Hotel located in a very central location on the north bank of the Arno river. A hotel since 1837, located within a much older building (dating back to the 13th century I believe).
Perhaps slightly worn around the edges - all the fixtures, fittings and furnishings hark back to the early 20th century.
We paid just over £50 using a well known hotel website. The continental breakfast choice was varied with cereal, fruit, cold meats, cheese to name but a few.
Seemingly many famous people have stayed in this hotel, ranging from Charles Dickens to Daryl Hannah.
Not perhaps to everyone's taste.
Bus to airport (£1.50) just across the road from hotel.

www.royalvictoria.it/
Lungarno Pacinotti 12, 56126 Pisa
Lungarno Antonio Pacinotti, 12 56126 Pisa Province of Pisa, Italy
+39(0)50 940111
Google map: bit.ly/Mn6Ad9

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Square on south side of Arno river off Corsa Italia.
A square surrounded by bars and restaurants, with locals sitting around and kids playing football.
Nice place to relax, in complete contrast to the more tourist orientated area around the Campo dei Miracoli.

Square on south side of Arno river off Corsa Italia.
Google map: bit.ly/LTXy5o

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Absolute superb find. This pizzeria located in what looks like a German beerhall serves great pizzas for extremely reasonable prices.
Two large pizzas cost about €7 each and one litre of house white cost about €6!
Was family friendly as well.

www.pizzeriadabbe.com/
Via San Bernardo 26, Pisa (PI)
+39(0)50 500 872
Google map: bit.ly/Mn9DC2

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Decent bar a few streets off the main Borgo Stretto street, north of the Arno river. While it does feel a 'student type' of bar, we saw all ages there. A Counting Crows album was playing in the background the afternoon we visited.
Quite a big bar which has some free nibbles on the bar. Good choice of beers - the beer I had had an unusual passion fruit tinge to it!
Prices were very reasonable.

www.orzobruno.it/
Via Case Dipinte 6/8, 56100 Pisa
+39(0)050 578802
Google map: bit.ly/OhcnB1

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When we were flying into Pisa airport (to get to Florence) we intended to take the train from Pisa to Florence.
However due to times being more convenient we took the Terravision bus just outside the arrivals terminal.
Absolutely no complaints & for €6 one way we got dropped off in Florence at Stazione Centrale di S. Maria Novella in just over an hour.

www.terravision.eu/florence_pisa.html
Ticket office in airport with bus departing outside arrivals hall (on right as you leave arrivals).

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If you're in Pisa on the 24th/25th of March then you can see in Pisa's second (or first, if you're a patriotic local) New Year.
The tradition dates back to the glory days of Pisa as a mighty maritime republic and, in an Indiana Jones moment, the new year is said to begin when a sunbeam breaks through a specially placed window in the cathedral, lighting up a precisely positioned marble egg.

Cue lots of kissing, medieval costumes, marching, flag throwing and carousing. The main venue is clearly the cathedral, framed as it is by the Leaning Tower and the splendid baptistry in the 'Field Of Miracles'.

The tower, alongside the cathedral, finally free of all scaffolding and gleamingly white as of early 2011, may be ascended and you can book at the official site or use the second site below if you'd like to book for a date further in the future than allowed on the official site.


boxoffice.opapisa.it/Torre/first.jsp
www.tickitaly.com/tickets/leaning-tower-pisa-tickets.php

Duomo di Pisa, Piazza dei Miracoli, Pisa, Tuscany
Google map: bit.ly/hlM9oY

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My wife, four-year-old daughter and I have just returned from a glorious week at Podere Costantino.

Mara, Franco and family gave us a wonderfully warm welcome and where extremely helpful throughout, including a traditional Tuscan meal on arrival and - throughout the week - an endless supply of the most gorgeous peaches, apricots and tomatoes, all grown on the estate.

The apartment was - I imagine - typically Tuscan. Clean, cool and practical with a nice shady terrace. It's located on a quiet road, surrounded by vineyards and olive groves, and set quite high with beautiful views across to distant villages. There's wildlife aplenty - the morning chorus is incredible!

We were worried about taking our daughter somewhere so seemingly remote, as she's used to play parks on-tap, but we needn't have. The grounds of the property and the walks around it were more than enough to keep her occupied... and then there's the pool!

The surrounding villages are a treasure-trove. So much so that we abandoned our plans to make trips to Florence, Sienna and San Gimignano this time round, and settled for the short 30-minute trip to Volterra (incredibly beautiful) and a trip over the mountains to the coast. The rest of the time we just explored the nearby villages (and they all had play parks, so our daughter was happy!).

Then there's the restaurants, the wine... but everyone knows this about Tuscany.

www.agriturismopoderecostantino.it
Google map: bit.ly/doqfN2

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The success of Podere Constantino is down to the owners Franco and Mara and their family who made us feel most welcome at their farmhouse. Nothing was too much trouble, from finding a map of the area, supplying more peaches and nectarines than we could eat (which were the best we had ever tasted), bringing us a bottle of local orange liqour and providing us with a three-course meal on the second night. Never had such attention at a holiday rental.
The position of the farmhouse is lovely over looking the Pisan hills with some great sunrises and sunsets down by the pool, where we spent a lot of our time!!
We hope to return next year because the farmhouse gave a good base to see places of interest as well as being pretty secluded. We loved all the local villages and visited San Gimignano and Volterra.

www.agriturismopoderecostantino.it

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We rented this one bedroom apartment for a week and we really enjoyed our stay. The apartment has clearly been recently renovated, it was very clean and well-equipped. The location is extremely convenient for visiting the city and exploring some other cities in the area, like Lucca and Florence. There is a supermarket right around the corner, and plenty of bars and restaurants. The owners were very helpful and even came to pick us up at the airport, which saved us quite some money and hassle, as we arrived quite late in the day. They left guidebooks and brochures for us and a nice bottle of wine, pasta and meat sauce for our first dinner. That was a nice touch, because it was too late to go buy some groceries.

The property has a website www.behindthetower.com
stay@behindthetower.com

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A relatively inexpensive small apartment in Pisa. Live like a local: shop in the supermarket around the corner or at the market in town; use the train to visit other nearby towns. No worry about airport transport - the owner will collect you from the airport and return you at the end of your stay.

www.behindthetower.com/en/

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This hostel has a great location - Pisa is pretty small but at this new hostel you are only 10 minutes from the tower, and in a studenty area - so it's easy to find cool places to go out.

You're right on a main shopping street and above an amazing gelataria - nothing better than late night ice cream! There's also a bar next door if you don't have such a sweet tooth.

www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/italy/pisa/25366/

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We visited La Lucertola during the 2008 Witsun break, in search of a chill-out break in the tranquillity of the Tuscan countryside, but having three grumpy teenagers in tow, it was also important to be close enough to places of interest to keep them amused. What greeted us was an unexpected delight.

Set in an area of outstanding natural beauty, high up on a mountainside amidst an ancient olive grove and with stunning views of the surrounding countryside as far as Pisa and the coast beyond, the two self-contained farmhouses at La Lucertola are perfect – large, comfortable and extremely well-equipped. The setting is exquisite and as a bonus, there is the lovingly nurtured organic garden - the produce is available to pick and use, free of charge, by the guests! This proved a particular favourite with our children, who loved going out to pick the salad and herbs for our meals and we returned home with all good intentions of recreating our own Tuscan vegetable patch!

Being less than a 30 minute drive from Pisa airport and with highly competitive rates available on Ryanair flights from London Stansted, La Lucertola is ideally located as a base from which to explore the delights of Tuscany (if you actually choose to leave the peace and tranquillity of your Tuscan home that is).

Living in their own separate farmhouse on site, Luisa and Coz are the perfect hosts and I would like to thank them for allowing us to spend a little time sharing their little piece of Tuscan heaven, where even the rain storms hold a certain charm; it’s very easy to understand why they chose to swap their hectic London life for this! Check out their excellent website for more details.

www.lucertola.info
La Lucertola
Via di Cavina, 14
Pugnano
56017 San Giuliano Terme
Pisa
Italy
Tel: 00 39 050 851405

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