First thing, which airline (and therefore which airport)? Some of the budget carriers use Bergamo and call it Milan, which is not necessarily a bad thing because it gives other destination options such as Verona or Lake Garda.

I've never given Milan much time because of the traffic chaos and pollution but others say it's interesting. I hope you've spent more on your wardrobe than the flight because Milan is the style capital of Europe, if not the world!

bergamo is the airport we will fly to! all idea of where to go once we land will be much appreciated, even if it ain't milan itself, all advice welcome!!!

Bergamo airport's Surface Transport info shows how to get from the airport in various directions and ways.

There is a slightly dated report of a visit to Milan and Bergamo in the City Breaks forum. The official Milan tourism site doesn't seem to be available in English.

Verona (Shakespeare etc..) is 1h 50 away by train, Brescia and Lake Garda are a bit closer.

If you don't know the area at all then staying in Bergamo would give you more usable time on the ground at less cost and you could visit one or two of the other places. But if you want the clubs Milan would probably be the place - but dress to impress!

Milan receives a lot of criticism as its not the typical Tourist destination, however, I spent 3 nights there in February and had a great time and am going again in mid-January 08.

From Bergamo, the cheapest and most efficient way of travelling is the Terravision coach - about 14 Euro return journey, travelling every 30mins/ hour each way. Theres a ticket kiosk in the arrivals hall or you can book online. Coaches are just outside the main exit and will take you direct to Milan's central station.

From the central station, a 75min metro ride will cost 1 Euro [simple to understand the lines and directions, download a map before you travel] Make sure you stamp the ticket in the machine at the start of any journey.

Alternatively, a taxi is reasonable. Think it cost us 10 Euros to get from central station to via santa sofia - where the excellent Hotel Canada is situated, can highly recommend it. Just 5-10min walk along Corso Italia to the Duomo, or a 10 min walk to the Navilgli area. Definitely recommend it http://www.canadahotel.it/eng/posizione.htm

If your boyfriends loves football, see if Inter or AC milan are playing and book tickets. Highly recommended.

Book tickets in advance for 'The Last supper'. Even if not interested in art, you cant really goto Milan and not see it. An hour of your time wandering up to the Church [Santa Maria delle Grazie]. Book tickets in advance at - http://www.cenacolovinciano.it/html/hp.htm

Do walk past the church to the Biffi cafe for a Espresso or breakfast!

Enjoy Espresso's all over Milan, stand at the counter and enjoy.

Walk the stairs of the Duomo, have lunch in the rooftop restaurant at Rinescente [dept store] opposite the Duomo.

Then of course, if you love designer labels, you'll love Milan. Usual stores around the Duomo, Galleria, Via Monte Napoleone and side streets, Corso Venezia etc. Also all around Milan are little shopping areas that stock many of the big brands. Advise of any labels you like and people on here or tripadvisor will point you in the right direction. Italian brands are roughly 30% cheaper than the UK.

As for nightlife, we struggled in all honesty to sit in a good bar and enjoy the night. They are spread far and wide, even the Navigli area [although busy] was random in the number of bars. Same with the Brera district [theres about 4/5 'bars']. Some good restaurants about though, even a good Indian and a good Italian called Bio Pizza on Corso Italia.

you have to take a day trip to the lakes, grab the train up to laveno and hop on the ferry..... lots to see and do,

You could also visit Lake Como - about one hour by train from Milan - there are two ways of getting there by train - one the private line to Como Nord (opposite the boat terminus) and the state line to Como St Giovanni - about 15 mins walk to the lake. Como is beautiful and the trips on the lake are divine if the water is calm!

Northern

Off to Milan this weekend and deffo want to see the Last Supper but not sure of what time we will fit it in.

Is it possible to turn up and book at the entrance? And then return later? Or just touch lucky and get in?

TIA

Becky67

There may be cancellations, not sure, best to book with the website I listed above.

Visited Milan last weekend Thurs - Sun/ 6th December - 9th December

Northern - Thanks for the tips - very useful.

Landed at Milan/Bergamo - airport used by ryanair and other low-cost airlines. Transfer with Terravision no problem at all - €14 return and took approx 50mins.

Stayed at Best western Felice Casati which was ideally placed - 15 min walk from Central station so easy to find and equally important easy to walk back to station for early return pick up. The hotel was 5 mins from Corso Buenos Aires - a large shopping area but more importantly 5 mins to Metro station of Porta Venizia. The hotel was very good and ideal as a base for the time we visited - seemed to have been recently renovated and had good English speaking staff.

The public transport system was excellent - reliable and extremely cheap. A day ticket cost €3 for 24 hour ticket valid on all trains;; metro services; trams and buses. 4 metro stops from Porta Venizia to Duomo and 6 to the Last Supper.

We called early to make enquiries to see the Last Supper as we did not have tickets/reservations and were fortunate to get a cancellation. Magnificient and a must see. The castle was bustling with activity and was surrounded by a Christmas market. The Duomo was likewise an experience.

I would suggest that if you are going to visit any major attraction in Milan then try to do it on a Friday as certainly the queue for the Duomo was 4 or 5 times longer on a very busy Saturday.

Northern had reccomended luch at Rinascente department store overlooking the Duomo and it's Piazza - an excellent idea but one with which the Milanese are familiar. We tried twice but the eating areas were full with some quite long queues!!

La Scala opened it's Winter season and there was a lot of media activity in that area ( The leading tenor was a Geordie - Ian Storey - people were suggesting he is quite good but I have no idea)

Took the tour bus on Saturday that runs from in front of the Duomo. There are two routes - with some overlapping in the middle section - but your ticket of €20 covered both routes for 24 hours. It was probably worth doing and gave you an idea of the spread out nature of the City centre.

There isn't really a central "drinking" area as such and that maybe considered a good thing.

The restaurant reccomended by Northern - Bio Pizza on Corso Italia was excellent both in quality and value. We also had an excellent Chinese in a very small Restaurant "Xa Din" on Via Vetruvio - not much to look at from the outside but very nice food.

All in all We did enjoy the city of Milan, but it certainly is a working City with tourism and history about it but certainly nothing like the charm or feel of say Venice.

If anyone has any questions please let me know and I will try to help.

Becky

Thanks for the great report

Biff

Just returned from another break in Milano for my birthday.

Again stayed at the Hotel Canada, and I have to say it is even better after its refurbishment. Simple modern designed furniture, with wooden floors and new bathrooms. Highly recommend this hotel to anyone visiting Milan! Located on the via Santa Sofia [5-10min walk to the Duomo, and also a 5-10 min walk to the Navigli].

Ate the first night at a restaurant to the north side of the Duomo that appears to be favoured by the locals. Cant remember name, but was quite good. 2nd night, and my birthday, we returned to Bio Pizza on Corso Italia - excellent service and food! Hardly anyone in here speaks English, so it makes it more fun for those of us that speak little Italian.

No touristy recommendations this time, just a quick break with a bit of shopping [Belstaff and Ermenegildo Zegna ], plenty of good, simple food, wine, ice cream and Espresso's.

Like the poster said above, I stayed for a while in Milan and the traffic was chaos so I definitely wouldnt recommend driving anywhere!