PARCO DI PINOCCHIO: If you know and love the story of Pinocchio, you can not know that its author was Italian and that he spent part of his childhood in a village near Pistoia, Collodi. Just in Collodi, in honor of the author of Pinocchio, a park was built in 1956, in which to relive the emotions and events of the most loved and known Italian book in the world. In the official website you can find many information about opening times and tickets:www.pinocchio.it
If you want to go there you can take the train from Pistoia to Pescia (approx 30 minutes) and from Pescia the bus U803 that will take you to the park in 15/20 minutes. There are no many of this bus, so check before going!
VIAREGGIO: If you want to go to the beach to swim or just to walk along the sea, the closest place is Viareggio, a small city on the Tuscany Coast. There is a train from Pistoia every hour and it takes 1 hour and 5 minutes.
VINCI: Vinci is the city which gave birth to the famous Leonardo da Vinci. Set in a beautiful landscape, in this small town you can visit the Leonardo museum and the house where Leonardo was born. The official website of Museo Leonardiano is www.museoleonardiano.it/eng
There are no trains for Pistoia, but you can take the bus 52 leaving in front of the train station of Pistoia, direction Empoli. Your stop is called Lamporecchio, after about 40 minutes. Then in Lamporecchio, you have to take another bus to go to Vinci. Before going, check the times of the bus because otherwise you could wait a lot.
Another solution is to take a train to Firenze Rifredi, and then from Firenze Rifredi to Empoli. In Empoli you have to take the bus number 49 to reach Vinci. It takes about 2 hours.
ABETONE: If you like skiing or visiting one of the best and highest mountains in the area, this is a nice place to go, to 1388 meters above the sea level. To reach Abetone you have to take the bus 54Abe, leaving in front of the train station of Pistoia. It takes 1 hour and 50 minutes. The road is full of curves, so please take that into account if you suffer of car sickness.
