OT Anyone help with a Visit to Milan
Velonutter
Posts: 2,437 Lives Here
My wife has had a pretty sh*tty time over the last year, so have booked a trip to Milan at the end of next month, only going for a long weekend, but would like to visit a bit of the beautiful design places/exhibtions and some culture.
Can anyone give me any suggestions if it may accidentally have some biking related things to do, then all the better ;-)
Many Thanks.
Can anyone give me any suggestions if it may accidentally have some biking related things to do, then all the better ;-)
Many Thanks.
0
Posts
stick with the older bits
for wandering the cathedral and area around it are good, the covered steet corso vittorio emanuelle has plenty of window shopping opportunities and is good for a snack or ice cream, especially if it's nippy out
for daytime bargain shopping head to corso buenos aires
the navigli area has lots of bars, restaurants, shops etc. along the canals
if you are arriving at linate, taxis are ok-ish, depends where you are going in milan, there are also loads of touts offering rides, i've not tried them, there's a bus service to the central station, so check best transfer options for where you are going to
from malpensa, a taxi is extortionate, the bus to the milan central railway station is fast, cheap, efficient and comfortable, the malpensa express train is faster but also good value
I'm staying at the hotel below which seems a very central part of the city: -
ADI Poliziano Fiera Hotel
Via Poliziano 11
Milan, MI 20154
Are there any bike shops that I should head to? :-)
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/colnag ... 40518.html
The metro is quick and cheap - the lines are colour coded so you can hope to different places in the city quickly - san siro is not so far away too, by train. A word of warning about the duomo, there are peeps there with bags of seed to feed the birds, they literally force handful of corn into your hand which you may take as a friendly thing, but they expect to be paid an extortionate amount - just tell them to eff off or call over one of the many patrols there - I spent a few weeks there round about this time a few years ago and they were out then.
Eateries round the piazza are a bit pricey but the service and staff are generally excellent.
Do check out opera house, its incredibly tiny. Oh and a convention that caught us out at dinner times about noonish in certain restaurants is that they expect you to pay first and then wait to take a seat to speed up time for the business queues. And if you can try and catch a film in the little cinema there - when we went they actually had a half time break and little italian lady came round selling ice cream.
It's a truly beautiful city, and more romantic this time of year i think,i can't think of a better way to raise your boyfriends spirirt (hehe), so enjoy and if you can try and grab a few sneaky pics of the T&A for the girls in knitwear thread.
momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself.
If yo uenjoy just mooching around and enjoying the winding aleyways, tiny streets, (great shops) and excellent food, I can highly recommend it !
Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved
I'm wondering now whether to hire a car and see some of the surroundings.
I really appreciate all your help.
I went late Jan last year - bring warm clothes - it was rather colder than Leeds! The Last Supper is worth visiting - normally you have to book weeks in advance but at this time of year you can be lucky. We had to wait an hour and a half!
There's a pretty good industrial museum with models of Da Vincis inventions, aircraft, a submarine and railway locomotives which is quite impressive and a change from the art galleries.
If you are feeling reckless and haven't already been, you can take the Eurostar and have a day trip in Venice which is relatively quiet at this time of year.
Not a great idea to head to the Lakes though - mostly all shut up for winter apparently.
I like Milan a lot.
There is - it's awful. A truly dreadful shop full of over-priced tat. The bikes are an example. Who'd spend 3 or 4 thousand Euros on an MTB hardtail equiped with Deore? :roll:
Plenty of pollution, noise, gray building, dirt, crime, selfish snobbish wealthy people.
But many people love it, including some of those who live in it.
For cycling is a very bad place. Too much traffic. Best places are Parco di Monza, anywhere near Lago di Como (Ghisallo Climb very strongly reccomended, especially from the north side).
If it's mid summer and you have one long full day here are two of the best possible climbs in the world:
Ride 1)
Get the earliest train from Stazione Centrale, with your bike, get off in Tirano. From Tirano ride into Switzerland up to Passo Bernina (that is a climb of 2000m climb elevation gain), the view is to die for. From Passo Bernina down to St. Moritz, then to Passo Maloja (it's flat), then to Chiavenna. You get get a train in Chiavenna, they are not supposed to let you take the bike on, but they probably would not mind, or ride more to Colico
Ride 2)
Same train. Get off at Tirano. Ride al the way up to Passo dello Stelvio. That is a climb of almost 2400m elevation gain, finishing at one of the bests cycling spot in the world (to be honest, the best ride to the STelvio is from the other side, but you can't do that in one day if you stay in Milan). Ride back. You could shorten it by cutting the least good part from Tirano to Bormio by doing that by bus.
I did both many times. Two of the best rides in the world I would say. But it must be full summer (because of the altitute, roads closed because of snow until late spring) and you need one long full day each.
If you are a woman who like fashion and has enough money, then Milan is the best place in the world. Forget London or Paris or New York (never mind I've never been in NY...).
Anywhere from Duomo (the cathedral) to Piazza San Babila.
BTW, "The Last Supper" of Michelangelo is worth a visit.