Going to Milan in September

Short story shorter, my wife has her flight and hotel for four nights in Milan all paid for by one of her professional associations, as a trade delegate from Alberta, or something like that. I am going along to help her out and then we’re spending three more nights at an Airbnb to get two full days of sight-seeing in.

We’re both relative noobs at travelling overseas and have a few questions. I’m looking for a day-pack to carry a few non-essentials in. Not being the most stylish person, is something like this https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07RTTNKZD/...v_ov_lig_dp_it okay? Also, does wearing it in front look okay and is it necessary for security, or does it just look dumb?

Is something like this https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01IBGAWWA/...v_ov_lig_dp_it necessary (for her)?

I like that I can use the shoulder/chest bag as a carry on as well as hold enough stuff for the day. Biggest day will likely be an excursion to Lake Como. Other than that, just a couple of main sights my wife wants to see.

Anything to really know about getting around Milan?

Internet and Google map today should give you all the public transportation info to get around. Worse come to worse, taxi.

Milan is relatively safe during the day. Just be more aware of your surroundings especially near transport hubs. Be careful when people approaches and try to distract you. It's no better or worse than any major cities.

Milan was a dump. Would never go back.

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Originally Posted by lasimmon

Milan was a dump. Would never go back.

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I kinda agree. It's good that OP planned some day trips away from it.

nothing really much to do in Milan other than visiting the center where the duomo and galleria vittorio emanuele is.
you could go see the last supper painting. watch an Inter or Milan soccer game.

seems like you are going to Lake Como already, that was my recommendation but maybe stay overnight?
we stayed 2 nights in Varenna and visited Bellagio and Menaggio.


if you want to try traditional milan dish then order ossobuco, cotoletta alla milanese and vitello tonnato.

my wife and i went to stresa on lake maggiore a couple of years ago. we just took the train to milan, and it was super easy. we spent a day in milan, and i think it was more than enough for us; there really weren't many touristy things to do there that interested us. we just used google and took the subway to get to our destinations. milano centrale felt so sketchy, though, so we definitely had to be more careful when we we were there.

i've never been to lake como, but i'm sure you'll have a great time there!

Thanks for the suggestions all. My wife is a huge admirer of art and architecture (who isn't to some extent), so in Milan, The Last Supper and the big cathedral (largest in Italy, iirc) are really the two main things we will see there. Lake Como should be good; just trying to figure out how we want to go about it (on a tour or more self-guided).

if you dont mind going outside of Milan, check Certosa di Pavia, I remember doing a school field trip there when I was a kid. It's just 20-30min south of Milan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certosa_di_Pavia

Look up the ticket availability for the last supper now, you can't just buy same day ticket there. When I went 2 years ago I bought my ticket way ahead of time and there wasn't a lot of availability. You can also buy ticket for Pinacoteca di Brera (art gallery). You can walk in for free but you need ticket to see the exhibit.
https://www.cenacolo.it/the-last-supper/
The Duomo/Galleria area is super packed during the day. Try going there in the morning or later. You can pay to go to the top of Duomo, gives you a pretty good view of Milan.
The Sforzesco castle is free.
I stayed not too far from Centrale station and I walked to Piazza Gae Aulenti one day, it's a newer shopping mall and you can see the green building (Bosco Verticale) from there.
I agree that other than the few famous things, Milan is not my favourite city of Italy neither.

Oh, Monza is not too far but I'm not sure how much is there to check out.

I just got back from an Asia trip and one of the things I will buy prior to next trip is a shoulder sling bag. That one from amazon looks half decent.

I have heard that Milan is hub for shopping and fashion, is it true or could be seen any specific destinations???