I'll start by saying I wasn't feeling 100% this trip with a irritating cough and very hot weather, I was not enjoying myself as much as I should have. I travelled with my boyfriend and we definitely didn't do the city justice, when we have travelled to cities before we have planned and researched what the big sites were but for Milan we sort of just turned up.
We flew into Malpensa Airport and got the Terravision transfer into the main city. I have used them in the past and would recommend them to anyone travelling in Europe. We then got a taxi out to the hotel we were staying at, The Da Vinci Hotel, which is about a 15/20 minute walk from the Comasina metro station.
The hotel was lovely, with a very large well furnished room for a very reasonable price. It is located in-between two empty buildings one looking like a car park and the other a hotel but the Da Vinci was modern and well decorated. The breakfast was included in the room price we paid and was standard for european breakfast, although some days the hot food had turned cold by the time we got there. In hindsight I would have liked to stay nearer the heart of the city as in the heat walking to the metro became a task and there wasn't much to do or eat around the hotel itself. If your looking for a low priced room and aren't bothered about the walk this would be a great option.
For travel we used the Metro every day to get in and out of the city. There were different options of buying tickets, we were travelling into the city for 3 days so bought a 2 day pass (€8.25) and a 1 day pass (€4.50). The weekly ticket confused me a bit as it only allows two 90 minute travels six days of the same week. If I was staying for longer I probably would have bought another 2 day pass. Having said that I thought the prices were quite reasonable and found the metro itself easy to navigate.
Sightseeing is where we failed on this trip, I will never go on a trip so unprepared again and have never done in the past. Having travelled to quite a few cities in the past Milan definitely didn't have as much to do as others. We found ourselves travelling to the Duomo main square every day and wondering from there. The shops are located all around this bit of the city and you can find many placed to eat here also. There are obviously much more to do other than in this area such as the castle, the multiple churches and the football stadium. We unfortunately travelled to the churches and the castle on a Monday when they were all shut so bare that in mind if your off to Milan soon.
When visiting the Duomo there are few ticket offices but it seems everyone flocks to the one to the right hand side of the cathedral. If the line is horrendous, go over the the Duomo museum to their ticket office as they sell the same things and generally the line was shorter. If you go to the Duomo website here it gives a list of all ticket prices. These range from €2 to enter the cathedral and the museum to €15 to enter all the surrounding attractions including the Duomo terraces. We went for the Duomo pass B, which included the cathedral, museum, archaeological area and terraces by foot. It also included the San Gottardo Church but we didn't get around to seeing that.
The Duomo is beautiful and reminded me a lot of St Peters cathedral in Rome. You can walk around most of the inside although some areas are blocked for worshipers only. From the inside you can access the archaeological area which is underneath the building and the cript. One word of warning for all you girlies out there, if you're there in the summer and wearing a small dress that cuts above your knee you won't get it. I made the mistake of just taking a cardigan so my shoulders were covered but unless your knees are covered they won't allow you entry. Many people were being turned away, you can buy coverups from the ticket office but I decided to buy a long skirt to put over my dress that I could take home afterwards (not my best look).
To enter the terraces there are separate entrances for foot and the lift. In our experience the foot entrance had no queue and we walked right up whereas the lift queue was quite long. If you are thinking about walking bear in mind that the staircase is used for people going up and down so can get crowded, especially in summer heat. Once your at the top though the view is beautiful, something I would definitely recommend to anyone travelling to the city. We also found the museum quite interesting, it doesn't take that long to get round and wasn't particularly busy when we went.
I would like to visit Milan again to see more of what we missed out but I would be staying in the middle of the city, going in the cooler months and buying a travel guide before we turn up. I would definitely recommend it if you're looking for a short city break. If your visiting the city soon my biggest recommendation would be the ice-cream, it's beautiful.
If you have any questions let me know in the comments.
Thanks for reading! :)
