Pisa
Italy
Everyone comes for four buildings on a lawn and leaves in three hours, which is why the rest of a real Tuscan university city on a river is empty
Photo by Alex Vasey on Unsplash
Photos by Andrae Ricketts, Giulia Hetherington, Julie Clarke and Pretty Pink on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Italy
April to June, and September to October — high summer is hot and the Field of Miracles has no shade on it at all
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 120mm in Nov
Where it is
43.72°N, 10.40°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Climb the tower rather than photograph it
- Stand under the baptistery dome for the echo
- Walk the Lungarni at dusk
- Eat cecina standing up
- Find Piazza delle Vettovaglie in the evening
Pisa travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Italy
Good valueEuro, and cards are taken almost everywhere, contactless included on the buses. Cash still matters at the market stall, the small bar and the church that asks a coin for the lights. Never change money at a station booth; the rate there is the worst in the country.
ATMs & cards
Use a bank’s own machine — Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, BPER, Banco BPM — rather than the Euronet ones beside the sights, which charge a fee and push their own conversion. Always decline the conversion and let your bank do it.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- the machines beside the sights and in the station halls
Use these instead
- Intesa Sanpaolo
- UniCredit
- BPER Banca
- Banco BPM
Decline the conversion and let your own bank do it. Draw in the town rather than at the monument, where the independent machines cluster.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Italy
Very safeVery comfortable. The one thing worth knowing is that the streets between the station and the tower are where pickpockets work the coach crowds; the rest of the city is ordinary and quiet. The tower climb is 294 steps with no lift and a worn, sloping stone stair.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (4 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- the souvenir streets between the station and the tower — where pickpockets work the coach groups
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Italy visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Italy
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment. Pharmacies handle a lot of minor problems directly and are the fastest route to advice.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodCecina, a chickpea flour flatbread sold by the slice; bordatino, a bean and kale soup with cornmeal; and the student cheapness around Piazza delle Vettovaglie, which is where the city actually eats. The sea is ten kilometres away and the fish is good.
Getting around
Easy- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- FREE NOWWorks here
- IT TaxiWorks here
FREE NOW taxis, which is what Italy allows · IT Taxi the national taxi app · Uber Black and Taxi only — no UberX anywhere in Italy · Bolt taxis, in Rome and Milan
- Against a taxi
- The app is the taxi. Uber Black is a different, dearer category.
There is no cheap ride-hailing tier in Italy — the law reserves the work for licensed taxis and NCC hire cars.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Rome — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Italy
Why these are Italy's numbers and not Pisa's
Home broadband — Good. Comfortable for two people working, streaming in the evening, large downloads. Broadband here runs at 84% of the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 78% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Pisa, so these are medians for all of Italy. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Italy, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Italian
- HelloBuongiornobwon-JOR-no
- PleasePer favoreper fa-VO-reh
- Thank youGrazieGRAT-tsyeh
- Yes / NoSì / Nosee / no
4 more phrases
- Excuse meScusiSKOO-zee
- How much is it?Quanto costa?KWAN-to KOS-ta
- The bill, pleaseIl conto, per favoreeel KON-to
- Cheers!Salute! / Cin cin!sa-LOO-teh / chin chin
Ciao is for people you know. With shopkeepers and waiters, buongiorno until evening, then buonasera.
Religion
Catholic
The Vatican is a sovereign state inside Rome. Dress codes are enforced at St Peter’s and most major churches: shoulders and knees covered, and they will turn you away.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Say buongiorno rather than ciao to anyone you do not know
- Drink cappuccino only before about 11:00; after a meal it is an espresso
- Cover shoulders and knees to enter churches, including the major basilicas
- Validate regional train tickets before boarding or risk a fine
Don't
- Do not ask for parmesan on seafood pasta — it is a genuine culinary offence here
- Do not sit on monument steps in Rome or Florence; both cities fine it
- Do not order a coffee "to go" and expect it to be normal
- Do not tip beyond rounding up; coperto already covers the cover charge
Where to stay in Pisa
No Holistay rentals in Pisa yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Pisa on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Pisa Galileo Galilei PSA
5 minfrom the airport· 2 km as the crow flies
5 min on the PisaMover shuttle to the station.
Also worth pricing: Florence Peretola FLR — an hour and a quarter by train from Florence.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
