Day trip to Pisa, italy: Everything to See & Do
When traveling to Tuscany, one trip you should make is to Pisa. This city is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and its city center is filled with wonderful places to explore. A day trip to Pisa will allow you to discover what makes this part of Italy such a popular tourist destination.
Best Things to Do on a Day Trip to Pisa, Italy
While everyone comes to see the Leaning Tower, there are so many other things to do in Pisa beyond the iconic landmark.
Walls of Pisa
The first thing you will see when entering the historic city center of Pisa is the enormous gray limestone walls.
These walls date back to the mid-12th century and are the oldest in Italy.
They were intended as a fortification to protect both the Cathedral and the Baptistery in Piazza dei Miracoli.
Visitors can walk the three-kilometer-long path along the walls, which takes you over four main city gates and gives you great views of the city.
Leaning Tower of Pisa
When it comes to iconic landmarks in Italy, one that everyone seems to know is the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
This is because this bell tower is one of the most photographed places in the world, and you will find plenty of tourists taking selfies in front of it.
Its lean is the result of an unstable footing that occurred during its 12th-century construction and continued to worsen until it was fully stabilized in 2001.
Despite its tipping appearance, it is stable enough to climb the 251 steps to the top, where you can get a great view of the city.
Baptistery of Saint John
This magnificent Baptistry was built in the 12th century and finished during the Middle Ages, giving it both architectural features of the Romanesque and Gothic periods.
It is the largest baptistry in Italy and is where Galileo, the famous Italian astronomer, was baptized.
While beautiful from the outside, the inside has very little colorful detail, except for the stained glass windows.
The focal point of the room is the octagonal baptismal font with a statue of John the Baptist in the center.
An interesting feature of this building is that it has a double dome; an inner one with a truncated cone and an outer one that has a hemispherical dome.
The result is amazing acoustics, where voices seem to echo throughout.
Cathedral of Pisa
Situated across from the Baptistery is the Primatial Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary.
This is the oldest of the three main buildings in the plaza and was built in the Romanesque style.
The interior nave is constructed with alternating layers of black and white marble and has a coffered ceiling that was updated during the Middle Ages.
The elliptical dome is the main feature of the cathedral and was inspired by the mosques found in Sicily.
The large mosaic of Christ Enthroned with the Virgin and Saint John in the apse is famous for its face of Saint John, which miraculously survived the fire of 1595.
Fountain of the Cherubs
When originally created in the 17th century, this fountain’s sole purpose was to be a source of water for the townspeople.
A century later, three large marble angels holding the city’s coat of arms were added by Giovanni Antonio Cybei and Giuseppe Vaccà.
This statue is normally a brilliant white, but as of 2025, it is in desperate need of a cleaning.
How to Make the Day Trip to Pisa
Pisa is an easy day trip from Florence, and you can even see both Pisa and Lucca in one day.
The train from Florence to Pisa takes about 45 minutes and is by far the easiest way to get there.
Lucca from Pisa is just another 20 minutes or so.
Do you need to store your luggage while on your day trip to Pisa? You can easily leave bags with Stasher Luggage Storage. They offer:
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