Milan with Kids: Itinerary & Recap
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This is a recap of our trip to Milan with kids.
Our second official Spring Break Family trip was a week split between Rome, Venice, and Milan Italy. The entire trip, from start to finish, was absolutely awesome!
Italy is a beautiful country and we can’t wait to go back! Here is a run down of our Milan with kids itinerary.
Disclaimer: I love agendas. I love knowing what to do and when to do it for every moment of my life. My girls do not. Somehow, in all their glory, their naps and hungry bellies always seem to put my best laid plans to rest. Solution? Realize the destination is the agenda, create a loose framework, and go with the flow.
[Remember the things I learned from traveling overseas with kids?]
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DAY ONE: Checking into our hotel, the Milan Duomo, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
We took a late morning Trenitalia train from Venice to Milan with the kids and arrived late afternoon. As usual, we dedicated our first day in a city to arriving, getting settled, and eating.
The Milano Centrale train station can be a little overwhelming – especially with kids and luggage — so prepare yourself. Here are some tips to help you:
- Potty on the train before debarking so you can avoid the hunt for a suitable bathroom within the train station.
- Don’t take rides from people outside of the taxi line. Proceed to ground transportation.
- Watch your luggage. And your kids! There is a lot of movement at this train station and some folks there with not the best of intentions. Keep an eye on everything and don’t accept help from strangers.
- Take the elevators if you have a lot of luggage or a stroller or are handicap-able. Ground transportation is on the upper levels and there are many steps and [crowded, sometimes not functional] escalators to get there. The elevators are crowded too but it can get you where you’re going without all the stops in between.
- Look for the taxi line to the side of the building. Just when you think you’ve walked too far you’ve found the taxi rank.
Settling in and Checking into our Hotel
Hotel: NH Collection Milano President, Junior Suite
Overall Rating: 5/5 — location was in the middle of everything [you even get a view of the Duomo], wonderful service from the employees, and THE BEST BREAKFAST EVER!
NH Collection Hotels are easily my favorite chain of hotels in Europe. Our stay here was our first experience with the NH Collection chain but it definitely won’t be our last! In fact, we might make a stay in one of their 5-star hotels our last stop for every Spring Break trip.
Everyone from check-in to check-out was super nice, very helpful, and extremely friendly. They knew we were coming with kiddos and set our room up with the sofa bed already extended. They also decorated our room with things for the girls like stuffed animals, notebooks, candy, etc. You can read more about our experience at the hotel here. Highly recommend this place when visiting Milan with kids!
Video Tour of our room at NH Collection Milano President on IGTV
The Milan Duomo
The Milan Duomo is arguably the highlight of Milan and was our very first stop after checking in! There is a huge piazza [plaza] surrounding the buildings that kids love. They can feed the many [many!] pigeons in the square or ride scooters around freely. We were deterred by the long line outside of the building and decided not to enter the Duomo. If you decide to go inside [you totally should] buy your tickets online in advance. You can get more helpful information to help with your visit to the Duomo here.
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
If it is possible to fall in love with a shopping mall then I’ve fallen completely head over heels for the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Yes, it is mostly known for its high end shopping. Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Prada are all here. But so are cool book shops that the kids will love, artwork that makes an awesome educational lesson for the kids, and fun little tricks to entertain [like spinning on the bull in the middle of the mall]. There is even a beloved McDonald’s there.
Be on the lookout for street performers too. We had a blast boogieing down in front of the Duomo!
DAY TWO: Kids Pizza Making Class, A Visit to NanoBlue Milan [Toy Store], Rinascente & Area Exploration
Kids Pizza Making Class
Y’all, we made pizza. In Italy. With real-life Italians! Mind = blown. The concierge at NH Collection Milano President was nice enough to suggest and arrange a pizza making class for the kiddos at Casa Rossopomodoro. They got to make the dough themselves, assemble their heart shaped pizzas with all the toppings, and watch them bake in the wood fire oven — all for only 10 Euros per kid.
It probably goes without saying that this was one of the highlights of our entire trip. So much so that the girls have requested that we make this a tradition for our future Spring Break trips as well.
You can read more about our experience in class and see other kid cooking classes in Milan here: Kids Cooking Classes in Milan.
A Visit to NanoBlue Milan [Toy Store]
Did you know there is an old fashioned toy store right there in the heart of Milan called Nano Bleu? It is a three level store with everything from stuffed animals and wooden toys to legos and surprise eggs! They have all the popular toys [at a price] but they also have some one of a kind toys that we have yet to see the US. And trust me, if they were here in the States the girls would know!
Nano Blue is located a few blocks from the Duomo so is an easy stop while checking out the other sites. Fair warning, the prices in NanoBlue aren’t for the faint of heart but it is definitely worth the time to stop and explore. Find the life sized lego man and take a picture!
Check out other Milanese toy stores here!
Rinascente & Area Exploration
Rinascente is a super ginormous department store located within the Duomo/Galleria area in Milan. I know a department store doesn’t really sound like a tourist attraction that the kids would fawn over. But it’s so much more than apparel! On the upper floors, they have restaurants, a roof top bar, a mini grocery store with speciality food items, and a huge sparkling glass cookie case filled with treats. They even had cookies with a picture of the Duomo on them. With delicacies like that, how could we not stop by?
In fact, the entire Duomo area was filled with surprises like the Rinascente! There was the Milano Food Square at il Mercato del Duomo with all sorts of edible goodies. And can’t forgo mentioning Cioccolati Italiani where we practically died and went to chocolate heaven.
Our trip to Milan was way too short and we can’t wait to return! If you want to see other fun things to do in Milan with kids, here are 25 Amazing Things to Do in Milan With Kids!
You can also see our entire trip costs here: Family Exclusives | Downloads
Have you been to Milan with kids? What are your favorite things to do? Leave a comment below!
