Stay one night in Milan or head directly to Venice?

I'd hop on the train and make the trip to Venice. You're going to be messed up anyway, so maybe nap on the journey, and thereby get to spend the extra night in la Serenissima and wake up refreshed and ready to party. Milan is a modern city; Venice is magic.

I don't remember the train time but it is only about 3 hrs to Venice. When you come in from the airport you are at the train station. I would just grab a train to Venice. Even if you are asleep you ou cannot miss the stop since it dead ends in Venice.

I agree with Frank. There is a bus that will take you directly to Milano Centrale and from there it is only 2:35 train to Venice. The train is comfortable and it will give you time to decompress a little. I would recommend you know in advance where your hotel is located from the train station in Venice and have an idea the best way to get there. If your real goal is Venice and not Milan, don't waste time in Milan. Enjoy.

There are lots of trains from Milan to Venice. Just get the next one leaving once you get to the train station. Unless there are sights in Milan that you absolutely must see, I wouldn't waste that first day in a city that isn't important to you. If you're going to be jet lagged, do it sitting in a comfortable train seat. Then enjoy your first afternoon and evening in wonderful Venice.

This could be argued either way. Milan is beautiful. We could only stay two nights, but wouldn't have missed it, even for a day less in Venice. The historic center isn't at all modern. We stayed in a lovely hotel near everything, the Duca de York. The airport train ride is about 45 minutes and it's easy to hop in a cab and head for your hotel. For one night, I'd just soak up the ambiance and not try to do all the sights. That said, every one night stand does have some work involved with hotel check in, a bit of unpacking and repacking. If you go directly to Venice by train, I'd go for those reasons, not because Milan isn't worth the stop.

You might not be able to check in to a Milan hotel that early, so might as well proceed to Venice.

I would go straight to Venice. Three nights there is definitely better than two.

I would go straight to Venice. Three nights there is definitely better than two.

Andrea is succinct and correct

MXP to Milan Central is about an hour of travel, bus or train.

I would spend the first night in Venice, too. I spent one night in Milan and didn't really care for it. However, Milan is certainly worth seeing. As a compromise, you might spend a few hours there and take a later train on to Venice. Just leave your bags at Milano Centrale for a few hours and take the subway down to the Duomo and walk around a little. That would also let you book the train tickets to Venice long in advance and get the cheapest prices; you'd have a few hour buffer in case the plane is late. if it is on time, take the subway down to the Duomo; if not and you get into MXP a few hours late, just skip the tour and head right to Venice.

Some people will argue that it's too complicated to try to go wandering around for a few hours when you are jetlagged - but I have done this sort of thing numerous times. Works for me. I need to stay active and doing something the first day anyway - walking is best. (I always stay up the entire day after a red eye flight and go to sleep at local time the first night, to try to adjust to local time ASAP.)

Thanks so much for the advice - we have decided to head directly to Venice. Now we need to decide whether to buy the ticket from Centrale to Venice now or wait and see what is available on June 4th. There is a 12:45 Trenitalia and a 1:34 Italo that seem like could be good options.

Just for less stress, factor the base price into your budget, so you can buy the next train when you get to Milano Centrale. That way you are saving time, getting on the next one instead of waiting for a train you bought tickets for to leave. Its not worth stressing over trying to rush through the airport and train station after your international flight just to save some money, and if you miss it, you are wasting that money. You can absolutely take advantage of the super economy tickets for all of your other trips.

Buy your ticket to Venice at the airport when buying the train ticket to Central. There is a 7/11 type store in the station so you can buy some snack or a light lunch for the train - time permitting. Bring your first bottle of wine on the train to Venice.