Tuscan Highlights

Pisa International Airport

Hotel | "In and Out of Pisa Airport"

Quote:

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, Fl...Read More

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. The airport is quite well situated for all the major attractions of Tuscany with Florence being 80km to the east, Siena around 100km south, the resorts on the coast are just a few miles to the west, and Pisa is, well...there.

Around a dozen or so airlines use the airport, although the domestic service seems fairly limited with flights to Rome, Milan and Palermo. International flights are a little busier and the budget airlines are well represented. It's not a huge airport, and it's a little tired looking, but I've yet to see a terminal building that excited me. However, when you're stepping off that plane into the black tarmac under an azure sky, who gives a toss what the building is like - you just want to grab your luggage and go.
Luckily, that wasn't a problem.

Maybe it was just our good fortune, or good timing, but when we arrived the airport wasn't very busy and, after a very inforamal stroll through customs, we didn't have to wait very long for our bags.
Suitably enluggaged, the next stop was the car rental desk. When I say desk, it was actually located in a portacabin outside the building, but it was a nice sunny day, so doing the paperwork in the sunshine wasn't a hassle and we were soon whisked away to the back-of-beyond to pick up our shiny little car and ready to risk dear life traversing the superstradas.
Ten Days Later...

We dropped the car off (without so much as sniff of a scratch) and, after a maniacal trip to the terminal, entered expecting the usual horrendous queue for the inefficient check-in...we weren't disappointed. Nah, it wasn't too bad. No worse than anywhere else and possibly a lot better. So, with the luggage deposited into the safe and capable hands of baggage control, we explored the airport and all it had to offer in the way of passenger services.

As I said, it's not a huge airport, so you won't find a massive shopping mall (phew). Having said that, there are around 20 or so different outlets where you can buy that last minute 'thing'. The usual sort of goods are on offer: jewellery, watches, leather goods, sportswear, gifts and books etc, with quite a good choice of regional produce. Fortunately, I didn't particularly need anything as, surprise, surprise, it ain't cheap. There are a couple of bars and a couple of restaurants - one self-service, one a little more upmarket. We settled for a slice of pizza at the bar...it wasn't very good.

There's not an awful lot more to do to while away the time, but since we checked in something like an hour before the flight, which took off pretty much on time, we didn't really need much more.
In conclusion, Pisa is an average regional airport. I'm not sure I'd put it in the 'international' class, but I suppose it sounds good. Because it's not huge, and indeed, not overly busy (at least when we were there), it didn't have that stress factor that larger airport have and it was very easy to find your way around.
It's conveniently located for travelling anywhere in Tuscany - we drove to our hotel in Empoli after landing and this took around 30 minutes. We stayed in Pisa for the last few days and from our hotel, it took about 15 mins to get to the airport which, incidentally, is well signposted and a dawdle to find.
Also, as was mentioned earlier, the transport links to the major sites of Tuscany are excellent and, let's face it, it doesn't matter how good an airport is if the transport infrastructure doesn't match up.

Read Less

Pisa International Airport

Pisa, Italy
050 849111

Cheer!
Flag

Villa Garzoni and Garden

Attraction | "See How the Garden Lies "

Quote:

My wife is the keen gardener in this partnership. I don't mind it, but I'm not fanatical (not that she is either mind you). However, we both quite enjoy visiting gardens while on our travels, especially when the weather is nice. And when we were in Tuscany last year, the weather was very nice. But nice weather and a pretty garden would not, on their own, have driven us to visit VILLA GARZONI (actually, we were driven by me) in the stunning hill-top village of Collodi, 17km north-east of Lucca.Sound familiar? Carlo Lorenzini, the author of Pinnochio, grew up here and used Collodi as a nom-de-plume. Honest. Would I lie to you?But that's another story.Collodi is a spectacular litt...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on November 8, 2025

Villa Garzoni and Garden
Near border of Tuscany
Collodi, Italy

Cheer!
Flag

Birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci

Attraction | "Not the da VINCI Code "

Quote:

When we visited Tuscany in June, the first place we headed for was a tiny hill-top village called VINCI. Perhaps the name may be familiar to some of you - no, it's not where a recent best selling novel was cyphered. I was thinking more along the lines of a certain Leonardo Da Vinci who, when not painting sardonic smiles on the Mona Lisa, was most probably inventing wooden heliochoppers and such. It's not freaky happenchance that this village shares its name with the great man though, for this was his birthplace way back in 1452. Actually, at first sight not a lot has changed since L da V first drew breath here...if you discount the tour buses parked below the castle and palace of the Guidi...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on November 8, 2025

Birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci
Anchiano
Vinci, Italy

Cheer!
Flag

Grand Hotel Duomo

Hotel | "AVERAGE HOTEL DOUMO "

Quote:

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...Read More

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 refurbishment...but enough about Mrs p, what about the hotel? Well I'm afraid the same description could be used for it.

We parked right outside the door and checked in where we were offered the choice of garage parking for 16 euros, or street parking for 5. the street parking is VERY limited, but we squeezed in and saved ourselves a few euros...as they forgot to charge us for the street parking, we actually saved a few more...result. The lobby certainly has pretensions of grandeur, and you could see that 40-50 years ago it probably was quite grand. But it's very old fashioned. It did have one of those modern fandangled lift things though which we soon entered and sped our way to our room...way at the back of the hotel with a magnificent view of...um...nothing much really. Oh well.

The room itself was adequate. Not too big, but definitely not poky. All the usual amenities were present although the beds weren't the most comfortable I'd ever lain on. The decor was ok if a little jaded but everything was clean enough. Lots of channels on the TV ( many in English) but it somehow spoils the fact of having so much choice when the screen is only 14in. Luckily, we weren't there to watch TV anyway.
There was ample storage space in the room with a large built-in wardrobe and plenty of drawers. The AC was very good and kept the room cool without making much noise. The bathroom was fairly large and well equipped with all those little goodies like soaps and bath foam etc. Ironic really, as there was no bath, only a shower...and not the best shower in the world either. It was wet though - which is quite important.

We didn't use the hotel's restaurant because, let's face it, why would you forego the pleasure of sitting eating om a terrace with the tower looming overhead to dine in a restaurant that was so brightly lit and so devoid of character, it could have been a hospital ward...hopefully a little cleaner though. We did have breakfast there though. This consisted of a cold buffet and was the sort of affair that gave continental breakfast such a bad name in the first place. Stale bread, salami and Edam cheese (or the Italian equivalent of tasteless rubber), watered down fruit juice and all the yoghurts you could ever wish for...not to mention mueseli and so-so croissants. When the coffee finally arrived, it was pretty dire too.

Now, the fact that it was 7 am on the eve of what would turn out to be a long day and what was in effect, the morning after a long night didn't help much. But, the breakfast was just not very good.
One good thing about the Grand Doumo is their roof terrace. Well it would be if there was anything there. Sorry, that's not strictly true - there were four, count them, four chairs. And an ashtray.
The view was out of this world though.

For the life of me, I can't fathom why they wouldn't locate the restaurant on the roof. Or do something with the space. The view over the Doumo and Tower has to be one of the top vistas anywhere, especially when the sun sets and reflects on the marble of these buildings. This may sound like a very negative review, but it's not really. I had read a little about the hotel before going and knew what to expect. To be fair, this hotel is all about location and on that score, it probably deserves its four star rating. We were looking for an hotel right in the heart of the Field of Miracles, and that's what we got.
We booked it through otel.com and managed to secure a rate of £60 which was not too bad compared with many of Pisa's hotels.

All in all, although it has seen better days, the hotel is adequate and comfortable enough. it's handy for an overnight stay if visiting Pisa but I wouldn't want to make it a bsse for any length of time. Read Less

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on November 9, 2025

Grand Hotel Duomo
VIA S MARIE 94
Pisa, Italy
39 050 561894

Cheer!
Flag

Florence Tour

Attraction | "FLORENCE - Magic, in a Roundabout Way "

Quote:

I had read so many guidebooks, online guides and reviews about Florence, that I wasn't sure I actually needed to visit in person. However, since we were in Tuscany anyway, and the hotel we were staying in was a mere 40km distant, I though it would be somewhat amiss not to see the city and all its glories. Florence is a dream destination for art-lovers - some of the planet's most famous works of art jostle for position in some of the greatest galleries of the world. I'd like to tell you a bit about some of these treasures, but I'm not going to. Not because I don't want to, but because I can't. I didn't see any! I'm afraid I wasn't willing to queue in blazing sunshine and tempera...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on November 9, 2025

Florence Tour

Florence, Italy

Cheer!
Flag

IgoUgo

Tuscany Journals

Tuscan Highlights

Pisa International Airport

Villa Garzoni and Garden

Birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci

Grand Hotel Duomo

Florence Tour

About the Writer

More Journals by maxpro

More Tuscany Journals

Tuscany Tips & Stories

Popular Tuscany Hotels

Popular Things to Do in Tuscany

Get the Word Out