Pisa International Airport to Livorno
About 20 km south; the train via Pisa Centrale takes around 40 minutes for €9–12, and a taxi is €45–65.
Tuscany's port city — canals through the old Venetian quarter, ferries to Sardinia and Corsica, a cruise terminal, and a fish stew that locals will argue about at length.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Livorno, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €50).
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car — so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|
| Solo · 1 traveller | €50 | Private transfer |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €50 | Private transfer |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €50 | Private transfer |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Cheapest fare | From €9, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3–4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Train
Around ten euros. Livorno's station is a little way from the port and the old town, so allow for a bus or short taxi at the end — particularly with ferry luggage.
Where to catch it: PisaMover to Pisa Centrale, then a southbound regional train; Livorno Centrale is fifteen minutes further.
Best for budget travellers near a stationTaxi
The right call on a sailing day. Livorno's port is large and the walk between the station, the old town and the terminals is longer than the map suggests.
Where to catch it: Half an hour down the coast; taxis can enter the port area and reach the ferry and cruise terminals directly.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
Confirm which terminal — Livorno has separate berths for cruise ships, Sardinia ferries and Corsica services, and they are not close together.
Where to catch it: Standard for cruise passengers joining ships at Livorno, which is the port used for Florence and Pisa shore excursions.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsCar rental
If you are taking a car ferry to Sardinia or Corsica, check the rental contract first — taking a hire car abroad or onto an island is commonly prohibited.
Where to catch it: Half an hour on the fast road, with parking near the port and the seafront.
Best for travellers who want to exploreLivorno & Pisa in photos
Buying tickets in Pisa
Pisa's connection is the best-engineered of any airport in this guide. The PisaMover is a driverless elevated shuttle running to Pisa Centrale in five minutes for €6, every 5–10 minutes from around 06:00 to midnight — no timetable to memorise, no traffic. Buy from the machines by the covered walkway; the ticket also covers the replacement bus if the line is out of service. From Centrale, Tuscany opens up: Florence in about an hour, Lucca in thirty minutes, Livorno and Viareggio in forty. Direct coaches skip the change entirely — Autostradale's Sky Bus to Florence at €15–20 in about 70 minutes, and to Lucca at €5–8 in 30 minutes, both from outside arrivals and cheaper booked online. For Pisa itself the LAM Rossa city bus costs under €3 and stops closer to the Leaning Tower than the PisaMover does, though it is slower. Validate regional train tickets before boarding; the fine is enforced.
Taxi scams & safety in Pisa
Pisa is a low-friction airport and the taxi fares are honest — €18–25 into the city on the meter, and around €170 to Florence, which is a real price for a real 85-kilometre journey rather than an opportunistic one. The genuine financial risk here is the ZTL. Florence's restricted zone is among the strictest in Italy, ringed with cameras, and a driver who enters without a permit passes the fine on to you months later through the rental company or the transfer operator. Confirm the drop-off point when booking rather than at the barrier, and give an exact address rather than a landmark. The same applies in miniature at Lucca, where private cars cannot enter the walls at all, and at Siena and San Gimignano, where cars stop at the gates and everything beyond is on foot. If you are heading to the Cinque Terre, do not hire a car: four of the five villages have effectively no parking and the roads down to them are single-track hairpins — park at La Spezia and take the local train in.
Getting from PSA to Livorno
Livorno is Tuscany's port and it is nothing like the rest of Tuscany. There is no medieval hill town here — it was built from scratch in the sixteenth century by the Medici as a free port, open to anyone regardless of religion, and it filled with Jewish, Greek, Armenian, English and Dutch merchant communities. It was bombed heavily in the war and rebuilt plainly. What it has is canals, a fortress, a superb fish market and a stew.
Getting there
PisaMover to Pisa Centrale, then a southbound regional train fifteen minutes to Livorno Centrale. About ten euros in total and forty minutes. Trains run every twenty to forty minutes. A taxi costs €45 to €65 and takes half an hour, and can drive into the port area, which the train does not.
The station is not near the port
This matters. Livorno Centrale sits some way from both the old town and the ferry terminals, and the walk with luggage is longer than it looks on a map. There are buses and taxis at the station. If you have a sailing to catch, the taxi from the airport straight to the terminal is the better plan.
Which terminal, though
Livorno has separate berths for cruise ships, the Sardinia ferries and the Corsica services, and they are not close together. Name the terminal rather than the port. Getting this wrong on sailing day is a twenty-minute problem at best.
Ferries to Sardinia and Corsica
Overnight and day crossings run to Olbia and Golfo Aranci in Sardinia and to Bastia in Corsica. It is the practical way to reach either with a car, and check-in closes well before departure. If that car is a hire car, read the contract first — taking a rental abroad or onto an island is a common exclusion.
Cruise arrivals
Livorno is the port for Florence and Pisa shore excursions, which means several thousand people a day in season heading straight out to somewhere else. Independent travel is easy — the train to Florence takes ninety minutes, to Pisa fifteen — but the ship's shuttle from the berth to the port gate is usually necessary first, as the docks are not walkable.
Venezia Nuova
The old quarter is built on a grid of canals dug by Venetian engineers, with warehouses and bridges and a fortress at either end. It has been slowly restored and there are bars along the water. Boat tours run through the canals from the Fortezza Nuova and take an hour, and they are the best way to see how the city was put together.
The market
The Mercato Centrale is one of the largest covered markets in Europe, in a nineteenth-century iron and glass hall, and it is a working food market rather than a restored one. The fish section is the reason to come and the mornings are when it happens.
Cacciucco, and how to spell it
The fish stew Livorno is known for, with five different fish and five Cs in the name, which locals will tell you is the rule. It is served with garlic bread and it is a substantial meal rather than a starter. Several restaurants near the market do it properly and everyone in the city has an opinion about which.
The Terrazza Mascagni
A large seafront terrace paved in black and white checks, curving along the water south of the centre. It is a plain piece of 1920s municipal design that works far better than it should, and it is where the city walks in the evening.
Modigliani, and the hoax
He was born here and left early. In 1984 the city dredged a canal looking for sculptures he was said to have thrown in, found three heads, and had them authenticated by experts — before three students admitted carving one with a power drill in an afternoon. The heads are still displayed. It is the most Livornese story available.
Using it as a base
Rooms cost less than in Pisa or Florence and the trains are frequent. The coast south towards Castiglioncello and the Etruscan Riviera is twenty minutes, and the ferries make the islands practical. It is a working city rather than a destination, and priced that way.
