Lucca with Kids: Best Things to Do in One Day

Lucca is a beautiful, family-friendly destination in Tuscany. Its historic centre is compact, easy to explore on foot, and surrounded by massive, well-preserved city walls that give kids room to walk, bike, and burn off some energy. We found that visiting Lucca with kids was a great stop on our family trip to Italy, especially if you want a slower-paced Tuscan city that still has plenty of fun things to do.

While you can visit Lucca in one day, we recommend spending a night or two if your itinerary allows. Having one full day in Lucca gives you enough time to bike or walk the city walls, explore the cobblestone streets, stop at a playground, climb one of the city’s towers, and still have time for gelato without feeling rushed.

In this guide, we’ll share the best things to do in Lucca with kids, how to get there by train, what worked well for our family, and a few honest tips to help you decide whether Lucca deserves a spot on your Italy itinerary with kids.

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Getting to Lucca with Kids

Travelling to Lucca by train is super easy. You can reach Lucca by train from Pisa in as little as about 20 minutes, while trains from Florence usually take closer to 1 hour 20 minutes.

Its train connections also make Lucca a good base for exploring northern Tuscany. With so many train connections from Lucca, it’s possible, and even enjoyable, to get around this part of Italy without renting a car and get around Italy by train.

We travelled from Cinque Terre with kids to Lucca, Italy by train, with a short stop in Pisa with kids along the way. Rather than just do a day trip, we decided to spend a couple of nights in Lucca, before moving on to visit Florence with our kids.

Our itinerary allowed us one day in Lucca without rushing around. Lucca’s historic old town and the surrounding Tuscan countryside make it a perfect place to slow down and appreciate Italian culture.

Walking from Lucca Train Station to the Walled City

Our train from Pisa to Lucca arrived late afternoon. The Lucca train station is on the southern edge of the Lucca city walls. You can easily walk from the train station to any point within the Lucca city walls in under 15 minutes.

We walked to our Lucca vacation rental apartment in about 12 minutes. The walk through Lucca’s charming cobblestone streets was very enjoyable, except that one of our suitcases had a broken wheel. It’s a good idea to bring a suitcase with durable wheels in Italy!

Best Things to do in Lucca with Kids

Stop at a Lucca Playground

We started our day with an early morning walk from our apartment rental and quickly stumbled across a Lucca playground. Lucca is small enough that we didn’t feel rushed and were happy to let our 3-year old and 19 month old stop and play for a while. If only there were a cappuccino shop nearby…

Bike or Walk the Lucca City Walls

The best thing to do in Lucca with kids is to walk or bike along the well-preserved city walls that once protected the city. The The Lucca city walls are wide and flat, making them a very popular place for an easy family walk. We love active, outdoor family activities when travelling, so we were very eager to try this unique 4 km / 2.5 mile Lucca bike ride with our kids.

We were easily able to find Lucca bike rentals with child seats right near the Piazza Napoleone and were quickly on our way. The entire walking and bike path around the Lucca city walls is beautiful, with trees arching overhead and views over the historic centre.

There are plenty of Lucca playgrounds and green spaces along this easy bike ride, making it a perfect spot for a family picnic on a sunny day. We were having so much fun riding our bikes around the Lucca city walls that we were disappointed when it was over after only 25 minutes.

Family-Friendly Private Tour: Historic Lucca by Bike

See the Lucca Aqueduct (Nottolini Aqueduct)

We were having so much fun on our family bike ride around Lucca that we checked our tourist map for another route to follow. We found a trail along the Lucca aqueduct that looked promising.

You might say we had become a little obsessed with finding Italian aqueducts after our wonderful experience at Aqueduct Park in Rome and the aqueduct playground in Pisa. Unfortunately, our Lucca bike ride along the aqueduct wasn’t quite as successful.

We enjoyed riding our rental bikes along a dirt path in the shadow of the huge Lucca aqueduct. The problem was that the bike path was only a couple of kilometers long, before we reached a major highway.

To continue our Lucca bike ride, we’d have needed to walk our bikes up and down the stairs on the highway overpass. On our own, we probably would have done it. But with two small kids in child seats on the back? Pass.

If you are interested in Italian aqueducts, Lucca’s aqueduct is pretty impressive, but otherwise, it’s not worth the effort to take your rental bikes.

Explore Lucca’s Historic Centre on Foot

In the afternoon, we set off to explore Lucca’s charming cobblestone streets on foot. We slowed our pace significantly by giving our 3-year-old a camera. She was so pleased by the idea and we got to slowly meander while taking in the atmosphere of Lucca’s walled city.

Medieval Lucca for Kids: 2-Hour Private Tour

Climb Torre delle Ore with Kids

We love climbing towers in Italy because they give us a completely different perspective of a city. Two of Lucca’s best-known climbable towers are Torre delle Ore and Torre Guinigi.  

We chose to climb the Torre delle Ore as we believed it would be less busy than the very popular Torre Guinigi. Plus, by climbing Torre delle Ore, we would get great views of Torre Guinigi and its unique roof garden, built as a symbol of the town’s rebirth.

Aside from being less busy, the Torre delle Ore is taller and more central in the old town. The views from the top of Torre delle Ore were excellent, with tiled rooftops, towers, and the rolling Tuscan hills in the background. We were very proud of our 3-year old as she climbed all 200+ steps herself!

As we continued our easy walk through the rest of Lucca’s Old Town, we stopped by the busy Piazza dell’Anfiteatro (Amphitheatre Square) and walked by the base of the famous Torre Guinigi.

Look at Lucca: Walking Tour and Exploration of Lucca

Stop for Gelato in Lucca

After an active day of experiencing the best things to do in Lucca with kids, our kids had certainly earned a treat. When in Italy, the best treat on a hot day is gelato!

Where to Stay in Lucca with Children

Many of Lucca’s attractions, shopping and restaurants are found within its historic walled city. It’s a reasonably compact area that can be walked from side-to-side in 15-20 minutes, so anywhere within Lucca’s city walls will be a good spot for your family to stay.

When travelling with small kids, we prefer to stay in a vacation rental (like Airbnb or VRBO) due to the many family-friendly amenities offered, such as separate bedrooms, a full kitchen, and laundry facilities. We stayed in a central 2-bedroom Lucca vacation rental apartment with a nice terrace within the city walls.

Related: 7 Tips to Find a Kid-Friendly Airbnb

If you prefer to stay in a kid-friendly Lucca hotel, we recommend you use Booking. We use them for our family hotels as they have an excellent Top Picks for Families search filter.

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