How to Get to Milan, Italy
Milan can be reached by plane, including direct flights from Russia. The city is served by two main and two additional airports, and you should pay attention to this when choosing a flight: some of them are located quite far from the city. Trains and buses arrive in Milan from all over Italy and several foreign destinations. Both are quite convenient and budget travel options, which cannot be said about a car. Traveling to Milan in your car is convenient only if you are traveling all over the country, and Milan is just one of the points on your route. Or if you are going to stay not in the city itself, but in the suburbs, and from there get to the center by public transport. According to populationmonster, Milan is one of the largest cities in Italy.
Transportation
The entire public transport system of Milan is a single network. Therefore, she has the same tickets (and, by the way, very inexpensive), there are many interchange nodes, and it is difficult to get lost. The cost of a 90-minute ride on anything and anywhere is 2 EUR. The same unlimited ticket for 24 hours costs 5 EUR, and for 2 days – 10 EUR. Tickets can be bought from vending machines at metro stations, newsstands and tobacconists. The prices on the page are for August 2021.
Underground
The Milan metro system today consists of 4 branches: red M1, green M2, yellow M3 and lilac M5. This is not a typo: there is no M4 line in Milan. It was supposed to be opened back in 2015, just in time for the opening of the World Expo 2015 exhibition, but financial problems prevented it, and now the Milanese should wait for it at the earliest by 2022. But all trains on the M5 branch, the most modern in the city, are completely automatic and scurry along it in both directions without the participation of unreliable primate machinists.
The metro is open from 6:00 to 24:00 (on Saturday – until 1:00).
Buses and trams
Both those and others go around the clock in Milan. Upon entering the car or bus, you must validate your ticket in a special machine (for passing on an unmarked ticket, you will be fined). You need to buy a ticket in advance: they are not sold in cars and buses.
Free public transport cards can be found at the information office of the ATM management company at the Duomo metro station. Opening hours: 7:45-20:15 from Monday to Saturday.
Taxis
As elsewhere in Italy, it is impossible to catch a taxi with your outstretched hand – they will not stop, you must ask to call the hotel reception or call yourself.
- Center of Milan
Rent a Car
Having a car in Milan is convenient if you are going to explore the area. Firstly, you can go north, to the magnificent lakes, where it is not at all convenient to get there without a car. Secondly, visit the ancient Bergamo, Brescia, Piacenza and Verona itself: with a car, you can easily pack a couple, even three cities in one day. Finally, it would be nice to have a car for those who use the Milan-Bergamo airport, it is quite far from the city itself. But keep in mind that all entrances to Milan along the highway are paid, and quite long traffic jams often accumulate on them. You can rent a car from one of the many European and world car rental companies – Sixt, Hertz, Avis, Eurocar, etc.
Those who came to the city by car or rented a car on the spot should know the following information: parking on the city streets costs 2.50 EUR per hour (2 EUR for 5 hours after 20:00). To pay, you need to buy a SostaMilano card at a tobacco shop, erase the protective layer from the desired date and time of day, like in a lottery ticket, and then put it against the windshield inside the car.
Underground parking will cost EUR 5 for the first two hours and then from EUR 1.50 to EUR 2 for each subsequent hour.
In Milan there is the so-called Area C – the area of the historical center, where you can get from Monday to Friday from 7:30 to 19:30 by any type of transport only for a fee. You can get to Area C through one of the 43 points of Cerchia dei Bastioni. Payment methods: through special machines, using coupons purchased at tobacco and newsstands or on the website.
Communication and Wi-Fi
In 2012, about 500 urban Wi-Fi points were launched in Milan. After registering in the OpenWifi Milano network, everyone is entitled to 300 Mb of traffic daily, after which the speed drops to 192 Kb / s. But registering on the network is not so simple: it requires a mobile phone number as an ID, and users with a foreign SIM card can do this at an ATM hotspot in Duomo Square, which is open only at certain hours of the day. In addition, free Wi-Fi is available in a number of public places: Palazzo Marino, libraries, and some museums.
MilanoCard
MilanoCard is a typical discount card for city guests. It gives the owner the opportunity to use public transport (metro, tram, bus, city train) for free, visit about 20 city museums for free (or with a significant discount), as well as the right to special prices and offers in about 500 establishments, including restaurants, shops, exhibition and sports grounds, concert halls, wellness clubs, etc.
The most common types of MilanoCard are for 24 hours and for 3 days. There are also advanced options such as the MilanoCard plus the Vittorio Emanuele Gallery Rooftop Tour or TraMilano (includes the use of the Hop-On – Hop-Off Tourist Bus, which travels along a sightseeing route and allows passengers to get off and on at any stop as many times as they like during the day).
The card can be purchased in advance by paying with a bank card or via PayPal, and picked up at the airport, train station or at your hotel. The MilanoCard is issued to a specific person and cannot be transferred to others. Children under 10 receive a card free of charge.