Stazione di Pisa Centrale

I didn’t anticipate visiting this station so often on my recent trip, but that’s exactly what happened. Either I was picking up a train here, connecting to another train, or flying through it on a direct train.
The station itself isn’t bad. It’s fairly clean with safe and affordable luggage storage, which is nice if you’ve just left the airport and plan to visit the Leaning Tower.
Trains arrived and departed on time. Validation and ticket machines worked fine. Decent experiences here.

We got to this station as the sun was starting to go down. It gets kinda schisty once it starts getting dark. A lot of vagrants hang around the entrance. On a positive note, the bus station is right outside to the buses that go around Pisa. If you go across the street, you can catch the bus that goes down by the Torre. If you don’t want to wait for the bus which sometimes is irregular, you can walk. We got a little lost trying to find the Torre di Pisa because it looks like a straight shot on the map we had but it wasn’t. It still was only about 15 – 30 min walk and we got to see more of the city by just getting a little lost. Otherwise, just watch out while you’re at the train station. You probably won’t get pickpocketed but just be safe.

Not a very handicap friendly train station With few elevators, other train stations do that better!

We found ourselves in this station several times, as we arrived in this station from Florence when we first arrived to Pisa, as well as the starting point of our daytrips to Lucca as well as Livorno. It is a large station, which is rather unexpected, given the small size of Pisa.
There was one day when the announcements were all down. The TV announcing the trains were turned off, as well as the giant destination board at the lobby. We thought there was a train strike. Oh well, apparently the system was just down. Otherwise, the station still functioned.
It’s okay for a large station, but nothing more than that. Very clean, however.

Not too big and not too small… this station is just about the right size. It has a nice food court and seating area is quite big. This station is about 15 mins walk from Tower of Pisa.
If you buy food, the receipt can get you in washroom for free once so pay separately for food if you are two or more to avoid paying for washroom.

Small and simple station. Its an easy, breezy, 16 euro roundtrip, 45min, semi-​scenic train ride from Florence to Pisa.
I wouldn’t do it myself, BUT if you’re traveling on an extremely tight budget, I think its highly unlikely any trainstaff will check for your ticket. There didn’t seem to be any workers on the way there or back. I suppose you could hide in the bathroom if you see a Trenitalia employee coming.
While sitting patiently on the train for the return trip back to Florence, we noticed everyone suddenly get up to leave… apparently they decided to change the train last minute! No PA annoucement! No staff telling us… how the eff were we supposed to know? WTF? Luckily the wife and I just followed the crowd and made it back alright! :P
If you’re on a tight budget, don’t bother buying any food or drinks at the station, there’s plenty of other shops nearby for cheaper.
70 euro cents to use the Water Closest (aka Restroom).