We went to Italy for the first time! Read all about our experience below 🙂
I used Skyscanner once again, and, of course, the cheapest airline was Ryan Air! We’ve flown with them many times, and it’s always been a pleasant experience. Our return flight cost £45. It’s a good deal, but I know you can get it even cheaper! You can set up Skyscanner alerts so you know when the price of your flights has gone up or down before booking 🙂
How to keep those Ryan Air flights cheap! Get yourself a Decthalon bag. It’s pretty much the same measurements as the non-priority carry on you’re allowed on the flight! Check out the link here.
Before you book any holiday I recommend going to https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice to see the latest entry requirements for the country you want to visit!
I used that website to check what I needed to do to enter Italy. I’m fully vaccinated, so I only needed to show my COVID pass to enter the country. Little Miss is not vaccinated (never will be), so I knew I would have to get her tested as she’s 6 years old.
Until 31 May, all travellers, aged 6 and over, must show one of the following:
- proof of vaccination OR
- evidence of a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours before entering Italy or a negative rapid lateral flow test taken within the 48 hours before entering Italy OR
- a COVID-19 recovery certificate, certifying that you have recovered from COVID-19 in the last 6 months
Let’s talk covid tests. We used https://www.qured.com where you can get test from as little as £12. You can use our code “KIDDO10” for 10% off.
I thought that I would mention that not a single soul checked my COVID PASS or little miss’ COVID test when we arrived in Italy! It’s still worth purchasing a test, though. Just because it happened to us doesn’t mean it will happen to you! It’s always better to be safe than sorry, and £12 for a test is not that expensive!
We took the coach from London Victoria to Stansted airport. This cost £33 return. You can use Tesco Clubcard vouchers to get money off!
We stayed at Idea Hotel Milano San Siro. I found this hotel on booking.com. For 2 nights I paid € 113.24 (around £97). City tax is €4 per person per night.
The hotel is pants and I wouldn’t recommend it at all!!!!!!
The hotel was a few minutes walk from https://www.acquaticapark.it/en/home-en/ and I was so sad it was closed. It would’ve made the trip perfect.
I paid £16.81 for a train ticket from the airport to Milan Centrale and then I purchased 3 day ticket to use on public transport for €12 (£10.34) little miss was free! Children up to 10 years old travel free of charge on all means of public transport in Milan (apart from travelling to and from the airport) .
These tickets (Mi1-Mi3 fare zones) are valid on metro lines, buses, trams, trolleybuses and are also accepted on S lines (suburban railways). Lots of info about how transport works can be found here.
Day 1
So this trip was completely unplanned! I went on to Tiktok and typed in “things to do in Milan” and found a load of ideas, so here’s what we did on day
Duomo di Milano – Milan’s stunning cathedral! It’s a beautiful place to take pictures. It does get really busy and there are lots of pigeons!
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II – Another stunning location in Milan! I couldn’t afford to go into any of the designer stores, but we got some incredible photos and videos.
The LEGO store – We came across some people holding LEGO bags, and little Miss was desperate to find the store. It was a really easy find!
Primark – 😂 I thank God for this place because I left some essentials at home! Good old Primark came to the rescue.
Granaio – We had dinner there and it was okay but overpriced! I still can’t believe how much I paid for Fanta! They have nice Gelato though 🙂
Day 2
Milano Centrale Railway Station was our first stop! It was really to get their from our hotel. We soon found an Aldi and bought a load of snacks for our unplanned day out.
Mercato Centrale – I found a place on Tiktok called Mercato Centrale. You can shop for groceries in all stores and even eat hot or cold food freshly prepared by their artisans. The food looked so good!
Sempomine Park—we loved this park. We saw lizards , turtles, and we even found a cute kid’s playground! This playground also had a miniature railway, mini go karts, and mini cars. Little Miss had the best time here!
Navigli – We also took a walk down the Navigli canal! I loved every minute of this! It’s a really beautiful part of Milan.
Piz– we had dinner at Piz after seeing so many good reviews! It was absolutely packed, and after eating the pizza, we could see why! The pizza was perfect! If you are in Milan, I strongly recommend a visit to Piz!
There was a train strike in our last day in Milan which meant we had to get the coach back to the airport! The coach stop is right outside Mercarto Centrale. The trip cost €10 for adults and €5 for kids aged 3–12 (roughly £12.80 in total). The journey lasted roughly an hour!
We absolutely loved our trip to Milan, and we will definitely visit again! Maybe with an actual plan next time.
Things to do in Milan with kids
- Museum of Science and technology.
- Muba Children’s Museum Milan.
- Hop on and hop off bus tour.
- San Siro Stadium.
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