Milan travel guide - when to go, what to see, what it costs

Milan's sight list is shorter than its reputation is long, and that is a feature: two well-planned nights cover the Duomo and its roof, the Galleria, the castle, Brera's streets and gallery, and an evening each in Brera and on the Navigli. If you have secured Last Supper tickets, that is a fifteen-minute timed visit, not a half-day commitment.

The third night is for Como, and it is the difference between a decent trip and a memorable one. Two versions work: the simple one is a train from Cadorna or Centrale to Como itself, about forty minutes, for the lakefront, the funicular up to Brunate and a short boat ride. The better one, if you start early, is the train from Centrale to Varenna in about an hour, then the ferry triangle between Varenna, Bellagio and Menaggio, which is the postcard version of the lake. Either way you are back in Milan for the aperitivo hour. A fourth night only earns its keep if you are here to shop the outlets, see a trade fair, or use Milan as a rail hub for Turin, Verona or the coast, all of which its stations serve well.

Milan sits on the Po plain, and the plain sets the weather. Summer is hot and humid, with July and August afternoons around or above thirty degrees Celsius and the air standing still; the city effectively closes around Ferragosto, the mid-August holiday, when Milanese decamp to the sea and many family restaurants shutter for weeks. Winter is grey and foggy more than bitter, with December and January daytime temperatures in the mid single digits, and the Christmas period dresses the Galleria and the streets around the Duomo well. The comfortable months are April to June and September to October: mild, terraced, and everything open.

The city's own calendar matters more to your hotel bill than the weather does. The two Fashion Weeks, in late winter and late September, and above all the Salone del Mobile design fair in April, fill Milan's rooms and multiply their prices; unless those events are the reason you are coming, check the dates before you book and step a week to either side. None of this moves the flight much, as the chart below shows: on our measured route the cheapest months run from autumn through winter, spring and summer sit a modest step higher, and the punishing fares are the ones bought close to departure. Book a few weeks out and the flight is the cheap part of a Milan trip in any season.

A cheap flight to "Milan" lands about fifty kilometres from it, and which side depends on your airline. Malpensa, to the northwest, is the big international airport; the Malpensa Express train runs to Cadorna and Centrale stations in roughly forty to fifty-five minutes, several times an hour. Bergamo, to the northeast, is the low-cost hub; coaches run to Centrale in about an hour, just as frequently. Linate, the close-in third airport, is on the M4 metro line minutes from the centre, but the low-cost routes from the Baltics do not use it. Whichever airport you land at, buy the train or coach ticket before boarding and budget the transfer both ways - it is a real cost that the fare comparison sites quietly ignore.

Inside the city, the metro is quick and takes contactless cards at the gates, the orange trams - some of them century-old wooden cars still in service - are half the charm of the place, and the centre from the Duomo to Brera is best walked. Do not drive: the centre charges a congestion fee, parking is misery, and nothing you want is far from a metro stop anyway.

The city's classics are built on butter and saffron rather than tomato and olive oil: risotto alla milanese, gold with saffron and properly served with bone-marrow depth; cotoletta alla milanese, the breaded veal chop the Austrians and Milanese both claim; ossobuco over more of that risotto when it is cold. For lunch on your feet, the panzerotto - a fried pocket of dough with tomato and mozzarella - from the famous bakery near the Duomo is the city's best cheap institution, and the queue moves fast. In December, panettone here is not the supermarket brick you know; buy it from a pasticceria that bakes its own.

Then there is aperitivo, Milan's great contribution to civilised evenings: from around six to nine, a single drink at the right bar comes with access to food, from generous snack boards to full buffets, and it can honestly replace dinner on a budget trip. The Navigli and the Colonne di San Lorenzo are the classic zones. Two honest warnings: Milan is Italy's most expensive city to dine in, with a per-person cover charge on most sit-down menus, and the terraces in direct sight of the Duomo charge scenery rates for average food. Walk five minutes before sitting down.

Below is the cheapest one-way we have measured into MXP from each origin we price, dated so you can judge freshness. This module prices Malpensa specifically; Bergamo serves the same trip from many of the same origins, and the measured comparison covers when each airport wins. If Milan is one candidate among several, the cheapest flights from Vilnius rank every destination we price from that airport by its measured floor.