How to visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa with a Baby

A trip to Italy isn’t complete without seeing the iconic leaning structure in Pisa. For some reason, I couldn’t leave Italy without this ridiculous day trip to the Leaning Tower of Pisa with the baby. Reflecting back on the journey, I would probably advise making it an overnight trip, as I hate remembering the rush back to the train station to get back to Rome. In general, travelling with our 6-month-old was super easy as he was a content traveller, but isn’t it nice to just stop and smell the roses?

Our trip to Leaning Tower of Pisa with Baby was sweet and short. We made it a very long day trip from Rome catching an early morning train near our AirBnB. We caught a high-speed train with few stops and made it to Pisa in just 2.5 hours. You’ll want to read the train schedule to get the most out of your trip. You take the train via Florence. This trip we planned the night before. It was easy and simple in offseason. 

Getting There with Baby

The train ride is easy with kids. We found our baby fell asleep really easily on the train with the lull of the tracks.

Take note that our second baby did not fall asleep so easily on Canadian rail adventures. Take advantage of a babycarrier to rock in a quiet corner or pace the cars until they pass out. 

Strollers are difficult with trains as you have climb up and on and then find a storage spot. Thinking back on this adventure, I’d skip the stroller and embrace babywearing. We had a really great umbrella stroller from (commissioned link to a similar product) MacLaren that did travel well. It tucked into small spots, held up on the cobblestone, and collapsed in a breeze. There are a ton of travel strollers on the market that do a great job at handling these types of adventures.

From the Train Station in Pisa, it is a 20-30 minute walk to the historic site of the tower. It’s easy to find, follow the signs, or grab a map at the station. We pushed the stroller there and carried the baby back (fussy kids sometimes don’t like to hang out in strollers). It’s up to you on what you feel might be most verstaile and meet your travel needs.

At the Tower of Pisa 

It’s important to mention, children under 8 can’t go up the tower. Therefore, if you want to climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa, you’ll need someone to watch your baby.

Keep in mind we visited in offseason and lines and crowds didn’t exist. Sometimes a tour bus of visitors would crowd up places, but that was about it. 

Reserve a time slot at the ticket desk and you can go up with a group. It’s several flights of stairs up. I did not want to climb the tower, but my husband and brother did. I thought it was rather pricey to climb the tower. Waiting for them to climb the tower was not bad, as I guarded bags and put along feeding and changing the baby.

Overall, the climb experience was lacklustre compared to other climbs. We climbed St. Peter’s Basilica with the baby and it was a much bigger wow experience. Climbing the Tower of Pisa just gets you that check mark of things you’ve done in Italy.

That’s All for the Leaning Tower of Pisa with Baby

Then we took some photos. We didn’t go inside the museum. The museum may have been cool, but we don’t know. I wanted to see Florence before returning back to our beds in Rome.  We walked back to the train station. We did some casual shopping on our way back, but our goal was to also see a little of Florence.

Overal, Leaning Tower of Pisa with  Baby just is. I’m not sure its anything special or worth your time to go out of your way to see it. Kids can’t go up, so you can just look and see. But isn’t that what much of Europe is about? looking and seeing?

After Leaning Tower of Pisa with Baby, we went and saw David in Florence. Best thing ever. You need to see David more than you need to see this tower.