Milan

Visited: 27-30th of May 2025

Preparation time

• Travel documents

EU-citizens: Valid national ID-card 
Other countries: Valid passport valid 3 months after stay 

(* please check with your own local government or embassy for most recent updates)

• Airport transfer

Please note that Milan has 3 different airports, please keep this in mind and check the price differences between airports.

Milan Malpensa (MXP) : Located a good 50 minutes drive (45 Km) outside the city center. Taxi's can get expensive depending on your time of day and the amount of travelers / events in the city. For public transportation, you might need to take a special airport transfer bus (+- 10 EUR single way per person) 

Milan Linate (LIN): Located only 7 Km from the city center, with a direct metro connection (without surcharge) to the city center.
If there is not a big price difference with MXP, I definitely suggest flying Linate. You will save travel time and money.

Milan Bergamo (BGY): Located 50 Km from city center. Budget airlines mainly fly here. Again, it's cheaper but make sure you have a sufficient budget and as well some travel time allocated for the travel to Milan and back... 

• Booking accommodation

Whenever possible, book as early as possible. Prices can double or triple in a few weeks time, depending on demand and availability. I've booked numerous hotels and hostels which ended up doubling in price between my booking date and my actual dates of stay, if I would have made a booking later.

Always book the option with free-cancellation if you book ahead. You can always cancel / modify later if needed or if a better deal presents itself.

I stayed in a hostel for my Milan-trip as I booked literally less than 24h before travelling, and due to a bank holiday weekend hotel rooms were not in my price range anymore.

Madama Hostel & Bistrot
Via Benaco 1, Ripamonti Corvetto, 20139 Milaan, Italië

Roomtype booked: Single bed in a 8-bedroom female dormitory (with shared, in-room bathroom)

My review score: 9/10 (Clean rooms, central location, free breakfast offered, nice bar and terrace) 

Link: https://www.booking.com/hotel/it/madama-hostel-amp-bistrot.en-gb.html

• Weather check

This one might seem obvious but you would be surprised how many travelers don't check before travelling. I am going to Italy so it will be sunny and warm is an understandable, first thought. Please note that you might have smaller rain showers and depending the time of year / season, there can be quite a bit of differences in temperatures / wind...

My visit of Milan

Day 1 (evening)

I arrived at Milan Linate at around 6.30 PM and I was pleasantly surprised how easy the connection with the city center was. I purchased a 72-hours ticket for all metros/trams/busses for +- 15 EUR and immediately took the metro into the city center. This was by far one of the easiest, quickest connections from an airport to the city that I've done so far. 

I got out at 'Dome', immediately got the best view and wandered around 2-3 blocks to find a restaurant to eat, as obviously around the Dome you pay extra and they don't tend to like offering tables to single-diners. 

Stopped at 'Restaurant Granaio Cordusio' which had a lovely terrace outside and had the 'Pasta al forno della nonna' which was amazing, together with some fresh bread with salt and olive oil. An amazing start of my visit to Milan. 

Please note in Milan you often pay a service charge for your dinner on top of the meal price. It's often +- 3-6 EUR from what I saw that you need to add to your bill / meal price.

After dinner I went to the hostel to drop off my luggage and as it was only 15 minutes away from the center, I then went back into the center and walked around a bit, ending up at the Sforzesco Castle, which was beautifully quiet and lovely at night. 

Day 2

I started the day with an early 9.30 AM visit of the Dome. I always try to book my visits to monuments etc. as early as possible, hoping to be ahead of the crowds as well as during the less warm part of day.

The visit starts with a walk to the roofs of the Dome (by elevator or by walking), following by an internal visit of the Dome.

Views were amazing as we had a quite clear blue sky and even inside the dome there was not too much of a crowd. I was very impressed by the colours and details of the stained-glass windows of the Church. It’s one of my favorite forms of art as you can really see the amount of work, detail and passion one puts in there and they were just stunning.

As ‘regular’ the rest of the church is, the outside building details and the stained-glass windows make it a masterpiece of art that one definitely can’t miss when visiting.

Domo: Price 22 EUR (stairs + church), prebooking online possible
Duration of visit: +- 1.30 hour

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

As this is situated just next to the entry of the dome, this is the obvious second place to visit in Milan. This indoor little shopping area is full of all the luxury boutiques of Milan and is famous from movies etc. A quick walk trough is a must, just know the place is always crowded during the day.

Just next to the galleria you will find one of the famous places in Milan for Fried Panzeroti, which I would kind of describe as small calzone pizza. It’s famous and there is often a big line, however staff orders quickly so the waiting time is not as bad as one would think. I ordered one regular ‘tomato mozzarella’ as all the Italians before me ordered this one… I was like ‘Is that not very plain?’ but in all honestly, this one was way tastier than the one with olives that I also took. Not bad either, but the tomato mozzarella was just on another level. For 3 EUR per piece you can’t do wrong, I would definitely add a ‘dessert’ one too to my next visit.

Luini Panzerotti
Via Santa Radegonda, 16, 20121 Milano MI, Italy

After this I just wandered around a bit in the city, just walking where the crowds and my eyes take me. I ended up having a gelato at ‘Ciaccio’ as again, many Italians were going inside. They definitely had some less common flavours and the gelato was very good, not overly sweet or sticky.

Ciaccio
Via Spadari, 13, 20123 Milano MI, Italy

I ended up taking public transportation to Darsena, a lovely neighbourhood with a canal and lots of bars and restaurants. I had read online that you can take an older tram line ‘tram 10’ and go from here until the central station, crossing by several nice areas.

After walking around in the Darsena area, I took tram 10 and stopped at Arco della Pace, a large archway that basically also marks the beginning of the ‘Sempione Parc’.

I ended up staying a few hours in this lovely ‘Sempione Parc’, sitting on a bench, enjoying people walk by, watching a series on my phone and taking a bit of sunshine with me. Also a warm welcome for my legs and feet to rest a bit.

I ended up taking the tram 10 again to Chinatown, as I just wanted a quick bite and an easy stroll. I felt my body was warning me for tiredness / a fibromyalgia flair up so I did not want to risk it. After this, I took metro and tram back to the hostel, after a very fulfilled day.

Day 3

Day 3 started with a relaxing, very delicious breakfast on the hostels terrace, followed by a walk trough Brera, one of the areas that many describe as one of the prettiest areas of the city. I strolled a bit trough the area, took some lovely pics and had a nice stop for a coffee and had a small dessert.

Later, I walked up to Sforzesco Castle where I took a tour around it and trough the garden, before going over to the Sempione Parc again. It’s one of these things with chronic illnesses, one has to listen to its body. But I didn’t mind that much as it had plenty of lovely area’s to discover and lovely benches everywhere. 

I ended up doing some shopping in the main city center to end the trip well and had a lovely pizza for dinner to end my holidays, knowing I needed an early rise the next morning for my 8 AM flight back to Brussels.