Leaning Tower of Pisa - wow

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
4
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
9
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
6
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
3
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
10
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
10
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
70 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
157th/454
Top 40%
continent
Europe
country
Italy
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$40 ($10-$60 in 2025 prices)
Time of year visited
June
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Christian site Towers UNESCO world heritage site
All Tags
City Walls
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐⭐

Summary

Mixed feelings heading to Pisa – really keen to see the world-famous tower, but heard it could be underwhelming.  After visiting it, I sort of get it – the tower is quite a bit smaller than you’d probably have thought . . . but it is it’s surroundings that make the trip 100% worthwhile.

The combination of the Leaning Tower, Cathedral di Santa Maria Assunta (gobsmackingly beautiful, even considering all the other gobsmackingly beautiful cathedrals in Italy), Battistero di San Giovanni (the world’s largest baptistery), the Camposanto’s art and the lush green fields with old city walls surrounding make this 100% worth the visit.

 

Top tips:

  • You only need 2 hours or so, so Pisa is really a half day trip at most.
  • Online multi tickets.  The Tower is obviously free to view, but entry into the other spots requires an online ticket.  Its worth doing, simply for free access to the Cathedral – oddly they don’t charge, but you need an online ticket to enter – and you can pay from there to access other spots.
  • 100% visit the Cathedral – it is magnificent- and the Battistero – I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
  • If looking for a lunch spot that is away from the main crowds, I’d recommend the outside seating of Cantina Vasari.
  • Tuscany more broadly – Pisa is just one spot of many in the mesmerising region of Tuscany.  For some of the other highlights, see the travel entry for  Tuscany – Renaissance Towns and Chianti Wine Country, specifically:
    • Sienna – the gem ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
    • Florence – busy but wow ⭐️⭐️⭐️
    • Lucca – charming ⭐️⭐️
    • Chianti wine region – easy to fall in love ⭐️⭐️
    • Vale d’Orcia – idyllic ⭐️⭐️

5 Highlights of Pisa

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#1 The Leaning Tower - its very very cool

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#2 The overall Piazza dei Miracoli - the combination of the 4 main buildings, lush green fields with old city walls surrounding make this 100% worth the visit

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#3 Cathedral di Santa Maria Assunta - a standout beautiful cathedral, even in a country that is full of them

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#4 The Battistero di San Giovanni - the world’s largest baptistery and not quite like anything I’ve seen before

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5. Grabbing some food nearby, and outside of the super busy tourist spot, in the outside seating of Cantina Vasari

Experiences Nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

Other World Famous Buildings

Machu Picchu
⭐⭐⭐

Exploring Petra in winter
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Walking the wild Great Wall of China by Jinshanling
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Seeing the Pyramids of Teotihuacan
⭐⭐

The Taj Mahal
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Cycling around Angkor Wat
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Best way to see Chichen Itza from Cancun
⭐⭐⭐

Mayan ruins of Tikal
⭐⭐⭐

Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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