Caves, parks and an aquarium: family days out in Tuscany

The short answer

If you have a rainy day and children over 4, the safest choice is a cave: underground the weather is the same for everyone, which is to say it never rains. The Grotta del Vento is open every day except Christmas Day and has a one-hour route for €10 that even a small child can manage. The Antro del Corchia is more spectacular, but the visit takes two hours.

If the rain catches you in Pisa or on the coast, the Livorno Aquarium is the easiest answer: an hour's visit, and the online ticket costs less than the one at the ticket office. If you are somewhere between Florence and Lucca, Collodi and Pistoia Zoo are the outdoor alternatives for dry days. With sunshine and older children, on the other hand, the best ideas are the Orrido di Botri in summer and Cavallino Matto.

One rule holds almost everywhere: the official price is the same as, or lower than, the resellers' price. The exception is Cavallino Matto, and you will find it further down.

Caves in Tuscany: Vento or Corchia?

These are the two caves in Tuscany that really justify the journey. Both lie in the Apuan Alps, but on opposite sides: the Vento faces the Garfagnana, the Corchia faces Versilia. You cannot do both comfortably on the same day.

Grotta del Vento (Fornovolasco, Garfagnana)

It is open every day of the year except Christmas Day. You check in at the ticket office and do not need to print anything. Visits are guided, and there are three routes:

The reduced rate applies from age 4 to 10, to members of the Italian Alpine Club (CAI) and to a few other categories. These are the prices published on the cave's website and they may change: if you need the exact figure, phone them (+39 0583 722024, from 10:00 to 19:00).

Inside it is 10.7 °C with humidity of around 99%. For Itinerary 3 after several days of rain you need a waterproof jacket, not just a fleece. The rules are strict: no animals, pushchairs, baby-carrier backpacks, large rucksacks, walking sticks or umbrellas.

You can only get there by car: about an hour and a quarter from Lucca, by way of Gallicano.

Antro del Corchia (Levigliani, Stazzema)

This is one of the largest karst systems in Europe. The show-cave route, opened in 2001, follows about 2 km of steel walkways, and you enter through a 170-metre artificial tunnel. The visit is guided and lasts about 2 hours; inside, the temperature stays between 7 and 7.6 °C. It is recommended for children over 3.

You cannot walk or drive to the cave itself: you leave by shuttle bus from the ticket office in Levigliani, at 581 m above sea level, and ride up to the entrance at 850 m. The shuttle is included in the ticket: €18 full price, €10 from age 5 to 14, free up to age 4. The same page also shows a second, higher price band (€22), which seems to refer to a longer or combined visit: ask at the ticket office what it includes before you choose it.

CorchiaPark also runs visits to the marble quarries, the mercury mines and the village's small museums. If you would rather see the Carrara quarries by off-road vehicle, we cover that on the Versilia page.

Which one to choose

• Children under 5: Vento, Itinerary 1.
• A family with older children, one cave only: Corchia, for its sheer size.
• Fit, curious adults: Vento, Itinerary 3. It is a genuine three hours, with vertical sections.

If you are after a cave with warm water, the Grotta Giusti at Monsummano is something else entirely: a thermal cave with natural steam, explained on the thermal baths page.

Orrido di Botri: the canyon, summer only

This is a deep limestone gorge above Bagni di Lucca, a nature reserve run by the Carabinieri's biodiversity unit. You go in at Ponte a Gaio and make your way up the stream walking in the water: you need hiking shoes that can get wet.

• It normally opens from 1 June until September, from 09:00 to 18:00.
• Numbers are capped at 300 visitors a day.
• A climbing helmet is compulsory; you can hire one for €4 from age 6 upwards.
• Children under 4 are not admitted.
• Tickets: €5 for adults, €2 from age 6 to 11 and over 65, free under 6.
• The guided tour costs €18 (€12 under 12) and includes the ticket and helmet.

After a storm the route closes: this is not a rainy-day plan but one for the hottest days, when the gorge stays cool.

Collodi: Pinocchio Park and Giardino Garzoni

At Collodi, a village belonging to Pescia, you can visit two very different places a few steps apart. Pinocchio Park is a monumental park from the 1950s with works by Venturino Venturi and Emilio Greco's bronze group, the Land of Toys, two vintage carousels (for ages 3 to 12), an interactive museum and a puppet show. Giardino Garzoni is a historic terraced garden, paired with the Butterfly House.

These are the prices on the official list; they vary with the season, so check them again on the website before you set off:

The reduced rate applies from age 3 to 17 and over 65; under 3s go free and animals do not pay. The park's adventure trails cost €5 extra per child, for ages 5 to 14 and up to 150 cm tall. From November to February there are no butterflies: the garden is paired with the tropical greenhouse instead, and the ticket costs a little less.

The park is open all year, but opening hours change with the season. By car, Collodi is 15 minutes from the Chiesina Uzzanese exit on the A11 motorway; without a car there are buses from Pescia and from Lucca.

The aquarium in Tuscany: Livorno

The big aquarium in Tuscany is in Livorno, on the Terrazza Mascagni, looking out over the sea. A visit takes about an hour: Mediterranean tanks, sea turtles (with a rescue and rehabilitation programme) and a reptile house.

On days when it is open to the public, hours are 10:00–18:00, and admissions are limited. Be careful, though: not every day is a public opening day. On some dates the aquarium only takes groups and schools, and in the low season weekdays are not guaranteed.

Livorno pairs well with Pisa: a morning at the Tower and the afternoon at the aquarium, or the other way round if it rains in the morning.

Pistoia Zoo and Cavallino Matto

Pistoia Zoo (Giardino Zoologico di Pistoia) is open every day of the year: Monday to Friday 09:30–18:00 (last entry 17:00), Saturday and Sunday 09:30–19:00 (last entry 17:30). Tickets cost €21 full price, €20 over 65, €16 from age 3 to 10 and €11 for disabled visitors. Group and school tickets are sold only at the entrance. It is the easiest day out from Florence for a family with young children.

Cavallino Matto, at Marina di Castagneto Carducci, is the largest amusement park in Tuscany. At the gate a day ticket costs €31 over 130 cm and €24 between 100 and 129 cm; some tickets are sold only there. The season usually runs from early April to early November: every day from June to mid-September, otherwise at weekends and on public holidays, with special openings for Halloween. Hours are 10:30–18:30. An Autolinee Toscane bus also serves the park.

Nature parks and mountains

Foreste Casentinesi. The national park straddling Tuscany and Romagna is free to enter. The visitor centres at Badia Prataglia, Camaldoli and Pratovecchio are the starting points, and the official calendar offers guided walks, for example on autumn colours and chestnuts. Within the park lie Camaldoli, La Verna and the source of the Arno. The strict nature reserve of Sasso Fratino, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2017 as one of Europe's ancient beech forests, is closed to visitors: you can only walk around its edges. You will need a car. See also Arezzo and Cortona.

Abetone and Amiata. These are Tuscany's two ski mountains, useful mainly in winter. Abetone is the main ski area, with around fifty kilometres of slopes and day passes roughly between €31 and €41 depending on the period, plus a €3 rechargeable card. Amiata, on the old volcano, is smaller and its snow is unreliable; for ski passes check the official amiataneve.it portal. In summer Abetone offers hiking and adventure parks.

For an adventure park near Florence, Il Gigante at Vaglia, next to Villa Demidoff at Pratolino, has 18 treetop trails: the wristband costs from €16 to €24 for about two and a half hours. Most of these parks open at weekends from spring and every day in summer.

Official ticket or booking platform?

Tiqets and GetYourGuide sell entry to five of these places. Here is how they compare:

• Livorno Aquarium: on Tiqets from €17, which is the ticket-office price. The aquarium's own site sells adult tickets online for €14: buy there.
• Pistoia Zoo: on Tiqets from €21, the same as at the gate. The only advantage is having your ticket already, cancellable before your chosen date.
• Cavallino Matto: on Tiqets the open-date ticket starts from €26.50, less than the €31 at the gate. Here the partner is the better deal; check which height band it applies to.
• Collodi: on GetYourGuide the Land of Toys and Butterfly House ticket starts from €26, in line with the official combined ticket.
• Grotta del Vento: on GetYourGuide the one-hour guided visit starts from €20, whereas Itinerary 1 costs €10 at the ticket office. The cave does not require booking for individual visitors: pay at the ticket office.

Partner prices change and we check them regularly; the official prices are the lists published by each venue.

Open-date Cavallino Matto ticket from €26.50

Three ready-made rainy days

• From Lucca: Grotta del Vento in the morning, lunch in the Garfagnana; if the weather clears, Collodi on the way back.
• From Pisa or the coast: Livorno Aquarium, once you have checked the calendar.
• From Florence with young children: Pistoia Zoo, open on winter weekdays too. In heavy rain, one of the current exhibitions is a better bet: you will find them on the exhibitions in Tuscany page.

Mistakes to avoid

• Going into a cave in a T-shirt. At 7 to 11 °C, an hour is enough to get cold.
• Bringing a pushchair to the Vento. It will not be allowed in, and neither will a baby-carrier backpack.
• Turning up at Botri in trainers, or the day after a storm. Your feet will definitely get wet, and after rain you may well find it closed.
• Setting off for Livorno without looking at the calendar. Especially from October to March.
• Relying on public transport for the caves. In practice the Vento and the Corchia can only be reached by car; if you do not have one, choose the aquarium, the zoo or Collodi.

Related pages

You will find more ideas among the day trips and the experiences in Tuscany. The most convenient base for the Garfagnana and Collodi is Lucca.