Amazing Day Trips Departing from Milan
Make the most out of your stay in Milan by visiting some of these beautiful cities not far away from the town: Como, Crema, Bergamo and Florence.
By Brandon De La Garza and Dominic Pautler
Lago di Como — Brunate
Como is a town 50 km away from Milan, in this city you’ll find Lago di Como, a beautiful lake which connects the cities of Bellagio, Menaggio, Argegno, Brienno, Como and many others. To arrive to this beautiful town you need to buy a ticket which is approximately €10–12 round trip, you can buy the tickets on the official page of Trenord. There are three main stations in Como, we recommend to take the train from Milano Cadorna to ‘Como Lago Nord’, since this station is right in front of the lake and it is only a three minute walk to get to the city center.
If you are in the center you can visit the ‘Duomo’ which is a beautiful gothic cathedral finished in the year 1770, you can also drink a coffee or have some food in the ‘piazza’ for a great view of the Duomo while you eat.
Como is also the home town of Alessandro Volta, the chemist and physicist who invented the electrical battery. You can visit the ‘Tempio Voltiano’, a neoclassical temple dedicated to the life and work of Alessandro Volta. To discover more about this history, you can go to the official page by clicking here.
You can also visit ‘Life Electric’ a beautiful monument erected in the center of Lake Como, it is inspired by the tension that occurs in the inside of a Battery and it is dedicated as well to Volta.
While you’re in Como we highly recommend yo visit the town of Brunate. To reach Brunate, you just need to take the ‘Funiculare Como-Brunate’ (cost is €5.50 round trip) which will take you up the mountain in a mere ten minutes. Here you’ll have beautiful views from the city and you can have dinner while watching the lake and you can visit the Faro Voltiano.
Florence
Florence is slightly over 300 kilometers away from Milan, but easily reachable by train in less than two hours from Milan’s central station.
While you can certainly spend more than one day Florence if you are an art and history lover, one day is certainly enough to get a feel for the wonderful city. Being the birthplace of the Renaissance, Florence offers a rich cultural and artistic history.
One of the great influences is of course the Catholic Church. Because of this you can find many beautiful churches around Florence besides just the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (referred to as the duomo), although the dome on the duomo is truly second to none. The inside of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore is not as impressive as other churches around Florence besides the dome. If you would like to visit the Cathedral, climbing the dome is the best option. Buying tickets ahead of time is mandatory. A link to tickets can be found here.
Because most people simply visit the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, you can take advantage of this by seeing some of Florence’s other beautiful churches. To see incredible artwork and a beautiful decorated church, visit San Croce. The queue is usually short enough and the admission is ten euros. For the best view of Florence, head to Piazzale Michelangelo, and visit San Miniato Church. Admission is free, and it is one of the most beautiful and traditional churches in Florence, as it use to serve as a Benedictine monastery. The trek to this spot is most enjoyable either first thing in the morning, or towards the evening to watch the sun set over Florence.
For the art lovers, Florence is a paradise. The Uffizi gallery houses brilliant paintings and sculptures such as Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” and “La Primavera”. And of course you cannot skip the Accademia which houses Michelangelo’s magnificent “David”. Unless you fancy waiting in a queue for half of your visit, it is highly recommended to buy tickets for both the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia online. Both of these museums are a must while in Florence. The art is much more enjoyable if you know what you are looking at, so do some research before hand to see what pieces in the gallery spark your interest. The more you appreciate the history, the more you will appreciate the art.
Bergamo
Bergamo is an easy fifty minute train ride from Milano Centrale. You can buy the tickets in Omio. Similar to Como it is very inexpensive to travel to Bergamo, at only eleven euros round trip.
Bergamo is very unique and wonderful because you can experience both a quaint city, beautiful nature, and a delicious gelato flavor created in Bergamo.
First you will want to visit the “Città Alta” or the city center. One of the main attractions here is the Duomo di Bergamo or the Cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore. This beautiful cathedral features an ornate inside with many frescoes and beautiful carvings.
Bergamo is surrounded by beautiful mountains and so there is plenty of nature to take in whether you want to go hike or view the nature in a little more civilized way. If you want to see beautiful gardens and take in a terrific view of Bergamo, you need to visit Orto Botanico di Bergamo. Take your time strolling through the beautiful landscapes and take in arguably the best view of the city. To learn more visit the link by clicking here.
Finishing up your day, do not forget to stop by a local gelateria to try the gelato flavor stracciatella. Stracciatella is a very popular gelato flavor all across Italy and it was created here in Bergamo in the mid-Eighteenth Century in a gelateria that used to be Bettolina which is now named Marianna. Because of this, it is a popular and delicious flavor that you cannot miss during your time in Bergamo.
Crema
Crema is a city situated 39 kilometers away from Milan, if you want to experience a real Italian city, this is the place to be. There are two trains departing from Milan, one from Centrale and another one from Porta Garibaldi. We recommend to take the one from Porta Garibaldi so you don’t have to take a connecting train, for both of them the round price is eleven euros. You can check the schedules and buy your ticket in the official page of Trenord.
In this city you can find the Duomo di Crema, a roman-gothic church dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta that was finished in the year of 1381.
In this town they recorded some scenes of the movie Call Me By Your Name starring Timotheé Chalamet and Armmie Hammer, so you can look for some of the spots that appear on the movie, here’s a document with the specific locations.
One kilometer away from the city center you can find the Santuario Santa Maria della Croce, a beautiful basilica which could have been perfect example of the Lombardian Rennassaince , its construction began on 1490 with the renassaint ideas of Giovanni Battaglio and finished by Giovanni Antonio Montanaro in 1500, but sadly it was finished in a gothic style.
