Planning a Trip

Getting There

By Train -- Milan is one of Europe's busiest rail hubs, with connections to all major cities on the Continent. Trains arrive and depart about every half-hour to and from Venice (2 1/2 hr.), hourly to and from Rome (4 hr.), and hourly to and from Florence (2 hr.). Stazione Centrale, a vast structure of Fascist-era design, is about a half-hour walk northeast of the center, with easy connections to Piazza del Duomo by Metro, tram, and bus. The station stop on the Metro is Centrale F.S.; it is only 10 minutes (and 1€) away from the Duomo stop, in the heart of the city. If you want to see something of the city en route, take the no. 60 bus from the station to Piazza del Duomo. If you walk (a good half-hour), follow Via Pisani through the district of high-rise office buildings that have sprung up around the station in the past several decades to the equally cheerless Piazza della Repubblica, and from there continue south on busy Via Turati and Via Manzoni to Piazza del Duomo.

Chances are, you will arrive at Stazione Centrale, but some trains serve Milan's other train stations: Cadorna (with service to and from Como and Malpensa airport, for example), Stazione Lambrate (with service to and from Bergamo and other points east), and Porta Garibaldi (with service to and from Lecco and other points north). Conveniently, all three of these stations, along with Stazione Centrale, are on the same subway line: Linea 2, the green one.

By Bus -- Given Milan's excellent rail links with other cities in Lombardy and throughout Italy, it's usually unnecessary to travel by long-distance buses, which tend to take longer and cost more than the trains do. If you choose to travel by intercity bus, expect to arrive at and depart from Autostradale, in front of the Castello Sforzesco on Piazza Castello (Metro: Cairoli). The ticket office is open daily 6:30am to 9:30pm (tel. 166-845-010 is a special toll number for which you are charged .30€ a minute). A few common runs are the 12 daily buses to and from Turin (2 1/2 hr.) and, for Milanese ski and outdoor enthusiasts, the two daily buses (more in the winter) to and from the hard-to-reach-by-train Aosta (allow 3 1/2 hr.).

By Car -- Milan is well served by Italy's superhighway (autostrada) system. The A1 links Milan with Florence and Rome (Florence is a little over 3 hr. away by car, Rome is a little under 6 hr.), and the A4 connects Milan with Verona and Venice to the east and Turin to the west (Venice is about 2 1/2 hr. from Milan by car; Turin is a little over 1 hr.). Driving and parking in Milan are not experiences to be relished, and much of the central city is closed to traffic. Many hotels make parking arrangements for guests; ask when you reserve a room.

By Plane -- Both of Milan's major airports are operated by SEA (tel. 02-7485-2200; www.sea-aeroportimilano.it).

Milan Malpensa, 45km (28 miles) northwest of the center, is Milan's major international airport and an important hub for southern Europe. When it was unveiled in 2000, it was crowned worst major airport in Europe by the continent's official oversight committee in terms of flight delays and convenience, and while many of the kinks have been worked out since then, it's home to Alitalia and its strike-prone staff. (For general information about Malpensa, call tel. 02-7485-2200.) Conveniently, a 40-minute express train heads half-hourly to Cadorna train station, which is, frankly, just as central as the so-named Stazione Centrale. Then there are the Malpensa shuttle buses, which will take you directly to Centrale in 50 minutes without traffic. The train, known as Malpensa Express (tel. 02-8511-4382 or 199-151-152), costs 11€, while two bus companies run a combined five times per hour (Malpensa Shuttle tel. 02-5858-3185 or Malpensa Bus Express tel. 02-3391-0794), and cost 7.50€. The buses may be cheaper, but you run the risk of hitting the legendary traffic of the Northern 'burbs. By taxi, the trip into town costs a wallet-stripping 75€, but it's the best choice when you are running late and it's not rush hour, or else after midnight, when it is indeed the only choice.

Milan Linate, only 7km (4 1/4 miles) east of the center, handles some European flights and many domestic flights. Call tel. 02-7485-2200 for information. Starfly (tel. 02-5858-7237) runs from Linate to Stazione Centrale every 30 minutes from 6am to 10pm; allow 30 minutes for the trip. Purchase tickets (4.50€) on the bus. You can also take a city bus, no. 73, to and from Linate, from the southeast corner of Piazza San Babila, a few blocks east of the Duomo (1€). The trip into town by taxi costs about 18€ to 20€.

Malpensa Shuttle buses (tel. 02-5858-3185) also connect Malpensa and Linate about every 2 hours from 9:30am to 4:30pm. The trip takes 1 1/4 hours and costs 10€.

Budget-minded flyers should consider a third option, Orio Al Serio (www.orioaeroporto.it) airport. Located just outside Bergamo and about an hour from Milan, Orio al Serio is a hub for discount airline Ryanair and a number of other budget airlines. Direct buses run to and from Stazione Centrale several times an hour.

Visitor Information

The main Azienda di Promozione Turistica (APT) tourist office is on the north side of Piazza del Duomo at the corner of Via Silvio Pellico (tel. 02-7740-4343; www.visitamilano.it). Hours are Monday to Saturday from 8:45am to 1pm and 2 to 6pm, Sunday from 9am to 1pm and 2 to 5pm. There is also an office in Stazione Centrale (tel. 02-7740-4318), open Monday to Saturday 9am to 6pm, and Sunday 9am to 1pm and 2 to 5pm.

These offices issue free maps, museum guides, hotel and restaurant listings, and a wealth of other useful information, including the free Milano Mese. The Piazza del Duomo APT office recently installed a computer that lets you download audio guides -- in English and Italian -- via Bluetooth to your cellphone, which you can listen to while you are walking around town. The free monthly events brochure Hello Milano (www.hellomilano.it) and expatriate monthly EasyMilano all have listings of museum exhibitions, performances, and other events.

City Layout

Think of Milan as a series of concentric circles radiating from the Piazza del Duomo at the center. Within the inner circle, once enclosed by the city walls, are many of the churches, museums, and shops that will consume your visiting hours. For a general overview of the lay of the land, obtain one of the serviceable maps, with indices, that the tourist offices provide for free.

The city's major neighborhoods encircle the hub, Piazza del Duomo. Looking west from the Duomo, you can see the imposing Castello Sforzesco at one end of the well-heeled Magenta neighborhood. You can walk to the Castello in about 15 minutes by following first Piazza dei Mercanti or Via Orefici to Piazza Cordusio and, from there, Via Dante. The other major tourist draw in Magenta is the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie; to reach it, you'll leave Via Dante at Via Meravigli, which becomes Corso Magenta and leads to the church (total walking time from Piazza del Duomo to the church is about 20 min.).

Heading north from the Piazza del Duomo, walk through the glass-enclosed shopping center (the world's first), the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Emerging from the northern end of the Galleria, you'll be just steps away from Piazza della Scala and Milan's famous opera house. A 5-minute walk northeast along Via Manzoni takes you to Via Montenapoleone and the city's high-fashion shopping district, the epicenter of Italian design. A walk of about 10 minutes north of Piazza della Scala along Via Brera brings you into the atmospheric Brera neighborhood -- once home to the city's brothels, which has gentrified over the last 3 or 4 decades -- where cobblestone streets and old palazzi surround the city's major art collection, the Pinacoteca di Brera.

Another neighborhood to set your sights on is Ticinese/Navigli, usually referred to by the last word in that combination, which translates as "canals." Beyond the central city and due south of Piazza del Duomo, the Navigli's old quays follow what remains of an elaborate canal system, designed in part by Leonardo da Vinci, that once laced through the city. The moody charm of these waterways is not lost on young Milanese who are converting old lofts and moving into former quarters of the working classes. The attendant bars, shops, and restaurants on the ground floors have appeared to serve their needs, making this a great neighborhood to head to for dinner and then stay for the nightlife (it's also the only bit of town open through Aug, when cars are banned and all the eateries and bars move tables outside to fill the boisterous quays). You can walk to the Navigli in about 30 minutes from Piazza del Duomo by following Via Torino southwest to Corso di Porta Ticinese, but a Metro ride to Porta Genova will get you there more quickly.

Getting Around

An extensive subway system (Metropolitana Milanese), trams, and buses make it very easy to move around Milan. The Metro closes at midnight (1am on Sat nights); buses and trams run all night. Tickets good for one Metro ride (or 1 1/4 hr. of surface transportation) cost 1€. You can also purchase a ticket good for unlimited travel for 1 day (3€) or 2 days (5.50€). Tickets are available at Metro stations and at newsstands. Stamp your ticket when you board a bus or tram -- you can be slapped with a hefty fine if you don't. For information about Milan public transportation, visit the ATM information office in the Duomo Metro stop, open Monday through Saturday 7:45am to 7:15pm (tel. 800-808-181; www.atm-mi.it).

Milan on Two Wheels -- The city began a bike-sharing program at the end of 2008 that, though directed at locals and commuters, can actually provide an excellent way for tourists to see more of the city. For 2.50€ a day and 6€ a week, you can buy a pass that gives you unlimited use of the bikes for 30-minute increments. You pick up a bike in one of the many racks around town and leave it at another. Buy your pass at the ATM offices at the Duomo Metro stop or at the Centrale and Cadorna train stations (tel. 800-80-8181). Milan has also managed to cut down on traffic by instituting a fee for cars to enter the city center during the day from Monday to Friday.