie of me at the leaning tower of pisa

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.

another selfie at the tower in Pisa

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 🙂 
a picture of me at the tower in Pisaa picture of me looking at the tower

a picture of the sign for tickets to the tower

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.

a picture of tourists buying tickets

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.

a picture of my ticket to visit the tower

a picture of the tower when sitting in the garden around it

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 🙂 a picture of tourists taking funny pictures

a tourist girl taking funny pictures

a picture f the main entrance to the building next to the tower

a picture of the main building beside the tower

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.

a picture of Piazza dei Miracori

a picture of a souvenir of the leaning tower

a picture of the tower from tis base

a picture off the interior of the tower

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.

a picture of the display of the design and history of the tower

a view from the top of the tower

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 🙂

a picture of the square below the tower

a picture of the pillars on the top floor of the tower

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

a picture of the bell at the top of the tower

a picture of me taking funny photo with the tower

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!

another picture of me taking funny photo with the tower

a picture of my finger pointing at the tower

a picture of horse carriages for tourists

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

5 Comments

  1. Åh, det ser verkligen fint ut i Pisa! Skulle vara riktigt roligt att se det där berömda tornet någon gång 🙂 Jättefina bilder!

    • readyfortakeoff Reply

      Tack snälla! 🙂 Ja det var riktigt häftigt att se!

  2. Hej!

    Hittade precis din blogg och läste igenom dina tips för hur man tar selfies på soloresor och detta inlägget om Pisa. Jag kom hem från Italien och just Pisa i förrgår. Bodde på samma hotell som dig, vilken utsikt det var från terrassen alltså, så fint! Jag åkte dock aldrig upp i tornet, tyckte det var lite för dyrt.. Och angående att ta bilder på sig själv, vad duktig du är på det. Jag tycker fortfarande det är lite pinsamt att sätta upp stativet och knäppa bilder med mig själv i bilden. Sen skyller jag på att det var VARMT i Italien så jag kände inte mig så fräsch heller, haha.

    Har precis startat en reseblogg så ska fortsätta läsa din nu för lite inspiration. 🙂

    Hälsningar
    Emilie

    • readyfortakeoff Reply

      Hej Emelie!
      Tack för fina ord 🙂 Vad kul att du tyckte om Pisa och hotellet. Hoppas du fick lite inspiration från mig inför din resa dit. Jag tycker själv det är pinsamt ibland också att stå där och knäppa bilder på sig själv men jag försöker intala mig att jag aldrig mer kommer se dom människorna igen så brukar det gå över 🙂 Tack, det är lite trixigt ibland att få den där rätta bilden på sig själv men övning ger färdighet ska du se!

      Kul med din resblogg, vad heter den?

      Med vänliga hälsningar,
      Charlotte

      • Hehe så är det ju såklart, väldigt liten risk att man stöter på precis de människorna igen, av någon anledning är det ändå lite jobbigt, men blir bättre varje gång ändå. Oftast tar jag bara en selfie med mobilen istället för att sätta upp stativet och kameran. På turistiga platser är jag inte så sugen på att sätta upp kameran och sen gå därifrån och titta bort, det går snabbt som någon kan ta kameran ifrån en…

        Bloggen heter travelsbyknutte.com Den är verkligen helt nystartad så har inte så många inlägg än. Jobbar fortfarande på design och innehåll. Du får gärna komma med tips och kritik om både det ena och det andra om du har lust. 🙂

        Hälsningar
        Emilie

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