MILAN · ITALY
A cathedral, a Leonardo, and the lakes next door.
The Last Supper, the Duomo terraces, La Scala and aperitivo on the Navigli. Then Lake Como, the Borromean islands and the Bernina line into the Alps, all an easy day from the centre.
Only in Milan
Three things you can only do here.
Cathedrals, museums and good food turn up in every Italian city. A wall Leonardo painted, a Gothic roof you can walk, and the stage opera measures itself against do not.
Painted here, 1498
The Last Supper
Leonardo painted it straight onto the refectory wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie, and it has never left the room. Only twenty-five people are let in at a time, for fifteen minutes, and the slots sell out weeks ahead. There is one Last Supper in the world, and this is the wall.
- 1 Milan: Guided Walking Tour & Last Supper Visit with Ticket
- 2 Milan’s Must See: Half-Day Tour of Last Supper, Duomo & La Scala
- 3 Milan: Last Supper Guided Visit
On the roof
The Duomo Terraces
You can walk the roof of the Duomo. A staircase and a lift lead up among 135 marble spires and a forest of statues, with the gilded Madonnina overhead and the whole city below, the Alps on the skyline on a clear day. No other Gothic cathedral lets you stroll its rooftop like this.
- 1 Milan Cathedral: Duomo Terraces Ticket (No Church Access)
- 2 Milan: Milan Cathedral Direct Entrance – Terrace Excluded
- 3 Milan: Fast-Track Milan Cathedral and Terraces Guided Tour
The home of opera
Teatro alla Scala
Verdi, Puccini and Bellini premiered work on this stage; Toscanini and Callas made their names on it. Step inside the red-and-gold horseshoe of boxes and the theatre museum, and you are standing in the room that has set the standard for opera for two and a half centuries.
- 1 Milan’s Must See: Half-Day Tour of Last Supper, Duomo & La Scala
- 2 Milan: La Scala Theater & Museum Guided Experience
- 3 Milan: “Museo Teatrale Alla Scala” Guided Tour
Start here
The one most people book first.
More visitors plan their Milan around this than anything else on the list. If you only pre-book one thing, make it this.
The classics
Milan's Most Popular Experiences
The Duomo and its terraces, the Last Supper, the Lake Como boats and the canal cruises. What most people come to Milan to do.
Where to begin
The experiences a Milan trip is built around.
The cathedral and its rooftop, Leonardo's Last Supper, a day on Lake Como, a Milanese cooking class, the red train into the Alps and the historic centre on foot. The handful most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
Beyond the city
Milan is the door to the lakes and the Alps.
Few cities put this much within a day return. Pick the one you have time for: the lake everyone pictures, the red train over the mountains, or the island gardens to the west.
The Milanese table
Saffron risotto, fresh pasta, a spritz at six.
Milan gave Italy its golden risotto, the breaded cutlet, panettone at Christmas and the aperitivo hour the rest of the country borrowed. Roll pasta by hand in a Navigli kitchen, or follow a local through the delis, markets and aperitivo bars of Brera with a glass in your hand.
Read the guide: the best food experiences in Milan →Aperitivo hour
When the canals turn gold.
The Navigli are the last open stretch of a canal network Leonardo himself helped engineer. Come evening the towpaths fill, the bars set out their aperitivo spreads, and a slow boat slides down water lit copper by the sunset. This is where Milan stops being all business and pours itself a drink.
Navigli canal cruises →Fashion & design
The city that dresses Italy.
Style runs through everything here, from the glass dome of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the world's oldest shopping arcade, to the four streets of the Quadrilatero della Moda where the great houses keep their flagships. A walking tour threads it all in one loop: the Duomo, the Galleria, La Scala and the windows in between.
- 1 Milan: Guided Walking Tour & Last Supper Visit with Ticket
- 2 Milan’s Must See: Half-Day Tour of Last Supper, Duomo & La Scala
- 3 Historic Milan Tour with Skip-the-Line Last Supper Ticket
By place
Milan and its day-trip orbit.
Milan for the cathedral and the Last Supper. Como and Maggiore for the water. The Bernina for the Alps. Venice for the gondolas. Bergamo for the walled town up the hill.
By type
Pick how to spend the day.
Walking tours for the centre. A boat for the lakes and the canals. A cooking class or a market crawl for the food. Bikes, wine and the open-top bus for the rest.
Plan it
Three perfect days.
First time in Milan? Here is a long weekend that takes in the city and the lake without a wasted hour.
Just added