Milan

Leonardo's wall in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Tuesday to Sunday, 8.15am to 7pm with last entry at 6.45pm, closed Mondays. Visits last fifteen minutes in groups capped at forty, booking is compulsory, and tickets are released in quarterly blocks — the September to December 2026 window went on sale at midday on 23 June. Set a reminder for the release date; there is no other way in.

Six centuries of building and a forest of marble spires. The terraces are the reason to come: you walk among the pinnacles and, on a clear winter day, see the Alps. Lift and stairs are priced separately. Buy at the cathedral's own ticket office or website, not from the men working the square.

Mantegna's brutally foreshortened Dead Christ, Piero della Francesca's Montefeltro altarpiece and Hayez's Kiss, in an academy formally established in 1809. Palazzo Citterio, the modern annexe next door, opened in December 2024.

The iron-and-glass arcade of 1877 linking the Duomo to La Scala, floored in mosaic and lined with cafés that charge for the privilege. Free to walk through at any hour, and best late at night when it is empty.

An open-air gallery of Art Nouveau and Rationalist funerary sculpture north of the centre, free to enter and almost ignored. Check the opening days before making the trip; it does not open every day.

Malpensa is 50km out and handles the long-haul, linked by the Malpensa Express to Cadorna and Centrale. Linate is close in and now sits on metro line M4 to San Babila. Bergamo Orio al Serio is a coach ride away and is not really Milan.

Centrale is the main high-speed station: about an hour to Bologna, roughly two and a half to Venice and around three to Rome, with Frecciarossa trains running to 300km/h. Some Frecce and most Italo services use Porta Garibaldi or Rogoredo, so check the ticket.

Four metro lines and a dense tram network, with contactless bank cards accepted at the gates. The centre carries an Area C congestion charge on weekdays on top of the usual limited-traffic rules, so a hire car is only worth collecting on the day you leave for the lakes.

April to June and September to October: mild, and the design and football calendars are both running.

January and August are cheapest — August because half the city closes and goes to the sea.

The February and September fashion weeks and the Salone del Mobile in April, when room rates multiply.

Your booked Last Supper slot at Santa Maria delle Grazie. Arrive early — latecomers are not admitted and the ticket is not refunded.

Walk to the Castello Sforzesco for Michelangelo's unfinished Rondanini Pietà, then through Parco Sempione.

Eat in Brera: risotto alla milanese or cotoletta, at a table on one of the pedestrian lanes behind the gallery.

The Pinacoteca di Brera, then across to the Duomo for a late slot on the roof terraces.

Aperitivo on the Naviglio Grande, where the price of the drink includes the food, then dinner or a jazz set in Isola.

Como San Giovanni is about forty minutes from Milano Centrale, or take the slower line to Varenna for the central lake and the car ferries. Easy as a day trip, better as two nights.

An hour by train, then the funicular up to the Città Alta: Venetian walls, a Romanesque basilica and a hill town that most people only see from the airport.