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Tuscany cycling: Pisa to Florence

An introduction to cultural Tuscany
 

Holiday Highlights

Gentle pedalling | Relaxed routes away from Tuscany’s hillier terrain.
Cultural icons | Discover Pisa’s Leaning Tower and the splendour of Florence.
Wealth of beauty | Cypress-lined avenues and shimmering olive groves.
Inspiring accommodation | From four-star comfort to an authentic rural hideaway.
Travel made easy | Superb access via Pisa.
Tuscany cycling: Pisa to Florence . 7 nights
+44 (0)1653 617001 Call now
Tuscany cycling: Pisa to Florence . 7 nights
+44 (0)1653 617001 Call now
 

Holiday information

 

A cycling holiday in Tuscany

Experience classic Tuscany – its great cities and glorious countryside – on this self-guided cycling holiday from Pisa to Florence. Enjoy leisurely rides that leave plenty of time for exploring out of the saddle and for relaxing at your handpicked accommodation – a delightful mix of historic city hotels and a family-run agriturismo set amid its own olive groves and vineyards.
Many of Tuscany’s most celebrated sights can be savoured on this trip, from Pisa’s Leaning Tower to the renowned Ponte Vecchio and Uffizi gallery of Florence. But there are lesser-known highlights, too: the chance to stay in fairy-tale Lucca, a beautiful walled city beneath the Apuan Alps; as well as in the unspoiled medieval town of Vinci, named for its famous son, Leonardo. The landscapes that connect these destinations also promise their own rewards, with your carefully chosen routes leading past ancient aqueducts, beside expansive wetlands, and to remarkable Renaissance villas.

The cycling takes place mostly on cypress-lined lanes, easy cycle paths, and peaceful minor roads. However, expect more traffic when entering and leaving cities. The chance to ride on Lucca’s historic ramparts is a real highlight!
 

 

Itinerary

The key to Inntravel holidays is flexibility. You can start on the day of your choice, and are free to add extra nights.
  • The average maximum daytime temperatures and monthly rainfall relate to the nearest weather station and are intended as a guide only.
    Average temperatures and rainfall
      Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
    °C 9 11 13 17 21 25 29 28 25 20 14 10
    mm 65 63 60 65 58 41 30 43 69 76 103 69
  • Arrival in Pisa
    Night 1: at Hotel Bologna (the first of two nights here).
    As your first night’s accommodation is on the day of travel, Day 1 is your first day of cycling.
    Begin your holiday in Pisa
  • Circular route from Pisa: 32.5km
    Your introduction to the beautiful Tuscan countryside leads you east from Pisa towards the peak of Monte Serra. En route you’ll pass the monumental Certosa di Calci, formerly one of Italy’s largest Carthusian monasteries and now home to a fascinating natural history museum.

    There’s also time today to explore Pisa on our self-guided city walking tour. Take in churches and palazzi, delicious restaurants, and some striking street art – including the final work by US artist, Keith Haring. Of course, the tour also visits the famous Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) – the breathtaking space that is home to Pisa’s cathedral, baptistery, and dramatic Leaning Tower.
    Certosa di Calci
  • Pisa to Lucca: 32.5km
    There’s plenty to admire as you cross from Pisa’s fertile plains to the Serchio Valley before entering gorgeous walled Lucca via a nature-rich cycle path. You’ll pedal beside an ancient aqueduct , stop by the Tuscan spa village of San Giuliano Terme, and even cycle along Lucca’s incredible medieval ramparts to reach your next two-night base in the centre of the city, the welcoming Hotel Ilaria.
    The Mediceo Aqueduct
  • Circular route from Lucca: 19km
    Stately Renaissance villas punctuate the first stretch of today’s ride from Lucca. The finest of these is Villa Reale di Marlia, where Elisa Bonaparte – sister to Napoleon – once lived, and whose splendid gardens we highly recommend visiting. There’s much to see back in Lucca, too – either by bike or on foot. We provide a city walking trail to guide you between the picturesque piazze, cobbled streets, and wealth of medieval and Renaissance art and architecture. Don’t miss Casa di Puccini, birthplace of composer Giacomo Puccini, nor atmospheric Piazza Anfiteatro with its sweep of pavement cafés.
    Puccini statue, Lucca
  • Lucca to Vinci: 47.5km
    Leaving Lucca, you cycle east to Vinci to stay one night in the delightfully rural surrounds of Agriturismo Il Piastrino. Before you reach Leonardo’s birthplace, however, there’s some classic Tuscan scenery to soak in, from rolling vine-clad hills to olive groves that shimmer in the breeze. Today’s route also skirts the edge of Fucecchio Nature Reserve, Italy’s largest wetland and a paradise for birdwatchers.
    Fucecchio Nature Reserve
  • Vinci to Florence: 36km
    Take time to stroll Vinci’s unspoiled medieval streets and to visit its excellent Leonardo Museum before cycling south to meet the River Arno at Empoli . Here, you board a local train for Signa*, from where a final riverside ride will bring you into the very heart of historic Florence. This is also where you’ll find your final accommodation, the stylish Hotel Cellai. (*Or remain on the train all the way to Florence.)
    Vinci
  • Explore Florence
    Set the bikes aside today to tour one of Europe’s most dazzling cities on foot. The real joy of exploring Florence is that you’re constantly stumbling across magnificent architecture and first-rate galleries, but with our city trail in hand you can be sure you won’t miss any hidden gems. From the famous Uffizi gallery to the historic Ponte Vecchio, and from skyline views to mouthwatering gelato, you’re in for a real treat in Florence.
    Explore fabulous Florence
 

Accommodation

Your carefully selected accommodation includes three high-quality city hotels – each located centrally – and an authentic Tuscan agriturismo that produces its own wines and olive oil.
 
Prices & travel options
All prices are in £ sterling (GBP). If you'd like to see what they equate to in your currency, use the converter. For general information on pricing, see the 'your holiday price explained' page.
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  • 7 Nights: 01 September 2024 - 31 October 2024 & 01 April 2025 - 31 October 2025

    Start any day | End by latest date(s) shown above

    Starting Price Single room
    1 - 30 Sep 2024 £1970 £260
    1 - 23 Oct 2024 £1815 £260
    1 - 30 Apr 2025 £1795 £260
    1 - 31 May 2025 £1935 £270
    1 - 30 Jun 2025 £2015 £270
    1 - 31 Jul 2025 £1890 £275
    1 - 31 Aug 2025 £1795 £285
    1 - 30 Sep 2025 £2015 £270
    1 - 23 Oct 2025 £1950 £270
    3rd & 4th person discount £0
    Single traveller supplement £0

    Includes accommodation, meals, bike hire, luggage transfers and any other services integral to the holiday as described, plus cycling notes and maps, but no travel from the UK, nor any connecting travel from the airport unless stated below.

    Book your flights through us and we'll find the best route and times to suit you. Please contact us to find out more about our flight booking service. We can also book connecting travel - see below.

  • Extra nights (£ per person per night) in a double or single room

    Hotel Bologna, Pisa (B&B) Double room Single room
    01 Sep - 31 Oct 2024 £85 £112
    01 Apr - 31 Oct 2025 £87 £116
    Hotel Ilaria , Lucca (B&B) Double room Single room
    01 Sep - 31 Oct 2024 £115 £190
    01 Apr - 17 Apr 2025 £105 £167
    18 Apr - 31 Oct 2025 £120 £199
    Hotel Cellai, Florence (B&B) Double room Single room
    01 Sep - 31 Oct 2024 £170 £197
    01 Apr - 21 Jul 2025 £178 £206
    22 Jul - 31 Aug 2025 £120 £159
    01 Sep - 30 Oct 2025 £178 £206
  • RECOMMENDED AIRPORT(S):
    Pisa or Florence
    As an alternative to flying, we can arrange rail travel from London

    Travelling from the UK

    Travelling from outside the UK

    If you are flying from outside Europe,  If you are flying from outside Europe, we recommend flying via Milan or Rome. To discuss onward connecting travel to the start of your holiday, please contact us.

    Travelling from outside the UK
    We have many years' experience catering for customers who live outside the UK, and will be happy to make tailored arrangements to fit with your plans.

    You have two options:

    1) Book your own flights to London, from where we can book flights and onward connecting travel to your hotel.

    2) Book your own flights direct to an airport appropriate to your chosen holiday. You can either make your own way from the airport to the hotel, or we'll be happy to book onward connecting travel for you. Please consult with us before booking your flights, so that we can advise you on the suitability of your proposed route and timings.
    Outward route Airline
    Aberdeen - Florence (via Amsterdam Schiphol) KLM 
    Aberdeen - Pisa (via Amsterdam Schiphol) KLM 
    Outward route Airline
    Birmingham - Pisa jet2,  Ryanair 
    Birmingham - Pisa (via Munich) Lufthansa 
    Outward route Airline
    Bristol - Florence British Airways 
    Bristol - Pisa easyJet 
    Outward route Airline
    Nottingham East Midlands - Pisa Ryanair 
    Outward route Airline
    Edinburgh - Florence British Airways 
    Edinburgh - Pisa Ryanair 
    Outward route Airline
    Glasgow Prestwick - Pisa Ryanair 
    Outward route Airline
    Humberside - Pisa (via Amsterdam Schiphol) KLM 
    Outward route Airline
    Leeds Bradford - Pisa jet2 
    Leeds Bradford - Pisa (via Amsterdam Schiphol) KLM 
    Outward route Airline
    London City - Florence Air France,  British Airways 
    Outward route Airline
    Gatwick - Florence British Airways,  Vueling 
    Gatwick - Pisa British Airways,  easyJet 
    Outward route Airline
    Heathrow - Florence British Airways 
    Heathrow - Pisa British Airways 
    Outward route Airline
    Luton - Florence Vueling 
    Luton - Pisa easyJet 
    Outward route Airline
    Stansted - Pisa Ryanair 
    Outward route Airline
    Manchester - Florence British Airways 
    Manchester - Pisa easyJet,  jet2,  Ryanair 
    Outward route Airline
    Newcastle - Florence (via Amsterdam Schiphol) Air France 
    Newcastle - Florence (via Paris) Air France 
    Newcastle - Pisa (via Amsterdam Schiphol) KLM 
    Outward route Airline
    Teesside International - Pisa (via Amsterdam Schiphol) KLM 
    Travelling from outside the UK

    If you are flying from outside Europe,  If you are flying from outside Europe, we recommend flying via Milan or Rome. To discuss onward connecting travel to the start of your holiday, please contact us.

    This list of flight options should be used as a guide only, and you should check each airline’s website for current routes, frequency and schedules. Not all flights operate daily, and may not run for the entire season. You should also heed the latest flight arrival time and earliest flight departure time stated in the connecting travel section, as it may not be possible to arrange connecting travel outside these times. Please do not book your flights until we have confirmed your accommodation to you. Alternatively, our expert reservations team will be happy to offer advice and to make flight bookings for you for any of the options listed above. We charge £35 per person for our flight booking service. Your flights are then covered by our package-booking conditions, which give you greater protection in the event of delay or cancellation, as well as providing ATOL cover.

What is included
  • 7 nights
  • 1 dinner
    7 breakfasts
  • high-quality bicycle
  • luggage transported
  • route notes and maps
  • GPS navigation
 
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FAQs

If you have any questions relating to this or any other Inntravel holiday, our friendly travel experts will be happy to help.
  • Our cycle supplier will provide you with a hybrid bike with 27 gears; rear pannier; puncture repair kit (with spare inner tube); odometer; bottle holder; and a lock. Electric bikes are available as an upgrade (see price panel), subject to availability, and must be requested at the time of booking.
  • While we would always recommend that you take your own well-fitting helmet, they can be hired locally for a small fee. Please let us know at the time of booking if you would like to hire a helmet.
  • Yes, we will provide GPX tracks for this holiday prior to departure so that you can follow your route on your smartphone or dedicated GPS device if you wish. (We also provide maps and our tried-and-tested route notes, which remain the principal means of navigation).
  • We’ll send you route notes and maps 2-3 weeks before your holiday. The route notes not only contain directions to get from hotel to hotel, but also include practical information about places of interest and eateries along each route, plus cultural information about the area. On mornings when you are moving between hotels, you leave your luggage in reception as you leave, and it will be transferred ahead to your next accommodation so that all you need to take with you are a camera, sun cream, drinks, food and waterproofs.

    For more detailed information, see our cycling holidays in Europe page.
  • You are responsible for damage to or loss of the rental bike while it is hired to you. Always be careful to lock it up, ideally to an immovable object, and remove all easy-to-steal accessories whenever you leave it unattended.
  • We can book a wide range of routes from the UK with a variety of airlines. As well as being more convenient for you to book all elements of your holiday together, it also means that we’ll accept liability for your travel arrangements, so if things go wrong, such as the airline going bust, we’ll make suitable alternative arrangements for you. The fee for this service is £35 per person (£15 for children aged 2-11). More information on flights >
  • Absolutely! We are experts in tailored rail travel. Making use of sleeper trains or stopovers in cities along the route, we can get you from London to virtually anywhere in mainland Europe. We can even make arrangements to Mallorca, Sicily and Norway with a combination of ferries and rail. Please contact us to discuss your plans.
  • We can’t book flights that originate outside the UK, but if you wanted to book your own flights to London (or elsewhere in the UK), we can make all onward travel arrangements (including flights) from there. Alternatively, if you are booking your own flights to an airport in continental Europe that’s appropriate for your holiday, we can book onward rail travel and/or taxis. More information about how we can tailor holidays for customers outside the UK >
  • Since our holidays are self-guided, we recommend calling us for a chat about your plans before making a booking, especially if it’s the first time you’ve booked with us.
    The price panel shows the supplement for a single room and also the single traveller charge (this covers (luggage) transfers and other costs which are usually shared between two people).
  • Once you’ve decided on your exact itinerary (our travel experts will be happy to offer advice), you need to provide us with your party’s details, either by phone or via our booking form. At this point we also ask you to pay a deposit so that we can secure a room for you immediately on confirming availability with the hotel(s). If it turns out that we can’t secure the accommodation for the holiday you’ve requested, or offer an acceptable alternative, we’ll refund your deposit promptly and in full. After booking your accommodation and other key elements, we'll then book your travel (or you can do so if you’re making your own arrangements) and send you a Booking Confirmation and Invoice.

    More information about the booking process >
    Information about accommodation, general practicalities and more >
    Booking conditions >
  • Yes, it’s something we insist on, even for holidays in the UK. The vast majority of holidays go smoothly, but when things go wrong, it can be expensive to put them right. Buying a new pair of walking boots after your suitcase is stolen mightn’t seem so bad, but the bill for being airlifted down from a mountain with a broken leg or flown home while still recovering from an illness or accident can incur a five or six-figure bill.

    Many insurers offer travel insurance (you can find details on our insurance page of a policy that you may like to consider if you are a UK resident), but you do need to make sure that you’re covered for medical emergencies – including falling ill with Covid-19 while on holiday – and repatriation. We also recommend that you are covered for other eventualities, such as cancellation and loss of luggage and passports.

    When you purchase a policy, be sure to check that it covers the activities you'll be doing on holiday and that it is adequate for your own individual needs.
  • It is your responsibility to ensure you are in possession of the correct travel documents, with the correct validity. If you’re a UK citizen, you need a full British passport to travel to Italy, but not a visa (please note, however, that a new travel authorisation system is being introduced). If you are a citizen of another country, you’ll need to check requirements with the national embassy or your own consulate.

    Current information regarding vaccinations and travel health advice for UK citizens can be found through the Travel Health Pro website. You must make sure you have adequate insurance cover for illness, accidents and repatriation (see the insurance question). You should also apply for a Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) if your EHIC has expired (if you have a still-valid EHIC, you can use this until it expires).
  • The principal official language is Italian, though some regions have a second official language, such as South Tyrol, where German is widely spoken. The currency is the Euro. Italian time is GMT/UTC + 1. It uses Daylight Saving Time, so in summer is on BST + 1.
  • For information on the practicalities of travel now that the UK is no longer part of the European Union, visit www.gov.uk/visit-eu-switzerland-norway-iceland-liechtenstein.
  • The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) provides up-to-date, country-by-country travel advice, as well as information on security, local laws, passports and visas for UK citizens.

    If you live outside the UK, see our essential travel information page for a list of relevant websites.
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