See Milan from a different perspective with bike tour rentals. You can also rent a bike for the entire time you spend here or use one of the many electrical scooters.
Cycling in Milan is a risky business. Milan is a car city, and cyclists are not respected as equals in the traffic.
So remember to signal your intentions in the traffic clearly, so the drivers have time to give you space. Take it easy and don’t insist too much.
Two important tips: Keep an extra eye on the tram rails (believe you us; it is the voice of experience telling you this) and remember that the cobble stones get extra slippery when it rains.
Rent a bike
If you prefer to have your “own” bicycle while you’re here, you can rent your own at the historical bicycle shop Rossignoli,which you have here
71 Corso Garibaldi.(find on map) open Monday 2.30-7 pm Tuesday-Saturday 9 am-12.30 pm/2.30-7 pm
Rossignoli also organizez bicycle sightseeing in Italian and English, to book and get more information call +3902804960 a couple of days ahead.
BikeMi is a bike sharing service a bit like Boris-bikes in London. It’s a great feature in public transport, but beware Italian traffic habits.
BikeMi is part of the public transport system, you must register at ATM (Milan’s municipal transport agency) and to do that you need to have a valid credit card (so they have security for the bike and possible damages) read about the legal and practical issues here. You can get a card for either 1 week or for a single day,.
Short trips are the cheapest BikeMi is meant to be used for short trips and it becomes proportionally more expensive the longer you use them If you change bicycles frequently the trips can end up being totally free of charge. If you forget to deliver the bike within 24 hours, there’s a stiff fee.
Summer operating hours. April 1st-November 2nd the service will run Sunday-Thursday 7 am.-2 a.m. Friday and Saturday the service will operate 24 hrs a day.
Bike sharing
There are many apps for bicycles in Milan, find the links for download here.
Electric scooters
For electric scooter check out the rules and find the links for downloads here.
50 km north of Milan is Como by the beautiful Lake Como surrounded by mountains.It takes about 1 hour from Cadorna station to Como lake and a return ticket is a little under €10. It’s a cosy and very beautiful small town with antique town walls and a great shopping area in the historical center and actually also the place where our personal love affair with Italy began many years ago.
Como is famous for its silk and we recommend you visit the outlet INSETA shop located Portatorre, 3 Largo Miglio (find on map). They aklso have the outlet INCOMO outlet located at 43 Via Pasquale Paoli (find on map)
If you would like to learn more about the role Como played in the global silk trade and manufacturing, visit Como Silk Museum at 9, Via Castelnuovo (find on map).
When we were there last we had lunch at the super neat Ristorante Sociale, 6, Via Rodari (find on map) – prices are reasonable and and the food is local and solid.
Another fantastic thing to do here is to take the ferry from Como (just by Piazza Cavour) for e.g.Bellagioor out to see the incredibly beautiful villas, located in the area.
You can go from Como with the funicular up to Brunate where on a clear day you get an amazing view of Lake Como and the Alps.
There are several antique markets in Como: On the first Sunday every month 8 a.m.-7 p.m. on Piazza San Fedele (find on map) Christmas market every year from the end of November until January 6th on Piazza Perretta (find on map) On the third Sunday every month. 8 a.m.-7 p.m. (except January and August) in Viale Battisti (find on map)
Bergamo
Bergamo is located about 1 hour away by train from Milan. You can go from the stations of Stazione Centrale and Garibaldi
It is one of the few towns in Italy whose historical center is still located within the original town walls which have maintained their original aspect.
Bergamo is divided into two parts Bergamo Bassa (low Begamo) and Berrgamo Alta (high Begamo), Bergamo Alta is the historical part of the town which you can get to either by the city funicularor by chhosing the 45-minute hike up.
There are monasteries, historical buildings and an ancient botanical garden.
A villlage built by the Crespi family for the workers on their factory. It was very advanced for its time (late 1800s) with free education for the children of the employees, a free indoor swimming pool and the first village in Italy to have modern public lighting. In 1995 the village was entered nto the UNESCO World Heritage List. The directions on how to get there can be found here.
Isole Borromee and Stresa
The Isole Borromee(the Borromean Islands) are located in the Maggiore Lake and can be reached from Stresa by boat, they are lovely at all times of the year but are paricularly stunning during springtime, They are famous for their amazing palaces and gardens. There are three islands: Isola Bella with the Borromean Palace and gardens, Isola Superiore (Fishmerman’s Island) a tiny island with a beautiful fishing village and Isola Madre with a botanical garden and Palace – note that there is an additional admission’s fee (€10-14 per person) to see the sights.
Stresa is quite close to Milan and can be reached from both the Central Station and the Garibaldi station, the trip takes about 90 minutes.
If you feel like pampering yourself go for a day to the San Pellegrino spa (terme) (find on map), you need a car to get up there. Prices and opening hours here. A small piece of advice; go on a weekday.
Lodi
Lodiis another town that is very near Milan, it takes about 35 minutes with the train going to Bologna, and you can catch it from both Stazione Centrale and Cadorna. Lodi is a lovely little town whose interesting archtecture dates all the way back to 1160.
There is an antique market in Lodi on the first Sunday of every month (except January and August) 8 a.m.7 p.m. on Piazza Castello (find on map)
And please don’t miss Vigevano in the province of Pavia. It takes about an hour to get there and we recommend taking the train from Porta Genova railway station (find on map)
Vigevano is an incredibly beautiful art town with an amazing renaissance square Piazza Ducale, considered one of Italy’s finest. There is also a castle, Vigevano’s own Castello Sforzesco which was transformed from a fortress to the residence of a prince in 1492-94 by Ludovio Sforza. Furthermore Vigevano is famous for making shoes and there is a shoe museum inside the Castello Sforzesco with no admission.
There’s an antique market in Vigevano on the third Saturday of every month (except August) in the area between Piazza Martiri della Liberazione, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and Via S. Croce (find on map).
There are countless possibilities for beatiful hikes in Lombardy especially up in the hills and mountains near the lakes, here is an article with some of the most spectacular shorter ones but if you like long hikes you should definitely check out the Path of Celts and Ligurians – a 222 km long trail from Milan all the way to Sestri Levante in Liguria in 10 legs, there is a website, unfortunately only in Italian, that outlines the different stages with an interactive map here.
Wine and Food
If you love wine and great food there are some areas we recommend you visit and you could spend the night in one of the many agrotourisms. Some great areas are Franciacorta, Asti and Langhe (where, among other towns, Alba is located).
There are many food and wine festivals in both Piedmont and Lombardia. These festivals are great for getting an insight into small communities and their seasonal products (wine, truffles, cheeses, chestnuts, mushrooms, pumpkins etc.)
Star-studded restaurants outside Milan
If you came to Milan by car there are lots of great restaurants in Lombardy. We want to mention:
D’O Davide Oldani’s wonderful restaurant with 1 Michelin star, located in San Pietro all’Olmo, Cornaredo (find on map). Davide Oldani is the chef who invented the concept Pop Cuisine (Cucina Pop). Remember to book well in advance.
Cannavacciuolo Bistrot. 1, Piazza Martiri della Libertà in Novara (find on map) which belongs to Antonino Cannavacciulo, one of the new judges in the Italian edition of Masterchef.
Antonino Cannavacciuolo also runs the restaurant (with 2 Michelin stars) and hotel Villa Crespi at the beautiful Lago d’Orta.
You can find the Michelin guide’s other suggestions here.
The metro lines, buses, trams and the railway link
Milan has 5 metro lines plus a lot of buses and trams.
The metro lines that connect the rest of the city to and from Milan’s different stations and Linate airport are:
Central Station (Milano Centrale) – the green and yellow lines (M2 and M3)
Stazione Cadorna – the red and green lines (M1 and M2)
Stazione Garibaldi – the green and purple lines (M2 and M5)
Linate airport – the blue line (M4)
The map also shows where to change between the different lines.
Furthermore Milan has the Passante Railway, an underground railway which runs through Milan and connects to the metro lines at the stops Porta Garibaldi (M2 and M5),Repubblica (M3), Rogoredo (M3) and Porta Venezia (M1).
Tickets and payment
As of May 7th 2024 paper tickets are no longer available for purchase, instead you have to get the rechargeable plastic card RicaricaMi at metro stations either at the newsstands or at the automatic checkouts in the metro, the card is nonnominal, and you can upload up to 30 tickets for the same area, one 24-hour ticket, one 72-hour ticket or 5 carnets to it at a time – if you want to upload tickets for other areas you must either first finish all the tickets on your card or get another one. Each person over 14 years of age need their own card.
1 ticket is valid for 90 minutes inside Area 1 (white on the drawing above), which consists of 21 municpalities and has the codes Mi1-Mi3, on all means of transport including trains. If you wish to go beyond this area, the price increases area from Mi4 to Mi9. You can also buy a carnet with 10 tickets and get a small discount on the price for each ticket. Children under 14 travel for free. You can also get a 24-hour ticket and a 72-hour ticket.
Furthermore you can use your creditcard or your phone app to buy tickets both in the metro, directly at the turnstile, and on buses and trams , if you use the same card more than 3 times in a day your ticket is automatically converted into a 24-hour ticket, thus making it cheaper. Remember to use the same card you used to check in to check out again.
The public transport app
Get the official app for Milan’s public transport (ATM Milano Official App) – read more about it and find the link to download here.
If you’re in Milan for 72 hours or less and want to visit a lot of museums while here it is a good idea to buy the Milan city pass MilanoCard which allows you to use all public transport for free and gives a lot of discounts to museums and restaurants. You must order it online hereand then you can choose whether you want to receive as an email attacment or download the Milano Card app and activate it here, the links for download of the app are here.
To and from the airports – metro and train
If you’ve come to Milan by plane you’ve landed in either Linate, Malpensa or Orio al Serio. There are good connections with public transport from all three.
Linate is the airport closest to the city. Metro line 4 connects it to the city centre to metro stop San Babila where you can change to metro line 1.
Malpensa airport is about a 1-hour drive from Milan. You can either take the train (Malpensa Express) which goes to Cadorna in the center of Milan, a return ticket is cheaper than 2 one-way tickets, if you purchase it online, or you can take the Malpensa Shuttle, which brings you to the central station (Milano Centrale) here you also get a discount if you purchase a return ticket. We recommend that you take the shuttle at the weekend but the train during the week, because you risk getting stuck in traffic jams with the bus.
Departures from Milano Cadorna: first departing train 4.27 am, last departing train 23.27 pm. Trains run every 30 minutes Departures from Malpensa Terminal 2 – direction Milano Cadorna: first departing train 5.27 am last departing train 0.20 pm. Trains run every 30 minutes Departures from Malpensa Terminal 1 – direction Milano Cadorna: first departing train 5.43 am, last departing train 0.26 pm. Trains run every 30 minutes
If it’s summer, or really any time of the year, and you want a really great chocolate ice cream there is a great place very close to Cadorna station Chocolat Milano at 9, Via Bocaccio (find on map).
Departures from Milano Centrale are once an hour and run between Milano Centrale, Milano Porta Garibaldi, Milano Bovisa and Terminals 1 and 2at Malpensa, The first departing train from Milano Centrale is 5.35 am, last departing train 11.25 pm. The first departing train from Malpensa direction Centrale is 5.43 am, last departing train is 10.43 pm.
Orio al Serio is actually closer to Bergamo than Milan and it’ll take you about 50 minutes to get to Milan. There is a shuttle service which goes to Milan’s central station (Milano centrale). You can also take a the public transport bus (ATB) , which gets you to Bergamo central station in about 10 minutes and here you can get the train to Milan. The trip takes about 40 minutes. Take into account that it’s a better idea to take the train during the week, because of possible traffic jams.
If you want to book train tickets from home you do that here
As in every big city in the world you must keep an eye on backpacks and bags when in the metro, there are many pickpockets that operate there, taking advantage of the fact that it’s crowded. Don’t keep your backpack on your back. Hold it in front of you.
The Central station is another place to be extra vigilant; lots of pickpockets take advantage of visitors’ distraction; one trick, they often use, is to ask if you need help when buying tickets. Refuse politely, but firmly
Taxis to and from the airport
Taxis with fixed fares Of course you could also take a taxi.There are fixed fares from the airports
IMPORTANT: Watch out for illegal taxis – the legal ones are white and have the Comune di Milano coat of arms on their front doors.
If you need to call for a taxi and don’t speak Italian the easiest thing is to use the official app FreeNow. Read more about it and find the link for downloading it here.
If you speak Italian, the phone number is: +39024040
GoOpti Airport Transfer
If your plane lands or departs at an ungodly hour (you’re the judge of that) there is an alternative to public transport and taxis; the company GoOpti offers cheap rides between airiports or from your door step to the airport and vice versa. You can book either shared or private rides. The sooner you book the cheaper it is. Book here.
Car sharing to and from Malpensa airport
Another option to go to and from Malpensa airport are two of the car sharing companies; Free2move and Enjoy, you must get and park these cars at the specially designated areas in the parking lots Read more about them and get the link for downloads here.
