Four days in Milan

Getting to Milan from Paris

For this trip to Milan planned for the end of January, we had booked our plane tickets in mid-November: we had come across some rather interesting deals and jumped at the chance!

So we took the outbound flight with Alitalia, from Paris Charles-de-Gaulle, for 48€ per person, and the return with Easyjet for only 26€ per person, for a total of 74€ per person.
We could have paid even less but we wanted to land and leave from Milan Linate airport, which is about ten kilometres from the city, unlike the second airport, Malpensa, which is some fifty kilometres from Milan: keep that in mind when you book your tickets!

Getting around Milan

From Linate airport, you can take a coach (5€ per person) to reach the city centre or the 73 or X73 city bus, which will cost you a little less. We preferred to take the coach, which dropped us off directly at the Centrale station where we took a metro to reach our guest room.
In general, Milan is a city that can easily be explored on foot. There are also many trams, which run between the different points of interest in the city, as well as the metro, but we did (almost) everything on foot!

Day 1

We took advantage of staying in this neighbourhood to visit the Monumental Cemetery of Milan, which is definitely worth a look! It is a real open-air museum, with magnificent mausoleums built by architects and tombs that rival each other in grandeur. Entry is free, so don’t deprive yourself if you pass through the north of the city.

We then made our way to the Indro Montanelli gardens, home in particular to the Palazzo Dugnani and the Natural History Museum, and we set off to explore the Porta Venezia neighbourhood and its many villas.

Day 2

Between the snow in the morning and the rain in the afternoon, the weather did not spoil us that day, but that did not stop us from carrying on visiting Milan.
We started the day with Sempione Park with the Arco della Pace and the Sforza Castle. The park must be magnificent in the sunshine: one more reason to come back to Milan when the weather is nice! As for the castle, we did not expect to see such a fortress right in the city centre: there are several courtyards and many museums in the different wings of the castle, so much so that you could spend the whole day there. The gloomy, rainy weather made our visit a bit sinister, even mystical!

We visited the Chiesa di San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore: the place is magnificent even if very ornate (free entry).

We then wandered through the Magenta district and came across the Tempio della Vittoria, next to the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.

From there, to reach the famous Naviglio district in the south of the city, we passed through the Carrobio district and in particular by the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Milan.

Unfortunately the weather did not allow us to stroll along the Naviglio canals, but the walk must be very pleasant in summer when all the terraces of the bars and restaurants are open!

Day 3

As the weather was kinder on this new day, we decided to devote it to the heart of the city of Milan to discover all its must-sees. So we passed by the Basilica di San Simpliciano, the Piazza San Marco, the Piazza Carmine and the Palazzo Carmine to discover the Pinacoteca di Brera, the famous Milanese museum (the long queue put us off, so we did not visit it).

From the Pinacoteca, you are very close to Milan’s best-known district, with the Teatro alla Scala, the Monument to Leonardo da Vinci and of course the famous Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The latter is a real architectural gem and it truly dazzled us! There are a lot of people during the day: you will have to get up early if you want to take photos without the crowd. We came for the beauty of the place and not for the string of luxury boutiques sharing the gallery’s four wings.

We devoted the second part of the day to discovering the Brera and Porta Venezia districts, both very rich in heritage with many palaces and villas such as the Necchi Campiglio one, whose gardens you can visit for free, or the villa Invernizzi where pink flamingos live. Very close to Porta Venezia, you can also admire the Berri Meregallis palace, which stands out for its very Art Deco architecture. We loved wandering through these districts with their opulent, sometimes very colourful façades: Milan is a city where it feels good to stroll!

Day 4

We took advantage of this last day in Milan to go back and visit (twice) the Sforza Castle, this time without the rain! We had the same impression as on the first day: the castle is rather austere with its almost brown bricks.

Of course, we could not leave Milan without having visited its famous cathedral, the Duomo. Despite the crowd rushing onto the square, the monument keeps its majesty and we were impressed by its grandeur and all its stone details.

We bought two Duomo Pass Stairs at the ticket office (13€ each), which gave us access to the cathedral, the Saint Charles crypt, the archaeological area, the Duomo museum, the church of San Gottardo and finally, the highlight of the show, the terraces and the roofs of the Duomo. The price is not at all excessive given the number of attractions in the Pass and the fame of the monument! So we decided to visit the museum and the church in the morning: there was no queue and very few people inside the museum.

We then went up to the terraces of the Duomo, at lunchtime: there was no queue at that hour either and we were able to go straight to the stairs to climb right to the top of the cathedral. It is one of the visits we preferred during our stay in Milan, as the view from the roofs is magnificent: a must-see without any doubt!

We visited the inside of the cathedral at the end of the day, around 4pm, and we only queued for 20 minutes, compared with the two to three hours announced that very morning! So, if you can, visit the Duomo when it opens or when it closes!

The cathedral is grandiose with its tall stone columns and its sophisticated marble chequerboard floor: it is a visit not to be missed on a trip to Milan.

Our accommodation in Milan

These three nights in Milan were a Christmas gift from our parents: we had chosen to sleep in a guest house and had set our hearts on La Flavia and its La India room, with an organic breakfast (sweet and savoury), in the Garibaldi district, north of the city centre. The room and the bathroom were beautifully decorated by an architect: a real little cocoon for those chilly winter nights. The room for two people with breakfast costs 105€ a night.

Our favourite places to eat in Milan

• PIZZIUM (Via Procaccini): a delicious pizzeria near the Cimitero Monumentale with a lunch menu at 10€ (pizza and drink).
• Da Zero: a good pizzeria with modern decor and affordable prices right in the centre of Milan.
• Organic Pizza and Food: good Italian dishes in a magnificent restaurant with a vaulted room and stone walls.
• Orianna : a hushed atmosphere in this more upmarket restaurant, near the Porta Garibaldi, which offers a fairly gourmet Italian menu.
• Platina : the restaurant for pasta lovers!
• Il Prime Milano: our favourite restaurant, where we went back twice! The atmosphere is warm, the decor elegant and the dishes delicious (special mention for the burrata and its charcuterie as a starter).
• Out of the Box: delicious Italian ice creams in a very modern shop; several kinds of chocolate for connoisseurs and a favourite for the Piedmont chestnut ice cream (to be consumed without moderation even in winter)
• Chocolat : this patisserie and tea room serves a wide choice of cakes and drinks, a few steps from the castle.

What we thought of Milan

We had not heard much about Milan around us, so it was a lovely surprise! This city is very rich in heritage and that is what we liked a lot about it (and it has to be said that you always eat well in Italy). We will certainly go back another time, but in summer to enjoy the sun and the dolce vita italiana!
Do not miss out on Milan, if you are looking for a weekend idea or if you are planning to visit the lake region in northern Italy.