Travel to Milano No No
Travel Tips for Milan
Avoid arriving on a Sunday! Lots of tourists will be arriving to catch their flights, and the trains entering Milan will be packed.
The 3-day metro pass is only €13 and worth every penny!
Avoid the Milan City Pass and Milano Card - we were about 30 seconds away from buying the City Pass, but after reading reviews online, the consensus is that it's a major scam. The bad reviews are of course not shown on the company website, so be sure to do your research before committing!
Get the earliest Duomo entrance tickets you can. The time on your ticket can be when you enter the Duomo or the terraces. We did the Duomo first because that fills up a lot quicker than the terraces. Keep in mind that once you leave the Duomo or the terraces to visit the other you can’t return on the same ticket.
If you want to see The Last Supper, you need to book your tickets online months in advance. We didn’t get them early enough and refused to pay resale prices that were 3x the original cost.
Our Time in Milan
Day 0: Our journey to Milan was not a pleasant experience. We went from Manarola to La Spezia, to Parma, and finally to Milan. The 2-hour train ride from Parma to Milan was the most crowded form of public transportation we've ever been on. Not sure if Trenitalia oversold the journey, but every single car was stuffed with people and luggage similar to this. Next time, we won't be going to a city with a major airport on a Sunday afternoon. Tired and stiff, we had to take out our travel annoyances on a pizza! We grabbed a quick dinner at Spontini and were surprised at how different the pizza here was than in Rome. A thicker crust, still good, but different. You'll only need one slice here, the servings are generous. We ordered two each and both had that extra stuffed feeling that’s not always great.
Day 1: We arrived to a weather forecast of rain for the next 5 days, with the sunniest day being Tuesday. Excellent. We decided to use our best weather day to explore Lake Como and spent our first full day exploring the city. This is the first destination on our trip that is new to both of us, so we took the morning to wander the streets, take in the shops, use our €7.60, 24-hour metro pass the most we could. We grabbed lunch at Zia Esterina Sorbollo, where they fry pizza into a cone in front of you for added pizzazz! We wandered the shopping district called the Golden Triangle over the afternoon and grabbed gelato at Pave. They used all natural ingredients making it extra delicious.
The rain hit right around this time, so we tried to hide in the metro while we went back to the train station for dinner at the Central Market. There are lots of stalls to choose from, so we shared a cacio e pepe pasta dish & our first risotto. Both were fine, but we wouldn't be returning. For the prices, you can get better tasting food elsewhere.
Day 2: Off to Lake Como! Staying in the small towns here can be expensive, so we made a day trip out of it.
Lake Como was our favorite part of visiting Milan - we made an Instagram post all about our day, prices, ferry and train options! The weather was excellent, the views were amazing, and our 3 hour ferry ride down Lake Como was full of colorful towns and the phrase "how did they build that??" at least half a dozen times. For dinner we grabbed pizza at Berbere. This was when I formally decided that Milan doesn't believe in pizza the same way Rome and Florence do. The cheese and sauce combo reminded me of Cici's, while the crust was still far superior. So far, the food scene in Milan is leaving something to be desired.
Day 3: Bad news. Flix bus canceled our bus ride through the Mont Blanc tunnel, so our hike, the Tour De Mont Blanc, needs to be rescheduled. We (read as: Michael) spent the majority of the morning trying to reschedule mountain huts, find information on the tunnel closure, and get refunds where possible. More to come on that later in a later blog post...
We spent the rest of the day at the Leonardo Technology Museum, where we learned about every form of technology ever invented. Didn't realize there was such a thing as too much information in a museum, but there is, and we found it. Well worth the entry cost, but probably okay to skip. Grabbed a drink at Camparino in Galleria, currently the #72 best bar in the world. Each of the menu drinks was fun and funky! And Michael's standard order, his Sazerac, was one of the best we've ever had. For dinner, both officially over the pizza vibes of Milan, we went to Gastronomia Yamamoto for some Japanese Italian fusion food. Highly recommend! It was fresh and clean and we will be looking for more Asian food tomorrow for sure.
Day 4: We booked a 9am entry tour for the Milan Duomo with access to walk up to the terraces. We highly recommend that option, you get up close and personal with the Duomo in a way that's really special. We spent the morning and early afternoon taking in the world's 3rd largest church and attached museum. Make sure you visit both! The museum is where the original pieces of the facade are housed. After our standard afternoon shower & siesta, we made our way to the south side of town where they have their own version of a river walk! Honestly, it's hard to window shop and go browsing through shops and stalls when we know everything we buy, we'll have to carry on our backs for another 2.5 months. After looking longingly at some dresses, we arrived at dinner, Li-sei Deli. This time Korean food, but just as wonderful.
Summary: Milan was fun to visit, but the only reason we'll be returning is to see Da Vinci's The Last Supper. The actual Italian food wasn't our thing, and the city is overtaken by pigeons. It seemed a little fancier than the Italy we're used to, and honestly made us miss Rome.
Peace out ✌🏾 until the next time Michael lets me write one of these bad boys.
