The Duomo takes a morning. The lakes take the rest.
Which cathedral ticket actually reaches the roof terraces. How far ahead the Last Supper goes. Whether Como or the Bernina train is the better day north. Reviews of every tour you can book in Milan.
A roof you can walk on, a fresco with a waiting list, a lake by lunchtime.
The four bookings a first trip to Milan is built around. What each one costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The first morningCathedral and Duomo’s Terraces Entrance TicketCathedral entry plus the stairs to the terraces, out among the spires with the Alps behind them on a clear day.
02The one that goes firstLast Supper Guided VisitFifteen minutes in front of the Last Supper, in a refectory that admits thirty-five people at a time.
03The day northLake Como & Bellagio DayTour with Private CruiseComo, Bellagio and a private boat between the villages. Ninety minutes from Centrale and back for dinner.
04The eveningPasta and Tiramisu Cooking Class with WineFresh pasta rolled by hand, then tiramisù and wine, in a kitchen a short walk from the canals.
Two tickets decide a Milan weekend. Buy them in this order.
The cathedral, its roof and Leonardo’s refectory all run on timed entry with a fixed number of bodies per slot. Here is what each way in costs and which one to lock down first.
Milan first, then the water an hour north.
A cathedral you are allowed to walk on top of, a fresco with a waiting list, a canal quarter that fills at six, and the lakes and Alpine trains that leave Centrale before nine.
The Milan tickets everybody books.
Every Milan tour we have reviewed →The days out more travellers take than anything else in the city, and what earns each one the slot.
1
Cathedral and Duomo’s Terraces Entrance Ticket
This self-guided ticket gives you access to Milan’s cathedral, rooftop terraces, Duomo Museum, and Church of St. Gottardo in Corte. Use the pass within 48 hours, visit each site once, and choose an audio guide or elevator option when available. Expect security checks, stairs, and a strict dress code.
From · $30
Read our review →
2
Duomo Terraces Ticket (No Church Access)
from $22
3
Milan Cathedral Direct Entrance – Terrace Excluded
from $13
4
Guided Walking Tour & Last Supper Visit with Ticket
from $101
5
Fast-Track Milan Cathedral and Terraces Guided Tour
from $46
6
Navigli Canal Boat Cruise
from $25
7
Serravalle Designer Outlet Roundtrip Bus Transfer
from $28
8
Milan’s Must See: Half-Day Tour of Last Supper, Duomo & La Scala
from $130
Risotto the colour of saffron, pasta rolled by hand, and an aperitivo that turns into dinner.
Milan drinks early and eats late. Put the pasta and tiramisù class in the afternoon, the market walk before it, and leave six o’clock free for a spritz on the canal.
- 1The Secrets to Learn Fresh Pasta and Tiramisù in a Glam Homefrom $90
- 2Pasta and Tiramisu Cooking Class with Winefrom $61
- 3Milan’s Authentic Street Food tour: A Gourmet Experiencefrom $116
Every good lake is ninety minutes from Centrale.
Como for the villages and the boat that links them, Garda for the water, Lugano for the border, and the red Bernina train for the day that ends in snow. All of them get you back to Milan for dinner.
What a day out in Milan actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. The cathedral, the castle and the canal boat sit at the cheap end. The lakes and the Alpine trains are where the money goes.
Cathedral and castle entry, audio walks, the canal boat, and the museums on a hot afternoon.
A Last Supper slot with a guide, the pasta classes, and the standard Como and Lugano days.
Private drivers, Ferrari country, Cinque Terre and Venice by fast train.
Four Milan bookings that will not wait for you.
Most of this city can be decided over breakfast. These four run on timed slots, a thirty-five-person room and a football calendar, and they are gone weeks before you land.
- 01Guided Walking Tour & Last Supper Visit with TicketThe refectory takes thirty-five people for fifteen minutes. Slots are released in blocks and the civilised hours go the day they open.
- 02Cathedral and Duomo’s Terraces Entrance TicketRoof entry is timed to the quarter hour, and the late-afternoon slots, the ones with the light, sell out first.
- 03Bernina Red Train, Swiss Alps & St Moritz From MilanSeats on the red train are reserved, not yours by default. Summer and the snow weeks fill months out.
- 04La Scala Theater & Museum Guided ExperienceThe house is a working opera theatre first. Rehearsals and performances close the auditorium to visits at no notice, so the tour dates are fewer than the calendar suggests.
When half the city shuts for Ferragosto and the rest sits at thirty-four degrees.
Milanese leave in August. Kitchens close for a fortnight around the fifteenth, the pavements hold the heat until midnight, and what stays open is indoors or on water. Book the galleries and the theatre for the middle of the day, then take a train north after lunch.
Three things that happen here and nowhere else.
Cathedrals and canal quarters exist all over Italy. A marble roof you are allowed to walk across, a refectory wall that took Leonardo three years, and a bar hour that feeds you do not.
The Duomo terraces
Six centuries of work left a cathedral with a walkable roof: a slope of pink Candoglia marble threaded with flying buttresses, 135 spires and, at the top, a gilded Madonna the city refuses to build above. Lift or 250 steps, the ticket is timed either way, and the late-afternoon slots are the ones with the light on the stone.
- 1Cathedral and Duomo’s Terraces Entrance Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 61,054 reviews
- 2Duomo Terraces Ticket (No Church Access)★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 6,111 reviews
- 3Milan Cathedral Direct Entrance – Terrace Excluded★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 5,782 reviews
Leonardo’s Last Supper
Leonardo painted it onto dry plaster instead of wet, which is why it began flaking within a generation and why the room is now climate-locked. A 1943 bomb took the refectory roof and one wall; sandbags saved this one. Groups of thirty-five go in for fifteen minutes, which is the whole reason the tickets are so hard to get.
- 1Guided Walking Tour & Last Supper Visit with Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 5,409 reviews
- 2Milan’s Must See: Half-Day Tour of Last Supper, Duomo & La Scala★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 4,193 reviews
- 3Last Supper Guided Visit★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,854 reviews
Aperitivo on the Navigli
The canals were dug to float the cathedral’s marble in from Lake Maggiore, and Leonardo worked on the locks. What is left of them is now the city’s evening: order a Campari or a spritz on the Naviglio Grande and the buffet comes with it, generously enough that Milanese treat the hour as supper.
- 1Navigli District Canal Boat Tour with Aperitivo★★★★★★★★★★ 3.6 · 3,253 reviews
- 2Sunset Navigli Food & Drinks Tour by Do Eat Better★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 517 reviews
- 3Navigli Food & Drinks Tour with Eating Europe★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 394 reviews
In Milan the shopping is a sight, whether or not you buy anything.
Four streets of fashion houses behind the Duomo, an 1877 arcade with a mosaic bull worn hollow by the heels of people spinning on it for luck, and outlet buses that leave in the morning and come back full.
Every shopping and fashion day →
By landmark, and by lake
Duomo, Leonardo, the canals, then Como and the train to the snow.
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