Italy
Milan is a working city with a compact historic core, and most first-time visits start at the Duomo and fan out on foot. The big draws are the cathedral roof, the Last Supper, the Sforza Castle and a handful of museums. Outside the centre, the canals of the Navigli and the glass towers of Porta Nuova give two very different evenings.
Data checked on October 5, 2026
Each plan is built from the stop base, with visit time, the walk between stops and a lunch break. Open one and set your pace and arrival day.
6 stops, about 43 min of walking in total.
9 stops, about 1 h 48 of walking in total.
14 stops, about 2 h 43 of walking in total.
May, June and October are the easiest months: warm but not hot, with fewer queues than the show weeks. April has Design Week and late September has Fashion Week, and both fill the centre. July and August bring highs near 30 degrees, and the winter months are cold, with highs around 7 degrees.
Climate averages: WMO Climate Normals 1991-2020.
8 to 19 °C · about 7 rainy days a month
Highs rise from 15 degrees in March to 24 in May, and May has the most rain days of the year, about nine. April brings Design Week crowds.
What to wear: Pack layers and a light waterproof jacket.
18 to 30 °C · about 5 rainy days a month
June to August highs run from 28 to 31 degrees, with warm nights around 17 to 19. The city is hot and humid, and rain falls on four to seven days a month.
What to wear: Wear light cotton and flat shoes for the cobbles, and carry a scarf for covering shoulders in churches.
10 to 19 °C · about 7 rainy days a month
September is warm at 26 degrees by day, October cools to 19, and November drops to 12 and is the wettest month with about eight rain days. Late September has Fashion Week.
What to wear: Bring a jacket and an umbrella, and warmer layers from late October.
1 to 8 °C · about 5 rainy days a month
Highs sit between 7 and 10 degrees and nights fall to around freezing. There are five or six rain days a month, so afternoons are best spent in the museums.
What to wear: Wear a warm coat, a scarf, gloves and shoes with grip.
Rain changes the plan more than it spoils it. The Last Supper, Brera, the Novecento museum, the Science Museum and the Castle museums are all indoors, and the Galleria is a covered walk between the Duomo and La Scala. The Navigli and the parks are the stops to move to a dry day.
Stops under a roof
Summer highs reach 30 degrees in July, with high humidity. Plan outdoor stops for the morning or the evening, spend the afternoon in the museums, churches and the Galleria, and carry water. Public drinking fountains stand on many corners.
Better outdoors
Per person, without the hotel. Tickets are the prices of the stops in each plan, read on the official sites. Food and transport come from the city figures.
| Plan | Tickets | Transport | Food | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 day | €57 | €7.60 | €42 to €64 | €106 to €128 |
| 2 days | €77 | €15.20 | €84 to €127 | €176 to €220 |
| 3 days | €89 | €22.80 | €126 to €191 | €237 to €303 |
Rice cooked with saffron and bone marrow, golden in colour. It is often served alone as a first course or with ossobuco.
A veal cutlet on the bone, breaded and fried in butter. It is thick and served with lemon.
Braised veal shank cooked in wine and stock, usually served with saffron risotto.
A winter stew of pork and savoy cabbage. You find it on menus in the colder months.
The tall, domed sweet bread with candied fruit that Milan is known for. Bakeries sell it in the weeks before Christmas.
A Negroni with sparkling wine instead of gin, a Milanese aperitivo drink usually taken with a plate of small bites.
From about 18:00 bars set out snacks to go with a drink. It is how many Milanese start the evening.
The opera house stages opera and ballet through the season, which opens around 7 December, the feast of Saint Ambrose. Book through the theatre's official site well ahead.
On the last Sunday of each month stalls line the canal with furniture, books, prints and jewellery.
On Thursdays the museum stays open until 22:30, so you can see the Duomo lit from the windows.
Tram 16 runs from Santa Maria delle Grazie to the Stadio San Siro, where AC Milan and Inter play, so check the fixture list.
Malpensa is 45 km from the centre, and the Malpensa Express train runs to Cadorna, Centrale and Porta Garibaldi. Linate is 7 km out and the M4 metro line goes into the city. Bergamo Orio al Serio is 50 km away and is served by shuttle buses run by several companies. Milano Centrale, Porta Garibaldi and Cadorna are the main train stations, all with metro connections.
The centre is walkable: the Duomo to the Castle is about 15 minutes, and Brera is on the way. The metro has five lines and a single ticket is valid for 90 minutes, so a day pass only pays off if you start four or more separate trips. Trams are useful for Magenta and the Last Supper.
Every stop has its own page with opening days, ticket price, how to get there and where it fits in the itineraries.
Duomo and the centre
The cathedral is a Gothic building in white marble with a forest of spires. The standard ticket covers the interior and a climb to the roof terraces, where you walk among the statues and pinnacles above the square.
Booking advisedMagenta and Sant'Ambrogio
Leonardo's wall painting fills one end of the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Visits are limited to groups of about 40 people for 15 minutes, so the booked time is the whole point of the trip.
Book aheadCastello and Sempione
A brick fortress built by the Visconti and rebuilt by the Sforza, now home to the city's civic museums. The courtyards are free to walk through, and one ticket opens all the museums for the day.
Duomo and the centre
A cross-shaped shopping arcade under a glass and iron roof, linking the Duomo square to La Scala. It is free, covered and open all hours, so it works at any time of day.
Brera and the fashion district
The main picture gallery of Milan, set in an old palace with a quiet courtyard. The route runs through rooms of Italian painting from the 13th to the 20th century.
Book aheadNavigli and Ticinese
A district of canals and low houses to the south-west of the centre, made around the old river port. It is a place to walk, browse and have an aperitivo rather than tick off sights.
Magenta and Sant'Ambrogio
The old church of Milan's patron saint, a Romanesque basilica with a calm atrium. Entry to the basilica is free, and a separate treasury museum sits beside it.
Duomo and the centre
The city's museum of 20th century Italian art, in the Arengario on the Duomo square. A long ramp leads up through the Futurist rooms, and the windows frame the cathedral.
Duomo and the centre
A small museum beside the opera house, with portraits, costumes and instruments from the history of the theatre. When there is no rehearsal, the ticket lets you look into the auditorium from the boxes.
Porta Nuova and Monumentale
The modern Milan skyline around a raised circular square with fountains and glass towers. It is a free walk at any hour and good after dark.
Castello and Sempione
The city's main park, an English-style garden behind the Sforza Castle with lawns, ponds and a long path to the Arch of Peace. It is a good place to rest between museums.
Porta Nuova and Monumentale
A cemetery of the 19th and 20th centuries, filled with sculpted tombs and family chapels. It works as an open-air sculpture museum and entry is free.
Brera and the fashion district
The fashion district around Via Montenapoleone, Via della Spiga, Via Manzoni and Corso Venezia. The streets are free to walk, and the courtyards and house museums inside the district are worth a detour.
Magenta and Sant'Ambrogio
Italy's main science museum, in a former convent. Galleries of machines, planes, trains and ships sit next to the Leonardo da Vinci collection, and it works well on a rainy day with children.
Booking advisedMagenta and Sant'Ambrogio
A small Renaissance church, covered inside with frescoes and often called the Sistine Chapel of Milan. Entry is free and the visit is short.
One day covers the Duomo and its roof, the Galleria and a walk to the Castle. It is not enough for the Last Supper and Brera as well unless you reserved both ahead. Choose by what you most want to see.
Yes. Reservation is compulsory for every ticket, and visits last about 15 minutes. Tickets are released in batches and extra ones appear each Wednesday for the following week.
The Duomo, the Galleria, the squares, the Navigli, the parks and La Scala Museum are open. The Last Supper, Brera, the Castle museums, the Novecento museum, the Science Museum and the Monumental Cemetery are closed.
A single ticket lasts 90 minutes, and the centre is walkable, so most visitors do not need a pass. It pays off if you start four or more separate metro or tram trips in a day.