Back in 2019 I visited Italy for the first time, and ended up making two trips in the year – to Milan and Rome. Both were pretty quick stops hence the title ‘Weekend Diaries’, so today I’m sharing my quick time spent in Milan back in May 2019 and I can’t believe these two years have gone by so fast!
Day 1 – PM
I arrived into Milan just after lunchtime and took a train into the city, immediately I was hit with heat and amazement at the architecture of even just the central train station, the grandeur is stunning! I would never have guessed it was a train station just by looking at the outside. I stayed a five minute walk from the train station, as I needed to get back there pretty early to catch a train to Switzerland for a conference after my couple of days in Milan, but it was a pretty convenient location and the hotel (the Four Points by Sheraton Milan Centre) was very nice and fulfilled everything I needed. I dropped off my luggage and headed out to enjoy the city! I didn’t make any set plans for this first day just in case my travel schedule was delayed or there were any issues, but luckily everything went smoothly to start my trip. First up was visiting the Navigli area of the city where there are a series of canals – this popped up regularly in my searches online for things to do and also looked good in my guidebook, so I headed to see for myself. It did seem quite a tourist-orientated area, but perhaps I didn’t stray far enough from the beaten track! But it was still very pretty, I love brightly coloured buildings so I can see why the area is popular.
At Navigli I bought some sorbet and ate it whilst I ambled the streets of the area and then towards the main centre enjoying the architecture and landmarks on the way. It’s not particularly warm in Scotland in May, so going from that to 30 degrees was quite the contrast so I was soaking it up! The blue skies sure make the city look extra beautiful. The city is easy to walk around, it’s all flat and I found navigating the streets super easy and I felt safe everywhere I was whilst walking alone. Eventually I caught my first glimpse of the famous Duomo di Milano – it’s an impressive cathedral to say the least. I continued on my stroll through the city into the early evening and picked up some food and snacks whilst I made my way back to my hotel to get an early night after my early morning of travel.
Day 2
My second day started with a tasty breakfast at my hotel – Italian breakfast spreads get a big thumbs up from me, there were so many good foods that kept me full until the afternoon. Then I headed out, and took the metro to the Duomo di Milano – I booked my ticket online before travelling, this was the only thing I planned ahead of time because I knew it would be busy being a Saturday. There was a pretty big queue, but you can enjoy the detailed designs on the cathedral front while waiting. I also noticed that tour groups were able to skip at least part of the queue, so fairly regularly there would be groups of 20 or 30 people making the queue that little bit longer. Staff were good at manning the queue and making sure everyone already had their tickets. It’s also important to note there are a few dress regulations to enter the cathedral, so the staff were making sure everyone was appropriately dressed beforehand. I probably waited about 30 minutes to get in first thing in the morning, but after I joined the queue it got longer very quickly, so I’d say getting there earlier is better. It was very busy inside, which I’m sure is different at the moment, but a lot of visitors were in tour groups which moved on quickly, so it was easy enough to take my own pace and see everything that I wanted. One part I really enjoyed was going down to the archeological area underneath the cathedral steps at the front – before the Duomo was there there was a baptistry and these are some of the ruins. I really like seeing things like this, I find archeological digs and ruins fascinating! There wasn’t a lot of information about what you were looking at, so I could do with having done more research, or maybe there is a tour that could provide information. This was included in the ticket that I’d bought, there are various types of ticket, so be sure to check what yours includes. After checking out everything inside I headed outside to make my way up to the rooftop – you can either take the stairs or the lift, normally I take the stairs at this sort of thing, but opted to pay a little more and take the lift. There is still plenty climbing to do to get around the various areas of the roof. It’s completely worth it to go up, the views were stunning and it was great to be right up amongst the detailed design of the cathedral and it’s spires. My visit took up the whole morning and into the afternoon, I was glad I didn’t plan anything else so I didn’t feel too rushed with my visit.
Of course I couldn’t visit the Duomo without then going to see the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the famous shopping gallery in Milan. The design of the buildings alone was beautiful, nevermind the designer pieces being sold from the host of brands that have stores there! I didn’t hang around too long here as I wasn’t planning on buying anything and it really was very crowded with tourists trying to take pictures and visit the shops, but there were also a couple of dodgy characters looking for money. As a female alone I felt a bit like a target! But as I hadn’t planned to hang out here it didn’t really put me off having a walk through and a glance at the stores before moving on. I had a late lunch in a restaurant nearby the Duomo and had some very tasty gnocci, which fuelled my afternoons walking!
With no set plans I am quite happy to just stroll around a city and enjoyed that in Milan – I took in some small quiet streets and enjoyed seeing more of Milan that the locals see. There are also a few parks in the city, I walked through a couple of small ones more as a ‘get from A to B’ walk, but towards the evening I headed towards the Castello area to see the Parco Sempione which is the biggest park in the city and has the Sforzesco Castle and the Arco Della Pace, and nearby also the Santa Maria delle Grazie which houses The Last Supper by da Vinci – so there’s plenty to do in the area. This park was very popular and would make a perfect picnic spot. From here I headed to Eataly to grab some dinner and check out what foods were on offer to buy, I really liked the cook book section here, and picked up an Italian baking book to try out (which reminds me that I should actually try it out!). This area seemed to be a ‘place to be’ it was busy and lively with a lot of restaurants – if I was to come back, I’d definitely come back to this area to check it out some more. With an early train to catch the following morning, I didn’t stay out too late, and headed back to the hotel on a quick metro journey.
For a first, and super quick, trip to Milan I really felt like I saw some of the main sights that the city has to offer – normally I visit at least one museum or gallery in a city, but when doing research before going nothing really stood out to me, so maybe I’ve missed a hidden gem! I think Milan seems like the perfect city for a long weekend break, maybe including a day to visit somewhere outside of Milan – it’s so easy to hop on a train and be at the lakes of Northern Italy in no time at all. After staying in Milan I was travelling to Locarno in Switzerland to attend a conference which is on Lake Maggiore, the train I took from Milan also stopped at Lake Como and Lake Lugano. These looked like beautiful areas to visit, so perhaps if I’m looking for somewhere to travel that doesn’t have pandas these will make the short-list!