Lucca Tourist Traps

Although it is nice to visit this palazzo and its gardens, we were a little bit disappointed. We came here to visit the permanent exhibition of the local costumes from the 18th century. But, although still mentioned in several books, the costumes are no longer at the Palazzo. In my opinion, without the costumes, the rooms are quite empty, there wasn't that much to see in the rooms.

Unique Suggestions: Spend some time in the lovely garden

From Spring to Autumn it could happens to see some horse carts bringing tourists on the Walls and around the main squares of the city.
Well, this is, in my opinion, a big trap... it's not necessary to take a vehicle to have a tour of Lucca: the Walls are only 4 Km long and, for all the beauties they have inside, you should stop and take a picture every 100 mt; moreover the lanes are so narrow that for a tourist could be uncomfortable even a bike.
Last but not least...I don't know exactly the prices, but I think it is far from cheap to take a horse cart for an hour or more.

Fun Alternatives: If you need to be fast take a bike for Walls and main squares and go on foot for lanes.

Lucca fascinated me, being such a nice and quiet city in Tuscany, unlike some other touristy destinations we had visited the previous days such as San Gimignano and Pisa. It was a pleasure to discover this authentic Tuscan city.

But still, near the main Must See such as the Tower Guinigi and the Duomo di San Martino we found that restaurants and open door cafes may tend to be a tourist trap, as they are expensive and sometimes quality doesn't match price. So, when visiting Lucca try to drink and eat in restaurants and cafes which are not that close to the monuments, as they will take advantage of that (like any other city in the world, I guess).

The main traps here are missing all the buildings and paying too much at the restaurants at Piazza del Mercato in the heart of the old town. How can you walk by all those pretty things without noticing? I will tell you: the Italians have a thing with building things too close to eachother. So I was at the Guinigi Palace and Tower without even seeing it untill I looked up and saw a tree standing on some tower. And then I still only saw the tree and not the palace.