We traveled to Milan, Italy, with kids in October 2018. We spent one of those days in Como, which you can read about in our Como post.
Milan was for our first international trip with kids. We had selected it simply because it had the cheapest flights during the Touissant (All Saints’ Day) school holiday. But what we found was a city with kid-friendly attractions, really good food (including our introduction to fried pizza!) and beautiful sights.
Here’s an overview of our 4-day itinerary:
- Day 1 – Milano Centrale area, Giardini Pubblici Indro Montanelli
- Day 2 – Day trip via train to Como
- Day 3 – Piazza della Scala, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Duomo di Milano, Parco Sempione (with the Castello Sforzesco and Arco della Pace), Cimitero Monumentale di Milano
- Day 4 – Colonne di San Lorenzo, Basilica of San Lorenzo, Porta Ticinese, Cairoli – San Lorenzo path of Roman ruins
About our itinerary: It rained nearly the whole time we were in Milan. This limited our outside activities a bit, as did having a 3-year-old who wasn’t used to walking miles each day. And since it was our first international trip, I was not as good and detailed at planning as I am now.
Point being, our schedule may seem a bit light. You can easily build on this with additional activities for a longer stay or when you are blessed with better weather. For example, Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper at the Santa Maria delle Grazie. We planned our trip fairly last minute (benefit of cheap European travel but also a curse for visiting top tourist attractions). By then, tickets were already sold out. There are a limited number of people who can visit at a time in order to keep the room at the right temperature and protect the paint from deterioration. So if you’re going to Milan, get your tickets to The Last Supper as early as possible.
We stayed at an Airbnb about a 15-minute walk south of the Milano Centrale train station. We chose to stay near the train station since we were taking a day trip via train and wanted to cut down on additional early morning/late night transportation time that day. In retrospect, we probably could have stayed closer to downtown sights and just taken the metro to the train station. However, since this was our first international trip with kids, the idea of learning a new metro system seemed daunting. Instead we just planned to walk everywhere, and brought a carrier to help the kids when they were tired.
Day 1
We flew into Malpensa Airport in the morning, arriving at 8 am. We then took the train, which leaves from Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, to Milano Centrale, the main train station in Milan. It was an easy process to buy tickets for the Malpensa Express, operated by Trenord, in the airport terminal. The cost was 13 EUR per adult , 6.50 EUR for ages 4-17, and free for ages 3 and under. Malpensa Airport is 50 km / 31 miles from Milano Centrale, so travel via train is much cheaper than taxi. (At the end of our trip, we departed out of Linate Airport, which is only 7 km / 4 mile from the train station, so we took a taxi for that 15-minute drive.)
When we arrived at Milano Centrale, we had a couple hours to kill before we could check-in to our Airbnb. We didn’t want to drag our bags around plus it was raining, so we figured, when in Italy, eat pizza. We grabbed some pizza at Rossopomodoro, which was surprisingly good for pizza at a train station. Then, since it was still raining, we went Caffè Pascucci, located just outside of the train station, for coffee and pastries. With our bellies full and rain coats and umbrellas ready, we walked to our Airbnb. I love staying in local neighborhoods, and this apartment was located inside a building with a beautiful courtyard.
We dropped off our bags and headed back into the rain to explore Giardini Pubblici Indro Montanelli, a public park that was located nearby. The park is a good size with lots of trees, rocky areas, statues all over the place, and a (at the time, very muddy) playground.
Palazzo Dugnani, a 17th century palace now used for cultural events, is located on the west side of the park. Even on a gloomy day you could admire the elegance of the building’s exterior. The park also houses the Milan Natural History Museum and a planetarium on the east side. However, we decided to call it a day, given the early wake-up and chilly, wet weather.
Day 2
When we are traveling, we like to take day trips to other nearby locations to broaden the places we are able to see. While in Milan, we traveled to Como, a beautiful little town north of Milan on Lake Como. Read about our itinerary for this day in our Como post.
After spending the day in Como, we arrived back in Milan that night (much more tired than when we’d left…good thing we brought the child carrier!). We went to dinner at L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele Milano, which had been recommended by a friend and was near Milano Centrale. We got fried pizza (similar to a calzone but better), and the kids ate pizza and fried dough balls. Very nice and kid-friendly atmosphere, and the delicious food was a great and filling end to the day.
Day 3
We began early with a walk to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Just before it is Piazza della Scala, a public square with a Leonardo Da Vinci monument and the Teatro alla Scalla, the famous opera house. The Leonardo3 Museum, an interactive museum dedicated to Da Vinci, is just at the entrance to the Galleria. We wanted to go but didn’t find the time; the museum gets good reviews and could definitely be worth a stop.
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is Italy’s oldest active shopping mall. The four-story iron and glass construction, with paintings along the central dome, is easily the most elegant mall I’ve seen. Aside from shopping at luxurious stores like Prada and Gucci, the Galleria is also known for its floor mosaics. In the central octagon, there are mosaics of the coats of arms for three Italian cities: Turin, Rome and Florence. On the one for Turin, there is a mosaic of a bull. The tradition is to spin with your heel on the bull for good luck.
On the other side of the Galleria is the Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral), one of the largest Italian and European cathedrals. It is everything you expect it to be. We were there around 9:00 am and the piazza was fairly empty. This is a great way to experience something as impressive as the Duomo.
Before entering the Duomo, we stopped at a building called Il Mercato del Duomo, located between the Galleria and the Duomo, for a pastry and coffee in the first floor cafe. There are also public restrooms on the third floor (which, as with most European bathrooms, you have to pay a small amount to use but is always worth it when kids need to go).
Back at the Duomo, we bought the Duomo Pass Lift tickets. This provides access to all areas (the cathedral, museum, etc.), and importantly the roof top via a lift (versus stairs); when we went, the adult tickets were 16 EUR each and both kids were free. They had a family line to go through security, which got us into the cathedral quite quickly. The interior of the Duomo is equally stunning to the exterior, and the kids enjoyed looking around. With every turn there is a new sculpture or painting or stained glass window. It really is magnificent. After around 30 minutes in the cathedral, we exited the building and had to go to a different entrance for the lift to the rooftop.
The rooftop of the Duomo is breathtaking and a must-see, in my opinion, for anyone going to Milan. Not only are there close-up views of the intricate marble structure, but there are great views of the city from 50 meters / 164 feet in the air. The rooftop has quite a bit of space to walk around (along some narrow paths), and we easily spent another 30-40 minutes here. The kids loved the rooftop experience. The hardest part was keeping them close-by when they wanted to run ahead and see what was next.
After the Duomo, we walked 1 km / .6 miles to Parco Sempione to visit the 15th century Castello Sforzesco (Sforza Castle). Their is a large fountain in front of the castle (as well as a street vendor that had fantastic cannolis). The grounds are free to explore, and you can pay to go into some of the museums inside the castle. The castle was damaged multiple times throughout history, including by Napoleon in 1801 and during WWII. The grounds are a nice place to let the kids run freely. My history-loving husband also enjoyed walking around and reading about the castle. On the other side of Parco Sempione, you can see the Arco della Pace, an arch built at the request of Napoleon.
For our final stop of the day, we walked 1.8 km / 1 mile to the Cimitero Monumentale di Milano (Monumental Cemetery). The marble and stone building at the main entrance is impossible to miss. The 5,000-square-meter cemetery itself is full of statues and sculptures surrounding tombs that are fascinating and beautiful to walk through.
After half an hour at the cemetery, it was getting dark so we headed to dinner. We probably attempted a bit too much walking this day, because by the end, both kids were being carried. So with small kids, a slightly less ambitious day would be advised!
Day 4
We spent the morning wandering the streets and window shopping before heading to the Colonne di San Lorenzo (Columns of San Lorenzo). We passed by the Duomo again on our way, which was much busier on a Thursday afternoon than it had been on Wednesday morning.
The Colonne di San Lorenzo offers a bit of ancient Rome. It consists of a row of 16 columns along the edge of the piazza. From what I can find, the columns were moved here in the 4th century from a temple. The area also features a number of bars, restaurants and gelaterias and is popular with students and young people.
At the south end of the columns stands the medieval Porta Ticinese. It is one of the three remaining city wall gates. It dates back to the 12th century and was restored in 1861. Behind the Colonne di San Lorenzo is the Basilica of San Lorenzo, one of the oldest churches in Milan. On the north side of the Basilica, there is a decent playground with lots of space for kids to run.
The Colonne di San Lorenzo is at the end of a walking path (the Cairoli – San Lorenzo path). This path passes by a number of spots with Roman remains. Helpfully, there are signs in both Italian and English about the history of the sites. The above picture is from the 2nd stop on the path. It is a structure of the Imperial Palace, from when Milan was the seat of the Imperial Residence by Emperor Maximianus in 286 AD; it was discovered in the 1950s. The path begins at Parco Sempione. You could visit the park and Castello Sforzesco, and then do this walking tour through to the Colonne di San Lorenzo (which is probably what we would have done had we planned a bit better!).