We visited Milan with kids age 12,11,11 over the Easter weekend in 2023. We had a fab trip to Milan with kids but a few things made our trip that little bit easier.
Where to stay in Milan with Kids – Tips you need to know
Firstly choose the location of your accommodation based on the trip you want to do and which metro line/tram line/bus you’re likely to use.
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Accommodation outside of walking distance to the centre of Milan will be significantly cheaper but will involve taking tired children on various tube and bus lines if you’re not careful.
We chose to stay at the Sheraton San Siro which was at the end of the M5 metro line. Actually a 15 minute walk/or a bus ride, which wasn’t ideal for all of or trip but made sense because we were going to a late night AC Milan game which meant we could simply walk there and back rather than using busy public transport, and we were also taking the twins to Parkrun which was also on the M5 metro line so again easy for an early morning trip.
If you are simply intending to do a day trip and visit central Milan, perhaps choose a hotel on the M3 or the M1 which goes straight into the centre and the Duomo metro stop.
Using the Metro in Milan with Kids – Tips you need to know
It’s worth knowing (as we didn’t until we asked a helpful chap) that under 14’s are FREE on the Milan transport network. That includes the Metro, buses and trams. This is fantastic for a family and makes for a significant saving. It’s only under 6’s for example that go free on transport in Venice, everyone else pays full price.
To make use of the FREE travel on transport in Milan with kids you simply need to use the larger gates at the metro stations and often you’re just waved through.
We chose to buy a 3 day travel card for our time in Milan and definitely got our monies worth. For (13 € pp) you got unlimited bus, tram and metro usage within a 72 hour period. We just bought this from the ticket machines when we arrived. For more Milan Travel tips.
Free things to do in Milan with kids – Tips you need to know
Milan is a very expensive city. Museums, the Duomo, the restaurants all cost a lot of money so it’s useful to find free things to do in Milan with kids, as when you add up all the ticket costs, entry to museums and the like all adds up.
You can read more on the Free things to do in Milan with kids here.
Book tickets in advance when travelling to Milan with Kids – Tips you need to know
If there are things you definitely want to do in Milan with kids then book tickets in advance. We didn’t realise this and struggled to book tickets for some museums over Easter weekend.
Tickets for the Last Supper are notoriously hard to get and whilst it might not be at the top of your kids list to see, if you want to see it then you have to plan.
Things that you might want to do though, also involve planning. We achieved a trip to the Duomo by booking the day before, and there was a minimal queue at 2.30pm but I couldn’t for the life of me get tickets for the terraces (for views across Milan) and I really did think I wanted to do that. To be honest I’m actually quite glad as unless you buy Fast Track tickets, the queue for pre-booked time slot tickets was actually an hour long and I’m not sure I wanted to see it that much.
Fly into a different city and get the train to Milan
When we were looking at trips to Venice and Milan I realised that the cheapest place to fly into in the region was Verona. It was actually £1000 cheaper for our family of five and the flights were at very civilised times.
It’s worth knowing that you can easily navigate the train system in Italy and ensure you don’t overpay. To find out how to buy Italian train tickets, just click on this link to our blog post.
Karen Beddow founded Mini Travellers in 2014 while doing what she loves most...going on holiday!
Mini Travellers is for parents looking for holiday ideas, destination reviews, days out and things to do with the kids. We also have family travel tips, activity ideas and all other things family holiday related. Take a look at some of our latest reviews for holidays and day trips in the UK.