Pisa International Airport to San Gimignano
About 80 km south-east; there is no direct public route, so it is a hire car or a change of bus at Poggibonsi.
A hill town that kept fourteen of its medieval tower houses when every other Tuscan town lost theirs โ visible from kilometres away across the vineyards that produce Vernaccia.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for San Gimignano, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from โฌ150). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from โฌ14) but slower, with a change in the city.
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 โ so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo ยท 1 traveller | โฌ14 | โฌ150 | Bus |
| Couple ยท 2 travellers | โฌ28 | โฌ150 | Bus |
| Family of 4 ยท 4 travellers | โฌ56 | โฌ150 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority isโฆ | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From โฌ14, 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 3โ4 | 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
Car rental
Much the easiest way, and it makes the surrounding countryside reachable โ Volterra, Certaldo and the Chianti roads are all within an hour. The town itself is closed to traffic.
Where to catch it: An hour and a half through the Tuscan hills, with paid car parks below the walls and a short climb up.
Best for travellers who want to exploreBus / shuttle
Two changes and the best part of three hours. It works, and it is under twenty euros, but the last bus back down leaves earlier than most day-trippers expect.
Where to catch it: PisaMover to Pisa Centrale, train via Empoli to Poggibonsi, then the local bus up the hill to San Gimignano.
Best for solo & budget travellersPrivate transfer
Cars stop at the gates โ Porta San Giovanni or Porta San Matteo โ and everything beyond is on foot up a stone street. Tell your hotel and they will usually meet you with a trolley.
Where to catch it: Booked mainly by people staying at the wine estates around the town, which have no bus service at all.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsTaxi
At this distance book ahead instead. A driver arranged in advance costs less and knows which gate serves your side of the town.
Where to catch it: Available by negotiation, priced similarly to a pre-booked transfer with less certainty.
Best for small groups in a hurrySan Gimignano & 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 โฌ6, every 5โ10 minutes from around 06:00 to midnight โ 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 โ Autostradale's Sky Bus to Florence at โฌ15โ20 in about 70 minutes, and to Lucca at โฌ5โ8 in 30 minutes, both from outside arrivals and cheaper booked online. For Pisa itself the LAM Rossa city bus costs under โฌ3 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 โ โฌ18โ25 into the city on the meter, and around โฌ170 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 โ park at La Spezia and take the local train in.
Getting from PSA to San Gimignano
San Gimignano has fourteen medieval tower houses still standing. Every prosperous Italian town had them once โ Florence, Bologna, Siena, dozens more โ and almost all were demolished or fell down. Here they survived because the town became poor and irrelevant after the plague, and nobody had a reason to knock them down. The result is a skyline visible from kilometres away across the vineyards.
There is no direct route
This is the practical fact. From Pisa Airport it is a hire car โ an hour and a half โ or a train to Poggibonsi and a local bus up the hill, which takes close to three hours with two changes. There is no coach and no station. Plan for one or the other rather than hoping.
The public route, step by step
PisaMover to Pisa Centrale, train via Empoli to Poggibonsi, then the Autolinee Toscane bus up to San Gimignano. Under twenty euros in total. It works, and the last bus back down leaves earlier than most day-trippers expect โ check it before you go up.
Why the towers were built
Partly defence, mostly display. The families competed and the height was the point, to the extent that the commune eventually legislated a maximum. Seventy-two are recorded; fourteen remain. Torre Grossa is the tallest and can be climbed, and the view from it explains the town's position on the pilgrimage road better than any map.
The Via Francigena
San Gimignano grew rich on the medieval pilgrim route from Canterbury to Rome, which passed through it. That is why a small hill town has this much architecture โ the traffic came through and paid. The route is walked again now and pilgrims still arrive on foot, which is a pleasant thing to notice.
Vernaccia
The white wine from the slopes around the town, and the first Italian wine to receive a protected designation in 1966. It is dry and slightly bitter at the finish and it is served everywhere here. The estates around the town do tastings, and they are the reason a car is useful beyond the arrival.
Cars stop at the gates
Porta San Giovanni and Porta San Matteo are the two main entrances and vehicles do not pass them. Car parks sit below the walls with a climb up. If you are staying inside, tell the hotel your arrival time โ most will meet you with a trolley, which is a normal service rather than a favour.
The day-trip rhythm
Coaches arrive from Florence and Siena from mid-morning and the main street becomes dense. They leave by five. If you stay overnight you get the town before nine and after six, lit and largely empty, which is an entirely different place and the main argument for booking a room.
What is inside
The Collegiata has fresco cycles covering both walls of the nave, Old Testament on one side and New on the other, in remarkably good condition. Sant'Agostino at the top of the town has Gozzoli's life of St Augustine and almost nobody in it. The Palazzo Comunale holds a Lippi and the entrance to Torre Grossa.
The gelato with a queue
There is a shop on the main square that has won world championships and has a permanent line outside. It is good. It is also the single most photographed thing in the town after the towers, which tells you something about how San Gimignano is visited.
Staying in the countryside
Many visitors book a farmhouse or wine estate outside the walls rather than a room inside, and these have no bus service at all. If you are arranging a transfer, send coordinates rather than an address โ the lanes around here are unnamed in places and drivers regularly end up at the wrong gate.
What else is within half an hour
Volterra, which is Etruscan and alabaster and considerably less visited; Certaldo, where Boccaccio lived, with a funicular up to the old town; and the Chianti roads running east towards Siena. All of it needs a car, and all of it is why hiring one at Pisa makes sense for this corner of Tuscany.
