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Transfer to Milan after late arrival at Malpensa Airport

Traveling next week with my mom and daughter on a two+ week trip to Italy. Our outbound trip is 17.5 hours, with a 6 hour layover in Dublin, arriving MXP at 21:35. What is the best option for getting to Milan (Hotel Berna) at that hour?

We ruled out the Malpensa Express train as timetables on both malpensaexpress.it and trenord.it show the last direct train leaves 21:43.

So now we are deciding between:
shuttle bus (more economical but includes walk, albeit short, with roller luggage late at night after long trip) vs.
taxi (tempting for the convenience but I've got RS words ringing in my ears "Milan is the last place I'd take an airport taxi.")

If we take the shuttle bus, are there any safety concerns walking from the bus terminal to Hotel Berna at that time of night? My mom is healthy and fit and has lived overseas but she is also petite and in her late 80's.

If we take a taxi, is it advantageous to arrange in advance vs just catching outside the airport terminal? I've seen both https://www.milanomalpensa-airport.com/en/from-to/by-taxi and https://www.milantravelservice.com/ recently recommended on the forum.

Thank you in advance for any insights!

Posted by
11755 posts

The bus service goes to the train station, so your no farther from your hotel than if you took the train. ( well, it did pre-covid when I was there)

Hotel Berna looks to be a 5 minute walk ( 0.2 mile) from Milano Centrale.

Posted by
3 posts

joe32F, thanks for confirming the walk from the bus station is reasonable. I found the MXP shuttle bus stop on west side of station and googlemaps is saying it's a 12 minute walk. Doable. Just still wondering about the prudence of walking there at that time of night with luggage. RS guide specifically mentions Centrale train station as an area of concern and I want to make sure this is reasonable plan traveling with an elderly parent. (She is spunky though!)

Posted by
7076 posts

If your budget allows— I believe the fixed rate for taxi is 110 euros
Just go to the official taxi rank in front of terminal

Posted by
1546 posts

After 17.5 hours of travel with 3 people and their luggage for 2+ weeks? Taxi.

Posted by
3 posts

ChristineH, symbolsun2024, and Trotter, thanks for weighing in. symbolsun2024 your comment "I don’t think Rick Steves is a petite 80 year old woman in Milan for the first time after midnight" made me laugh. So true. Taxi it is.