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Pisa Airport to Florence: PisaMover, Bus & Train Compared
Getting from Pisa airport to Florence is the tax you pay for a cheap Ryanair fare, and it is a bigger tax than most people budget for: eighty-four kilometres, a change of vehicle, and anywhere from an hour and a quarter to two and a half hours depending on which option you pick and how badly you pick it. There are four realistic routes. The default — the PisaMover shuttle to Pisa Centrale and a train on to Santa Maria Novella — is the one most people should take. But the direct coach has a catch that almost nobody warns you about, and for four people with luggage the arithmetic changes completely.
Part of our arrivals series — our Florence airport guide covers the alternative of flying into Florence itself, and the Florence train station guide covers Santa Maria Novella, where most of these routes end.
The Short Version
For most people, most of the time: take the PisaMover to Pisa Centrale, then the train to Florence Santa Maria Novella. It is frequent, it is cheap, it drops you in the middle of Florence rather than on the edge of it, and it does not care about traffic on the A11.
The three situations where something else wins:
- A very late arrival. The PisaMover stops at midnight and the trains thin out before then. The night coaches run through to Santa Maria Novella in the small hours, and that is when they earn their place.
- Four or more people with luggage. Four train journeys plus four PisaMover tickets starts to close the gap on a private car, and a car is door to door.
- You are going straight out into Tuscany. If Florence is not really your destination, collect a hire car at Pisa and drive — but do not then take it into Florence.
And the one thing to know before you book a coach ticket: the daytime direct buses do not go to the centre of Florence. More on that below, because it is the single most common unpleasant surprise on this route.
The Four Routes Compared
| Route | Time | Cost | Ends at | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PisaMover + train | About 1h15–1h45 door to door | €6.50 + regional train fare | Santa Maria Novella — central | Almost everyone |
| Direct coach (daytime) | About 60 min, plus the tram in | Single coach fare | Near the T2 “Guidoni” tram stop — not central | Light luggage, no train connection |
| Direct coach (night) | About 60 min | Single coach fare | Santa Maria Novella | Late arrivals and very early departures |
| Taxi / private transfer | Depends on traffic | Indicative €206 on the meter, plus VAT and supplements | Your door | Groups of four, families, late nights |
| Hire car | Depends on route and traffic | Rental plus tolls and fuel | Wherever you park it, outside the ZTL | Going straight on into Tuscany |
Two notes on reading that table. First, coach journey times are “traffic permitting” and the A11 between Pisa and Florence is a road that can turn an hour into ninety minutes without warning. The train does not have that failure mode. Second, the “ends at” column is the one people ignore and then regret — a sixty-minute coach that leaves you three kilometres out is not a sixty-minute journey.
Route 1: PisaMover and Train
This is two legs, and the first one is genuinely good.
Leg one: the PisaMover
The PisaMover is a fully automated electric shuttle running between Pisa airport and Pisa Centrale railway station, with one stop in between. It takes about five minutes, runs every day from 06:00 to midnight, and until 01:00 from 1 June to 30 September, and costs €6.50 single.
Frequency is roughly every five to eight minutes through the day, stretching to about twelve to fifteen minutes in the early morning and late evening windows. You buy from machines at either end. The station at the airport is a short signposted walk from arrivals, and the shuttle is level-access with room for cases, which is more than can be said for a good many rail replacement arrangements in Italy.
The one honest criticism: €6.50 for five minutes is expensive for what it is. Nobody enjoys paying it. There is no realistic alternative.
Leg two: the train
From Pisa Centrale, regional trains run to Firenze Santa Maria Novella roughly once an hour on average, with more at peak times. The journey takes about an hour, and the stopping services are slower than the fast ones, so check what you are boarding rather than taking the next thing that arrives.
These are regional trains, so fares are modest and there is no compulsory seat reservation; you can buy on the day. Trenitalia also sells combined tickets covering the PisaMover and the train together, which saves a transaction rather than money.
Validate, or pay for it
A regional train ticket bought as a paper ticket must be validated before you board — the small green and white machines on the platform, which stamp the date and time. An unvalidated paper ticket counts as no ticket and the on-board fine is real and non-negotiable. Tickets bought in the app and shown on a phone do not need validating.
You arrive at Santa Maria Novella, in the centre of Florence and within walking distance of the Duomo, with trams and buses serving the station, and the KiPoint left-luggage office is along Platform 16 if you are early for a check-in. Details in our Florence train station guide.
Route 2: The Direct Coach, and Its Catch
A direct coach sounds obviously better than a shuttle plus a train, and the marketing leans on that. Sky Bus Lines Caronna runs the service, it takes about sixty minutes traffic permitting with no intermediate stops, and tickets are sold at the Pisa airport ticket office.
Here is the part the booking page does not put in bold.
Where the coach actually drops you
- Daytime services stop near the Florence tramway T2 “Guidoni” stop — out on the north-western edge of the city, near the airport, not in the centre. You then get on the T2 tram and ride in, which adds a wait, a fare and fifteen-odd minutes with your luggage.
- A night service also runs; check the operator’s timetable for its hours and where it stops before you rely on it at one in the morning.
So the coach is excellent at night and mediocre during the day. If you land at 23:30 and the PisaMover has closed and the trains have stopped, the night coach into Santa Maria Novella is the best thing on this page. If you land at two in the afternoon, a “direct” coach that hands you over to a tram at Guidoni is not obviously better than a train that hands you Santa Maria Novella.
FlixBus also runs Pisa–Florence, sometimes very cheaply, and has the same issue in a different place: it terminates at Villa Costanza, the park-and-ride at the end of the T1 tram line in Scandicci. That is a perfectly good interchange — about twenty-two minutes on the tram to Santa Maria Novella — but it is an interchange, not an arrival. Price it as coach fare plus tram fare plus half an hour.
Check the arrival point before you buy, every time. Operators and terminal arrangements on this route change more often than you would expect.
Route 3: Taxi and Private Transfer
The taxi from Pisa airport to central Florence is metered. The CO.TA.PI. consortium lists an indicative €206, with 10% VAT on journeys over 50 km and any tolls or supplements added, and the meter sets the final fare. It is available 24 hours, bookable at the Arrivals rank or by phone. Journey time depends on traffic.
That is a lot of money, and for one or two people it is very hard to justify. For four people with cases it is a different calculation: four PisaMover tickets plus four train tickets, plus the hassle of two changes with luggage, starts to look less like a saving and more like an ordeal you paid for.
Private transfer companies sell the same journey, often slightly cheaper than the metered taxi and with a fixed price agreed in advance, which removes the supplement risk. Book one in advance rather than negotiating at the rank.
Two practical points. Confirm the price covers luggage and the number of passengers — supplements for bags, night hours and extra people are where a quoted fare grows. And a taxi or licensed transfer can take you into the ZTL legally, which a hire car cannot; that is a genuine advantage if your hotel is deep in the historic centre.
Route 4: Hire Car
Pisa’s rental companies operate from a separate Car Hire Terminal about 500 metres from the passenger terminal, so allow time to collect the car. The drive to Florence runs along the A11 or the FI-PI-LI dual carriageway; check the route and traffic before you set off.
This is the right choice in exactly one situation: you are not really going to Florence, or you are going there last. If your trip is Lucca, the Val d’Orcia, Siena and the Chianti hills, collecting at Pisa and driving is efficient and pleasant.
If Florence is your base, it is a trap. The city is ringed by ZTL camera gates, each gate you pass is a fine of around €80 or more plus notification costs, and the notice reaches you later with your rental company’s administration fee attached. Parking in the centre is scarce and expensive, and the historic core is a network of one-way medieval streets in which a car is purely a liability. See our guide to the Florence ZTL and parking before you book anything, and renting a car in Florence for the credit-card hold and the insurance.
If you do drive, the sane arrangement is to park at Villa Costanza — you come off the motorway directly into the car park and the T1 tram terminus is inside it — and go in on the tram.
Which One Is Right for You
- Solo or a couple, daytime, hand luggage: PisaMover and train. No contest.
- Solo or a couple, daytime, two large cases each: still the train, but buy in the app and check you are boarding a fast service rather than an all-stations one.
- Arriving after about 22:30: the night coach to Santa Maria Novella, or a pre-booked transfer. The PisaMover shuts at midnight and the trains thin out before that.
- Family of four or more: price a private transfer properly against four sets of two tickets. It is often closer than you assume, and it is door to door with tired children.
- Touring Tuscany: hire car at Pisa, and keep it out of Florence.
- Tight onward connection in Florence: train. The PisaMover and the rail line both stay clear of road traffic.
Doing It in Reverse
Florence to Pisa airport is the same journey backwards with one extra risk: you now have a flight to miss.
The train from Santa Maria Novella to Pisa Centrale, then the PisaMover, is again the default. Budget generously: allow at least three hours between leaving your accommodation and your departure time for a European flight, and more if you are checking bags. That is fifty to eighty minutes of train, a change, five minutes of shuttle, and then a Ryanair bag drop that closes early and does not reopen.
Very early flights are the real problem. The PisaMover starts at 06:00, which leaves too little margin for a 06:30 departure. For a dawn flight your options are the overnight coach to the airport, a pre-booked transfer, or a night in a hotel near Pisa airport — and the last of those is often cheaper than the transfer.
Note that the Florence to Pisa journey is also a day trip a great many people make for its own sake, and the timetable detail for that is on its own page: Florence to Pisa.
Should You Stop in Pisa?
Since the train route deposits you at Pisa Centrale anyway, the obvious question is whether to break the journey and see the tower.
The honest answer is usually not on arrival day, and yes on a separate day.
On arrival you are tired, you have luggage, and the Piazza dei Miracoli is a twenty-five-minute walk or a bus ride from Pisa Centrale in the opposite direction from where you are going. Dragging cases across Pisa to photograph a tower is a poor start to a holiday, and the left-luggage at Pisa Centrale is an extra cost and an extra queue.
As a day trip from Florence it is a different proposition entirely: an hour each way on a cheap regional train, the Field of Miracles is genuinely extraordinary, and the whole thing works comfortably as a half day. Our Pisa day trip from Florence guide covers the timings and whether climbing the tower is worth the ticket.
The exception: if you have a long gap before you can check in, and you are travelling light, then yes — leave the bags, walk over, look at it, and get a later train. It is a better use of three hours than sitting in a station.
Was the Cheap Fare Worth It?
Worth doing the sum honestly, because a lot of people do not until afterwards.
A Pisa fare that is €40 cheaper per person looks decisive. For two people that is €80 saved. Against it: the PisaMover at €6.50 each way per person, the train each way, and roughly two to three hours of additional travelling time across the trip. For two people travelling light, the saving usually still stands.
For a family of four it frequently does not. Four PisaMover tickets and four train tickets in each direction, plus the accumulated time and the luggage-handling with children, erodes the saving quickly — and if the arithmetic pushes you towards a taxi at the indicative €206 at one end, it has gone entirely.
The other consideration is what you are comparing against. Our Florence airport guide covers flying into Florence itself: four kilometres from the centre rather than eighty-four, but on a short runway that caps the aircraft size, keeps the low-cost carriers away and diverts flights to Pisa or Bologna in bad weather. And Bologna is worth pricing — further in kilometres, but on the high-speed line, so compare the booked door-to-door journey into Florence, airport transfer and connections included, against Pisa.
Price all three before deciding. The cheapest flight and the cheapest trip are not reliably the same thing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best way to get from Pisa airport to Florence?
The PisaMover shuttle to Pisa Centrale, then a regional train to Florence Santa Maria Novella. It is frequent, cheap, unaffected by traffic and it ends in the centre of Florence. The exceptions are very late arrivals, when the night coach to Santa Maria Novella is better, and groups of four or more, where a private transfer can be competitive.
How long does it take from Pisa airport to Florence?
The total by PisaMover and train depends on the train you catch, the connection and where you are staying: five minutes on the shuttle, a connection, then about an hour on the train. A coach is about an hour plus whatever the onward tram adds. A taxi depends on traffic.
How much is the PisaMover?
€6.50 for a single. It runs every day from 06:00 to midnight, and until 01:00 from 1 June to 30 September. It takes about five minutes to Pisa Centrale and comes roughly every 5 to 15 minutes, depending on demand. Tickets come from machines at both ends.
Does the bus from Pisa airport go to central Florence?
Not in the daytime. Daytime Sky Bus Lines Caronna services stop near the T2 tramway “Guidoni” stop on the north-western edge of the city, so you still have a tram ride in. A night service also runs; check the operator’s timetable for its hours and where it stops. FlixBus terminates at Villa Costanza, the T1 park-and-ride. Always check the arrival point before buying.
How much is a taxi from Pisa airport to Florence?
The CO.TA.PI. consortium, available 24 hours, lists an indicative €206 on the meter, with 10% VAT on journeys over 50 km and any tolls or supplements added. Private transfer firms quote a fixed price agreed in advance, which removes the supplement risk. Confirm that the quote covers your luggage and the number of passengers.
Do I need to validate my train ticket?
Yes, if it is a paper regional ticket — stamp it in the green and white machines on the platform before boarding. An unvalidated paper ticket is treated as no ticket and the on-board penalty is enforced. Tickets bought in the Trenitalia app and shown on a phone do not need validating. This is the most common mistake visitors make on this route.
Can I visit the Leaning Tower on the way to Florence?
You can, but on arrival day it is rarely worth it. The Piazza dei Miracoli is about twenty-five minutes on foot from Pisa Centrale in the wrong direction, and you would be doing it with luggage after a flight. Pisa works far better as a separate half-day trip from Florence, an hour each way on a cheap regional train.
How early should I leave Florence for a Pisa airport flight?
At least three hours from leaving your accommodation to departure, and more with hold bags — that covers about an hour of train, the change, the five-minute shuttle and an early bag-drop cutoff. For an early flight, check the first Florence–Pisa train on your date, the PisaMover’s 06:00 start and your airline’s check-in deadline before choosing rail; otherwise take an overnight coach, book a transfer, or sleep near the airport.
Keep Reading
- Florence airport guide — the alternative, four kilometres from the centre.
- Florence to Pisa — the same journey as a trip in its own right.
- Pisa day trip from Florence — the Field of Miracles, and whether to climb the tower.
- Florence train station guide — Santa Maria Novella, arrivals and left luggage.
- Florence ZTL and parking — read this before hiring a car at Pisa.
- Florence transportation guide — getting around once you arrive.
