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Italy

Travel to Milan

Flying to Milan

Airlines operating direct flights to Milan from the UK include British Airways, Alitalia and Lufthansa, as well as low-cost carriers Ryanair, easyJet and Jet2.com.

Flight times: 

From London - 2 hours; New York - 8 hours 30 minutes; Los Angeles - 11 hours 30 minutes; Toronto - 9 hours 15 minutes; Sydney - 23 hours 30 minutes.

Travel by road

Summary:

Italy has an excellent network of tolled autostrade (motorways), the main north-south link being the Autostrada del Sole, which links Milan with Reggio Calabria, in the toe of Italy. Those on a budget may prefer the strade statali, which are often fast, have multi-lane carriageways and are toll-free. Milan traffic drives on the right and the minimum age for driving is 18 years. Speed limits on motorways are 110-130kph (68-81mph). All those without an EU licence must carry an International Driving Permit. EU nationals taking their own car will need an International Insurance Certificate or Green Card (Carta Verde).

AutomobileClubd’Italia– ACI (tel: 06 491 115; www.aci.it) can provide further information.

Emergency breakdown service:

ACI (tel: 803 116).

Routes:

Milan is a major crossroads for traffic heading north, south, east and west. Italy's central artery, the A1 (Autostrada del Sole), travels due south from Milan to Reggio Calabria via Bologna, Florence, Rome and Naples. The A4 (Turin-Milan-Bergamo-Brescia-Verona-Venice-Trieste) forms the ring road skirting the north of the city. Named Autostrada Serenissima after Venice's nickname, this is the trouble spot where north-south and east-west traffic meet and drivers often feel anything but serene. Traffic from Varese and Lake Maggiore on the A8 and from Switzerland and Como on the A9 can also get tied up here. Genoa, to the southwest of Milan, is reached by the quieter A7.

Driving times:

From Turin - 1 hour; Bologna - 2 hours; Florence - 3 hours; Venice - 3 hours; Rome - 6 hours.

Coaches:

Milan has no coach station. Coaches for the airports run from the Air Terminal at the Stazione Central, while the principal intercity and international coaches depart from Piazza Castello, next to Castello Sforzesco. The coach company Autostradale (tel: 02 7200 1304; www.autostradale.com) provides information on connections to the rest of Italy. The Azienda Transporti Milanesi (tel: 800 808 181; www.atm-mi.it) office in Stazione Centrale also offers advice.

The international departures, operated by Eurolines (tel: 08 6155 4014; www.eurolines.it) from Piazza Castello, connect with services to most European cities. Direct services from Milan include Warsaw, Prague, Vienna and Istanbul.

Travel by rail

Services:

Milan trains are reliable and reasonably priced, although hefty supplements can be added depending on the type of train (Diretto, Inter-Regionale, InterCity or Eurostar). All train tickets must be validated by stamping them in the yellow machines on the platform before boarding.

The main railway station in Milan is the Stazione Centrale, Piazza Duca d'Aosta, which has high-speed links to other major cities in Italy including Bologna, Venice, Genoa, Turin, Florence and Rome. The vast neo-Babylonian facade dates from the 1930s, dwarfing the ticket offices below from where escalators rise to the platforms and shops. Milan has 10 other stations mostly feeding commuter routes. Porta Garibaldi has useful services to Varese, Bergamo and Cremona.

Operators:

Trains from Cadorna station (downtown Milan), including the Malpensa Express, are run by Ferrovie Nord Milano - FNM (tel: 02 8511 4382; www.ferrovienord.it). The Italian state railway, Trenitalia (tel: 892 021 in Italy only or 06 6847 5475; www.trenitalia.com), runs the rest.

The direct Rome-Milan service between Italy's most important business centres is fast and reliable (journey time – 4 hours). Services include the InterCity, with services to destinations such as Rome, and the luxurious Treno Eurostar, which also links Milan to Rome via Bologna (1 hour) and Florence (2 hours 10 minutes). For ports, there are regular trains to Venice (3 hours) and Genoa (1 hour 30 minutes). The EuroCity train services link Milan to more than 40 other European destinations.

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