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Milan: 1 Night Before Flight

Hello,

We will be spending one night in Milan prior to catching our return flight home. We will be arriving there by train from the last leg of our trip in Venice, so I don’t expect to have much time there. Likely arriving sometime in the evening. From what I can see, the MXP airport is about an hour train ride from central Milan. My question is, given our limited amount of time, would you simply find a hotel near the airport for convenience or would you take advantage of the couple of hours you have and stay closer to the center (because even a few hours is better than nothing)? For what it’s worth, it’s our first trip to Italy. I don’t want to make our transfer to the airport difficult, but if I have the chance to experience even one more city before our trip ends I would like to do so!

I appreciate any input you can provide.

Posted by
20381 posts

There are some good hotels walking distance from Milano Centrale station. Hotel Berna is my favorite. Nice restaurant a couple blocks away, Antica Osteria Cavallini. The Metro station is right there by the hotel and station so you can zip to the Piazza Duomo in a couple minutes.

What time is your flight? As you see, the trains to the airport go every 30 minutes and take an hour. You should be at the airport 3 hours before flight departure, so if you had a 10 am flight, you should be on the 6 am train. There are also buses to the airport outside the train station for a little less money and may take a bit longer due to morning rush hour traffic. So depending on your flight time, you may want to just go to the airport the night before.

You could also store your bags at Milano Centrale when you arrive, then go into Milan and see the Duomo and have dinner, then back to Milano Centrale station and take a late train to the airport and stay at an airport hotel. Maybe that will be the best of both worlds.

PS, I was assuming you would be flying back to the US and there is extra time required for that. If you are flying elsewhere, 2 hours before flight time would be OK for your arrival at the airport.

Posted by
1598 posts

I agree with Sam's last suggestion. That is what we did when we were returning home from our trip to Italy except we got to our hotel before dinner. We found a good local restaurant near the hotel. It made the morning a lot less stressful. The hotel had a shuttle service to the airport (which also picked us up at the train station at the airport).

Posted by
4 posts

Great, thank you for your suggestions! Yes, we are flying back to the U.S. and we have a 10:30am flight. I don’t want to make our departure morning stressful, but I also have a difficult time not squeezing every last second out of the trip! I appreciate your input!

Posted by
886 posts

The square that the Duomo is on is wonderful....and it is a fantastic Duomo.....so I would at least walk around that area and the wonderful enclosed Galleria Vittorio Emanuele next to it......that would be something nice and easy to see before you catch your flight. We caught a taxi early the morning for the airport and all was well.

Posted by
11367 posts

With a 10:30 am flight, need to be there three hours ahead for international flights, stay at airport. We stay at Villa Malpensa as it has an excellent dining room and is very close to the terminal.!

Posted by
23457 posts

Is the 10.30 a direct flight back or a connecting flight to somewhere else in Europe before return to Europe? Makes a huge difference.

Posted by
11429 posts

The plan to go out to an airport hotel at the end of the day is one I agree with.

When we flew out of MXP we stayed at Best Western hotel cavalieri del corona. Free shuttle from to airport. Would happily stay there again

Posted by
4 posts

@Frank - yes, we have a direct flight back to the U.S., so I believe we’ll need to be there 3 hours prior to our 10:30am departure.

We are planning on making a reservation near the airport and we will head to Milan in the evening if time allows. Thank you for all of your suggestions!

Posted by
2455 posts

A few years ago I had an 8:30 am flight, and spent my last night at First Hotel Malpensa, quite nice, with an early breakfast and a good shuttle van to and from the airport. The shuttle was free then, maybe not now.

I like the idea of storing bags at Milano Centrale, wandering around the Duomo and nearby Galleria, maybe an early supper, then taking a late train to the airport. Just be sure to check both the train schedule and when the storage might close at the RR station.