We are using Venice as a home base and want to do a day trip to Milan. I see all sorts of options from Milan to Venice but not the other way around. Any good suggestions.
If not what are some good tour operators in Milan that would take us to all the sites for the day...would be willing to take the first train out to get there and hook up with a tour after that.
Thanks for any recommendations!
Your topic name says Venice to Milan but the text is about Florence.
Thanks for catching that for me. Venice to Milan is correct.
I think what you're running into is a lack of demand. Few people staying in Venice would be looking for a day-trip to Milan; it's just not as popular a destination, and it's 160 miles away, so close to 4 hours by bus. I know there are some tours available once you get to Milan, because folks who've been unable to buy a ticket to The Last Supper often mention paying for a tour as means of getting access. Other than that, I'm not sure there's much advantage to taking a tour vs. seeing Milan on your own. Aside from the painting, there's the magnificent Duomo, the historic shopping arcade (Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, very near the Duomo), and the Brera and Navigli Districts.
Other spots recently mentioned in a different thread (don't remember by whom, or I'd give credit--I saved the information for friends going to Milan in March): Sforza Castle, Brera art museum, Science and Technology Museum, and Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio.
Considerably closer to Venice you have the very nice cities of Padua (about 1/2 hour by train and worth a whole day by itself), Vicenca (about 45-60 minutes, Palladian architecture in a highly walkable historic area) and Verona (about 1 hour). I'd visit one of those rather than going all the way to Milan, which takes 2 hours on a fast train.
Both Padua and Vicenza are viable day-trip destinations from Venice by regional train, which means you could decide to visit them on the spur of the moment. Verona, life Milan, would be better by Freccia train, and those tickets can get pricey if not purchased well in advance. I like to have flexibility on my day-trips so I can take weather into consideration.
