The Pisa Airport is one of the major hubs for low-cost airlines like Ryan Air and Easy Jet, so it can be a great way to reach nearby Florence, which is just an hour away by train or bus. There have been two major changes in the bus service linking those two cities, however, that almost cost this blogger to lose her flight to the U.K.! So listen up and don't make the same mistake I did...

1) the company that ran this transfer service (here and in other cities around Europe) for years was called Terravision, but they've gone out of business for (take a guess?) tax evasion!

2) the company that took over from them is called "Autostradale," and they run the shuttle from the Florence Santa Maria Novella (or "Firenze S.M.N.") train station directly to the Pisa Airport.



3) the bus stop used to be conveniently located in front of the station, along the left side if looking towards the front of the station with your back to the Duomo-side of the city. It is now a 7-8 minute walk, out the BACK of the train station, so give yourself more time to get there! To get there, go to platform 16 (at the far "right" side with the pharmacy and Feltrinelli bookstore to your back, and eventually follow a brick ramp down to the street below. There you'll find the buses.





4) it's easy to get your tickets online, and they now have an English version: Autostradale Website. Even the Italian site is pretty easy to figure out if you know that "Da" means "from" and "A" is "to." Otherwise you can ask the driver when you get to the bus, and at the Pisa Airport there is a kiosk outside where you can buy tickets from a human.
Exit the airport and turn right, and you'll find the kiosk about 100 meters/yards later, and then buses are another 100 m/yds. farther.

5) When all is said and done, the airport bus is still a handy way to connect Florence with the Pisa Airport, but consider also taking a train from Florence to Pisa Centrale, and then getting on the handy "people mover" from there to the airport (see our recent blog post about that here). 

The Pisa Airport is handy for any of our Tuscany tours:
Classic Tuscany Walk
Southeastern Tuscany Maremma walking tour
Tuscany Mountains Walk in the Garfagnana area above Lucca
Tuscany Bike (through our sister-company Mondo Bike tours)
Tuscany Coast Bike (through Mondo Bike tours)
as well as the Cinque Terre walking tour
Or our Tuscany by Vespa scooter tour (run by our sister company Scooterbella)

And it can even be a good hub for connections to Sardinia, Greece, Crete, the Dordogne (in southewestern France, to Bordeaux), etc.
Contact us if you'd like help navigating the options!