explore it yourself:
The journey and accommodations:
We arrived by train from Genoa in the afternoon of July 31st and stayed until the late morning of August 1st. We arrived into and departed from Milano Centrale Station.
My parents and siblings joined us for this leg of our trip so to accommodate the size of our group short term rentals were the most affordable option. We ended up selecting an Airbnb located near Central Station. We didn’t have a lot of time here so I will add things we would have wanted to do if we had more time at the end.
Note: * our additions to ai itinerary and exclusions are crossed out, also see our summary at the bottom.
Iconic Milan
duomo di milano
- From our Airbnb by Milano Centrale, take ATM Metro M3 Yellow to city center
- The metro is really easy to figure out and you simply tap to pay with a credit card so there is no need to bother with buying a transit card
Panini de Santis-lunch?Caffe Napoli-coffee?Panzerotti Luini-bakery?- None of our group was hungry at this point so we didn’t feel the need to stop for food
- Duomo di Milano, Milan’s most iconic landmark
- This is definitely one of the attractions in the world that absolutely lives up to the hype. Pictures don’t do it a justice, the building is absolutely amazing!
- Santuario di San Bernardino alle Ossa
- This is a church near the Duomo that is free to enter and also very beautiful
- Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, walk through this stunning 19th-century glass arcade and spin on the bull mosaic for good luck if you like tradition
- If you love shopping, this is the spot for you. There are so many designer stores, it feels very authentic Milan
- Piazza della Scala, photo stop outside the famous opera house
- This is a perfect spot to sit and get off your feet for a bit while enjoying some shade in a beautiful courtyard
Evening views & navigli district
milan's unique canal system
- Metro to Navigli District to experience Milan’s canal system. This is the absolute best spot to enjoy an aperitivo—buy a cocktail (like a Negroni or Aperol Spritz) in the early evening, and enjoy the complimentary buffet of small bites and regional snacks provided by the bars.
- There are so many bars to choose from you really can’t go wrong and sitting along the riverfront is really relaxing
- We stopped at Libraccio Milano* to browse their book selection.
- Osteria dal Cornuto*
- Easily one of the best meals we have had in a long time, highly recommend the Cacio e pepe!
Osteria del Gnocco Fritto– This wasn’t open at the time we were looking to get dinner.Mag CafeorUGO Cocktail Bar-Bistrotfor spritzes – We had a drink with dinner so we skipped this.
departure morning
Coffee, Castle & brera district
- Coffee & pastry at David’s*
- Just a short walk from our accommodation, the croissants were delicious
- Castello Sforzesco, explore the courtyards (free and impressive so no need to enter museums)
- Really glad we had were able to visit here! It’s really cool to walk through and the surrounding park is beautiful
- Arco della Pace, a grand neoclassical arch at the edge of the park
- As you can see in the photo below, the arch is extremely impressive!
- Mercato Centrale Milan* – Great space to lounge and eat before the train
- Given we had to check out of our place early, we had roughly 3 hours to pass before our train. Within the food hall inside Milano Centrale, we found a table big enough for the 5 of us where we could sit and play cards while enjoying a meal. The food at Joe’s American Smashburger is so good!
- Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie
- Chiesa di San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore
- Via Fiori Chiari*
- Trattoria Torre di Pisa*
- Classic Milanese Risotto
- Ossobuco
- Cotoletta alla Milanese
- Classic Milanese Risotto
- Brera Botanical Garden* (free)
- Brera District, charming streets, boutiques, artistic vibe
- Braidense National Library
final thoughts:
How did ai do?
Overall Rating: 7/10
Would we go again? No, although the Duomo is absolutely a must-see church, we felt like we saw all we needed to and don’t need to go back.
Favorite moment:
Bailey’s favorite: Hanging out in Mercato Centrale Milan. It was really clean and loads of good food spots. Also the train station as a whole was beautiful.
Parker’s favorite: Admiring the Duomo! It’s hard to comprehend that this building began construction in the 13th century but it makes sense that it took 600 years to complete!
Favorite meal:
Bailey’s favorite: I loved the cacio e pepe and bread from Osteria dal Cornuto.
Parker’s favorite: The burger at Joe’s American Smashburger was a nice taste of home while we waited for our train.
Any surprises? We were surprised by how spread out the city was.
Anything we missed? We didn’t get a chance to do Brera which we were looking forward to.
Food spots AI recommended, but we didn’t have a chance to go: Panini de Santis, Caffe Napoli, Panzerotti Luini, Osteria del Gnocco Fritto, Mag Cafe, and UGO Cocktail Bar.
Average step count per day: 13,580 steps
Nailed it: It was nice that AI had us visit Castello Sforzesco because we simply never would have heard of it without the prompting of AI. This ended up being a really pretty spot and good way to spend an hour in the morning.
Needs work: It felt like the areas AI suggested were really spread out and forced us to use a combination of buses, trams, and the metro to reach them all efficiently. Luckily, the public transit in Milan is easy to figure out so this wasn’t a major issue but it forced us to constantly be searching up directions to our next stop in the city.