9 fantastic day trips from Lucca you and your kids will love (by train and car)
Nine fantastic day trips from Lucca you and your kids will love: family-friendly places to see near Lucca for a fun day out and about in Tuscany with kids.
One of the many reasons why I love recommending Lucca as a base for your family adventure in Tuscany is the many day trips you can take from it, with or without a car.
Located in the north of Tuscany and on a well-served train line, Lucca is a great place to explore Florence and Pisa, a nice home base to explore local wineries and it is also a great vantage point to head to the coast.
The stunning beaches of Versilia are nearby, and you can even use Lucca as a jump-off point to Cinque Terre!
In previous articles, I talked about the best things to do in Lucca with kids. Today, I want to expand on that and talk about the many beautiful places you can visit as day trips from Lucca, with the family, of course!
The best day trips from Lucca for families chart
Destination | Transport | Journey time (one way) |
Florence | Train | 1.5h |
Pisa | Train | 30 mins |
Viareggio | Train | 20 mins |
Cinque Terre | Train | 1.5 hours |
Pistoia Zoo | Train+Taxi / Car | 1h |
Tenute di Badia | Car | 25 mins |
Tenuta Chiudendone | Car | 1h |
Montecatini Terme | Train+taxi / Car | 25 mins |
Parco Pinocchio Collodi | Car | 30 mins |
The best family-friendly day trips from Lucca with kids – our top picks
Firenze / Florence
If you want to visit Florence but do not fancy staying in a big city, you’ll be happy to hear that you can easily reach it from Lucca and spend the day.
Florence is rich with things to see, and you could easily spend days here without running out of things to do. However, Florence city center is compact, and even with a day trip, you can cover a lot of ground!
Coming by train from Lucca in the morning, you can take a stroll to Santa Maria Novella, see Florence’s Duomo, and walk the famous Piazza della Signoria and Ponte Vecchio.
You can treat your kids to a ride on the carousel in Piazza della Repubblica, pop into the fun Leonardo da Vinci Interactive Museum and even take a bus or a taxi up to Piazzale Michelangelo and catch the most famous view over Florence and the Arno River!
Trains between Lucca and Florence depart regularly; the journey takes about 1.5h or less and costs less than 10 Euro per person.
A very easy and very satisfying day out, in a city center so beautiful it is, as a whole UNESCO World Heritage Site!
Pisa
A visit to Pisa is a great treat for kids.
The leaning tower is exciting for children and while the large number of visitors makes the city more touristy in feel than many others in Tuscany, the beauty of Piazza dei Miracoli makes a visit worth it also for parents.
A visit to Pisa inevitably focuses on the tower / Piazza dei Miracoli, the only part of historical Pisa that has survived the shelling during the II World War.
Here, you can see the tower, the Duomo, the Baptistry, and the stunning Camposanto, all developing around Piazza dei Miracoli, an incredible sight!
Nearby, you can also see beautiful Piazza dei Cavalieri and you can rest and have lunch in one of the many restaurants off the piazza (Much cheaper than the ones on the piazza, worth the short walk!).
Should you want a bit of greenery, you can also visit the pretty Botanical Gardens, only a few minutes walk from the tower.
The train between Lucca and Pisa goes several times a day (up to twice per hour), the journey takes about 30 minutes and the cost is less than 5 Euro per person.
You can read here >>> how to spend a day in Pisa with kids
Viareggio
Viareggio is one of Italy’s best-known seaside resort towns and a trendy summer getaway with locals and foreigners alike.
Blessed with large, long sandy beaches and a beautiful town center with Liberty-style architecture unique in the area, Viareggio is easy to reach from Lucca by train and a great place to spend a day between the beach, the seaside passeggiata and the beautiful shops of this elegant town.
The train between Lucca and Viareggio runs several times a day (up to one per hour at busy times), only takes about 20 minutes and costs around 6 euro per person.
If you have a car, as well as Viareggio, you can visit a few more of the best beaches near Lucca.
Cinque Terre
The area of Cinque Terre is lovely to visit with kids and very easy to reach from Lucca, which is less than 2 hours away from La Spezia, the getaway town to the beautiful Cinque Terre villages.
The best way to get there is by train, via Pisa and then La Spezia.
At first glance, you may think the lack of a direct train is daunting, but the journey is straightforward. The trains are frequent and easy to use and you’ll have no problem navigating the local stations.
To give you an idea of how easy it is, when I went to Cinque Terre with the kids last summer, alone, we got off the train in La Spezia and the one to Cinque Terre was literally in front of us, waiting to depart in the following five minutes!
All we had to do was get off one train and get onto the other: it couldn’t have been easier!
If you can, I highly recommend staying in Cinque Terre for at least one night (two is even better) but if you only have a day or do not fancy changing accommodations, this is a great day trip from Lucca with kids!
Find here >>> our tips for visiting Cinque Terre with kids.
Tenute di Badia, a family-friendly winery (car needed)
You don’t have to renounce wine tasting and vineyard hopping near Lucca because you have kids: you can go with them to lovely Tenute di Badia!
A family-friendly vineyard and winery just to the south of Lucca, Tenute di Badia organizes tasting in their beautiful cellars and involves the kids serving them juice so that they can be part of the tasting experience.
This is one of the easiest day trip from Lucca for families who want a wine experience in one of the best wine regions in the world.
Find info and contact details here
Pistoia Zoo
If you are looking for something just for kids, for a day when sightseeing is not in the cards anymore, then a day trip from Lucca to Pistoia zoo may be what you need!
Pistoia Zoo is a large open-air zoo with over 550 endangered animals from all over the world.
The zoo prides itself on its conservation efforts and it’s a great place for kids to get familiar with giraffes, pygmy hippos, red pandas, lemurs, tigers, lions and more.
The park is open every day (Including Christmas and Ferragosto!), and it is easy to reach by taxi or by catching bus 59 from the Pistoia train station.
You can find info and prices here.
Tenuta Chiudendone, family-friendly day in the country with cooking and a pool
One of the best ways to enjoy Tuscany is to spend a day in a beautiful country home, tasting the local food and wine and letting the kids splash in the pool. You can do this by spending a day in Tenuta Chiudendone!
Located between Florence and Pisa, only about 1h by car from Lucca, Tenuta Choudendone offers a one-day experience perfect for families with kids of all ages.
It includes a walk in the vineyard and olive, grove, a cooking class, lunch and time to kick back and relax in the large estate outdoor area.
You’ll need a car to get her, or you can avail of their help to reach them by train via Florence. Either way, you are guaranteed a great time!
Find all the info and contacts here >>> Tenuta Chiudendone Airbnb Experience <<<
Montecatini Terme
If you love hot pools and thermal baths, then a day trip to Montecatini Terme is a great day trip from Lucca you can take with the kids.
Montecatini Terme is a famous thermal town, with several thermal spas offering wellness and health treatments, one of them open to kids: Terme Redi!
Terme Redi has indoor pools that are great for all ages (if you have kids under 2, ask the staff as they recommend only short baths at that age) and area a great place to bob in water, especially if in the area in winter, when outdoor fun may be limited.
From Lucca, you can reach Montecatini Terme by car in about 30 minutes. You can find info and contact details for info here
Parco Pinocchio, Collodi
Parco Pinocchio is a peculiar park for kids devoted, as the name suggests, to Pinocchio, born in this area!
The park defines itself as a ‘theme park,’ and in a way this is correct, as Pinocchio is the central theme of the experience.
However, this is not a Disneyland kind of place, but a more traditional, almost vintage sort of kids’ park, suited especially to little children who can tap into the magic of an almost entirely tech-free experience.
The park is a large, green, shaded area with Pinocchio-inspired installations and outdoor toys.
As you walk along its paths, you can step into the mouth of the whale, tiptoe into the house of the Turquoise Fairy or spend time playing with the giant outdoor chess board or getting active on climbing frames and zipline courses.
Near Pinocchio park, you can also with the stunning Giardini di Villa Garzoni, that are lovely for a walk and have a butterfly house kids are likely to love.
This is a great day trip from Lucca for little kids and nostalgic parents who want to tap into an old-school, imagination-driven children’s fairy tale.
You can find info and photos here
I hope you enjoyed this quick overview of the best day trips from Lucca for families and it helped you plan your trip. Safe travels!