Itinerary Help for Milan, Florence and Venice

It’s a good plan.

Arrive Milan 10:20 am

> Take Malpensa Express to Milan Central Station – 12:00 pm train – will
that give us time to get through customs? Will have carry ons.

Doesn’t matter which Malpensa Express- it runs about every 30 min. No need to purchase in advance.

Duomo Milan - buy combo lift ticket (9:00am ticket) – how long to do
both?

> Get bags from hotel/taxi to Milan Central Station

> Train to Florence - 1:00pm – will 1:00 pm work or should we plan on
later train?

Do the roof first, you will exit into the Duomo. I think I’d give this closer to 2 hrs. Roof takes time to climb around, Duomo is massive.
Are you staying close to Duomo?

I would take the time to grab lunch here- steps from Duomo
http://www.luini.it/
Yummy. Then to train station. There are trains every 30 min to Florence- Maybe get tix for closer to 2:00?

Day 5 - Tuesday - 11th

> Uffizi Gallery – buy 10:00 am ticket

> Check line for Duomo and do if not that long (just go inside, not
doing the Dome climb)

If you can handle another museum- see the Duomo Museum rather than Duomo interior. Or visit Santa Croce or the Bargello.


Day 7 - Thursday -13th Murano – hotel provides trip

I think you usually have to get own transportation back to Venice proper. Consider going to Burano after this tour.

Venice- Get a length of stay pass 72 hour- Do not forget to validate, each and every time you board!

Have fun!

Thanks so much, great help!

Hi Capergirl,
I'd be so excited to be doing this trip in November!
I think this makes a lot of sense for the most part. A few little notes in order of your itinerary:
If the flight into Milan is on time and you don't have checked bags, you should be out of the airport by 1130/11:45. You have to go through passport control...Canadians stand in the "all passports" line rather than the EU line. That can take awhile. Regardless, I don't think you need to buy your Malpensa Express ticket before you land in Milan.
Day one seems to make sense, as does day 2. I personally think two hours at the Duomo is plenty, but that will depend on what you want to see (and the weather. Not sure I'd want to spend a lot of time on the roof if it's rainy). The 1pm train will work; you'll probably want to pick up some sandwiches and beverages for the train in that case. You can buy both in the train station if you don't get a chance to pick something up before you get there.
You'll probably want reservations in Florence for dinner so you're not wandering around aimlessly and hungry. There are great restaurants and tourist traps. This is a good one to figure out before you get there.
I have not used Get Your Guide for tours...but my understanding is they're a third-party reseller. If you haven't already booked, it's probably worth figuring out who the actual tour company is and booking directly. You'll find a lot of posts on this forum about Get Your Guide.
The Duomo in Florence is one of my favorite buildings in the world. I never, ever get tired of looking at it -- from the outside. The inside is -- to my eye -- less impressive, especially after you've seen the Duomo in Milan. So if there's a long line and you don't make it inside, that's probably ok.
Venice: check out the multi-day passes for the vaporetti (water buses). You're there long enough for them to make sense. The passes will get you to Murano and Burano and anywhere else you want to get (except the airport). Figure out where you want to eat in Venice and book at least one of your dinners.

That 6:45 am departure is nasty (Frankfurt?). I feel for you. But if your hotel can arrange a water taxi direct to the airport and you don't have checked bags, you should be ok.
I wish you a wonderful trip!

Thanks for the input, great suggestions. Our hotel in Milan is close to the Duomo, about 15 min walk.

We fly Venice to Vienna then to Toronto and then to Halifax. A very long day.