Our family will be in Milan for several hours between landing at MXP and then taking a late afternoon train out of Milano Centrale (plan to check our bags there). We would like to visit the cathedral and do the rooftop tour by either stairs or the lift.
Due to EXPO2015, it seems that all of Milan's attractions are much more crowded so I want to make sure that we are prepared. I have heard that there are long lines to buy tickets but there are also some lesser known outlets to purchase them.
What I am confused about is knowing if this is a timed entry place? It seems that I can purchase tickets online that are valid anytime between May and October so there is no time associated with them. Has anyone done this that can explain the process? Will it enable us to skip the lines or do we have to go somewhere to get a timed entry after that? I would prefer to get the tickets ahead of time if it is going to save me a long wait in a line, especially since it would be nice to catch a couple more Milan sights that day if possible.
I am also wondering how bad it is to climb the stairs to the terraces? We have 3 sons ages 15, 12, and 9 with us. I figure that we will be a bit jet lagged so I don't know whether the climb is a bad idea or not.
Thanks for any tips in navigating this and please also let me know of any other short stops that 3 boys would enjoy in Milan.