Is milan worth visiting? oh yes, our 2 days itinerary [Italy]

Milan is a amazing city located in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. It is the second largest city in the country. This incredible city should be included in any Italy itinerary.

If the city is known for being a fashion capital (like Paris, London and New York), it also offers many points of interest. During your stay you can explore the famous Duomo Cathedral of Milan, the Vittorio Emanuele Gallery, the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie with Last Supper of Leonardo Da Vinci…

We give you below our 2 days itinery with our selection of best museums and things to see and do, with all tips to plan your visit, how to get to Milan? how to get your tickets? things to know before you go ?… to help you during your stay in Milan!

1. Things to do in Milan : visit Duomo Cathedral, Vittorio Emanuele gallery, fashion week…

Milan is a city with many facets, whatever your desires, once you are there, you will spend an unforgettable stay. We loved Milan for its cultural offer, its many museums, for its gastronomy and for its pleasant atmosphere .

Wondering what to do in Milan during your stay? We give you our itinerary and all our tips in the following article. Milan is also the gateway to the beautiful Lake Como, if you have time do not miss this little paradise.

Activities to book in advance

Before your departure, you can book your tour to leave in all serenity and not lose time once on the spot:

• Your ticket to the Duomo and the panoramic terrace (stairs or elevator), a must in Milan
  
• Your entrance ticket, only, for the panoramic terrace (staircase or elevator), if you wish to fully enjoy this incredible place.
  
• Guided tour of the Cathedral of Milan, it’s a 1h30 visit with access to the Duomo and the panoramic terrace, for a very attractive price knowing that the entrance tickets are included
  
• 1 day at Lake Como and its most beautiful villages (Como, Bellagio and Varenna) from Milan

2. How to get to Milan?

The city is surrounded by 3 airports:

• Malpensa airport:  you can reach the city center by taking a train to Cadorna (ticket price 11€). Then you can reach your hotel by public transport (ticket price 1.50€ valid for 90 minutes)
  
• Bergamo airport (Orio al Serio):  is the furthest from Milan, you can take a bus to the beautiful Stazione Centrale – Milan’s train station (ticket price 5€), located in the center, and then you can move around by public transport. 
  
• At Linate airport, you can reach the San Babila metro station by bus with lines 73 and X73 (price of a public transport ticket 1,5€).

3. When to go to Milan, weather forecast:

Average temperatures fluctuate between 6 degrees in January and 31 degrees in July and August. We therefore recommend spring with its mild temperatures and the summer back season. July and August are also possible, if you like the heat, knowing that many accommodations are air-conditioned in Milan.

We left in May, we had 3 days of sunshine and mild temperatures.

4. Our 2 days itinerary

Day 1: Start with the must-sees, visit the Duomo of Milan and The Vittorio Emanuele Gallery

The Duomo of Milan literally means “church of the Duomo”. It is in fact a Gothic cathedral that has no rival in Italy! Built in the 10th century and completely destroyed by fire in 1095, it was rebuilt during the Renaissance, then renovated between the 20th and 21st centuries. It is a majestic building that is really worth a visit, anyway, given its impressive size and its location in the heart of the city, you can not miss it.

We advise you to go there early, as soon as it opens at 9am (check again during your stay), to avoid the crowd of tourists. There are several options for visiting the Duomo.

We advise you to take the visit of the terraces, it is absolutely magnificent, you will be able to admire the cathedral more closely as well as admire a panoramic view of the city.

The terraces are accessible either by stairs or by elevator, the entrance ticket (stairs or elevator access) from 13€.

We chose for a few euros more entrance ticket, grouped, cut-file, which gives access to the cathedral, the terraces (on foot or by elevator at your choice), the Duomo Museum, the archaeological area and the church of San Gottardo, for the price of 16.5€.

The interior is also very interesting, you can admire a sumptuous facade where pink dominates and absolutely sublime stained glass windows.

Next, you can explore the Duomo Museum of Milan is a cultural institution that was opened in 2003. It is located under the Duomo church and houses many of the cathedral’s artifacts, as well as works by contemporary artists.

As you can see, this cathedral is really a must-see when visiting Milan.

After this busy morning, it is time to eat and try the local gastronomy. (our good addresses at the end of the article)

Then you can continue your visit of the neighborhood with the Vittorio Emanuele Gallery. It is a sublime place to see absolutely to admire this architectural prowess of the XIXth century.

We admired thehuge glass roof and the magnificent dome, as well as the mosaics on the floor. The gallery is home to many restaurants and luxury stores (Armani, Prada…), obviously we did not buy anything there. We just crossed this covered passage, from the Duomo square to the Scala theater.

Our tip: we went back the next morning very early, in order to enjoy the gallery before the stores opened and the crowd arrived.

Day 2: free walking tour and Brera district

When we don’t know a city at all, as you surely know, we go and discover it with a “Free walking tour“. We had discovered this type of tour during our trip around the world, we had never been disappointed.

We love to learn historical, cultural, architectural information… from a local guide who usually gives a lot of good addresses to eat or drink. In short, we love this type of tour. Let’s go for 2 hours to walk around the city and get a lot of information. In summary the main rulings:

• RDV Piazza del Duomo
• Basilique San Nazaro in Brolo
• Université « Statale »
• Piazza del Duomo, 
• Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
• Piazza Scala
• Piazza Mercanti (Italian stock exchange) 

We advice you to book your ticket for free, you can choose your date and hour, meeting point Piazza del Duomo (in the middle of the city).

After a delicious meal, as always in Italy, we strolled through the streets of Brera, the oldest district of Milan. We admired the colorful facades of the Milanese houses.

You can also take the opportunity to go for a walk on via Montenapoleone, the street for shopping. If you come to Milan to buy new clothes, then you will find your happiness in this pedestrian street.

Day 3: Cycle around the city, Sforzesco Castle (Sforza), Santa Maria delle Grazie “The Last Supper”, the columns of San Lorenzo and the Navigli district

For this last day, we rented bicycles to reach the remote points we had on our to-do list. The city of Milan is perfectly suited for cycling. It is completely lined with bike paths that allow you to crisscross this city from end to end.

We used Bike mi, the city bikes, it’s an economical way to travel as always, the daily subscription is 4,5€ (weekly 9€), while the subway ticket is 2,00€ for 90 minutes.

It’s quite simple everything is done online, after paying your subscription, you immediately receive by e-mail the user code and password that you enter in any station to retrieve a bike. After that, the first half hour is free, then it’s 0,50€ every 30 minutes.

Here is the itinerary we followed:

• 1 – Sforza Castle, it is located at the end of Via Dante, the main shopping street starting from the Duomo. This huge castle contrasts with the modernity of Milan. It has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. Famous artists such as Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo participated in its reconstruction. Today, it houses several museums.
  
  ➡️ Book, in advance, Your ticket to the Sforza Castle with digital audio guide

• 2. The convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, which houses the world-famous fresco of“The Last Supper“, painted by Leonardo da Vinci himself. The price to see this famous and inescapable work, is 15€ to stay there 15 minutes (to preserve the work), it is absolutely necessary to reserve in advance (except in very low season December and January).
  
  ➡️Our recommendation: book your guided tour of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, it ‘s an ideal visit to know the details and anecdotes related to this masterpiece, for an interesting price, with skip the line tickets, are included, you won’t have to deal with it
  

• 3. The Church of San Lorenzo Maggiore dates back to the 4th century and is therefore the oldest in Milan. Dedicated to the Christian martyr St. Lawrence, the church was built with the remains of other Roman sites. The interior of the church is decorated with beautiful mosaics and marble. In front of the church you will find the sixteen columns of San Lorenzo.

• 4. Navigli district: you are bound to fall under the spell of this picturesque district, crossed by artificial canals, the Navigli. We recommend you to follow the canals and admire the many restaurants and stores.

5. Our good addresses of restaurants in Milan:

In Milan, no surprise, we ate very well! We recommend :

• Pasto – Laboratorio di pasta con cucina, is a small restaurant offering delicious pasta near the Duomo.
• Pizzium – Via Vigevano: it is one of the best pizza, the ingredients are fresh and everything is prepared by hand! A must-see during your visit to the Navigli district.
• Flower Burgeur in the district of Breda, they are simply excellent, we enjoyed ourselves as often in Italy!
• OGGI Gelato Milano: very good ice creams and original flavor! A must-see during your stay in Milan.

6. Our best hotels

Don’t hesitate to stay in Milan: opt for the city center near the Duomo! This allows you to visit a large part of the city on foot. The city is full of sublime hotels.

7. What to do arround ? go to incredible Como Lake

If you wish to continue your stay in Italy, we strongly recommend that you visit Lake Como. Located less than 1 hour from Milan. We were enchanted by the beauty of this place.

How to get to Como Lake from Milan:

➡️You can rent a car, to compare the prices of rentals we advise you the site RentalCars. To give you an idea of the price, we found a car for 50€ for 4 days through Hertz (in April).

➡️Youcan book 1 day at Lake Como and its most beautiful villages (Como, Bellagio and Varenna) organized from Milan.

Have a great trip ! This article help you ? Feel free to leave us a review below, ask any question, leave us 5 stars or share on social media (our Instagram) we will answer you with pleasure.