City edition
Where to stay in Milan
Milan is a working city, and the Collection reads it that way: flats first, then the two small houses worth the walk. Every entry ends in the address’s own contact, at the address’s own price.
Brera Apartments
Brera, Garibaldi, Centro Storico
Serviced apartments across several buildings
13 in Brera, 21 in Garibaldi, 33 in the old town
The nightly rate is not published; ask the address.
Aparthotel Duomo
Historic centre, one minute from Piazza del Duomo
Apart-hotel
5 apartments, 35 to 40 sqm
The nightly rate is not published; ask the address.
Hotel Maison Borella
Navigli, on the Naviglio Grande
Small independent hotel
The nightly rate is not published; ask the address.
3Rooms at 10 Corso Como
Corso Como, Porta Garibaldi
Small independent hotel
3 suites
The nightly rate is not published; ask the address.
Staying in Milan
Milan is not a holiday city and it does not pretend to be. People come here for a fair, a showroom, a season of work, a hospital, a school. That shapes the stay: what you want is a flat near the line that takes you to where you are working, in a quarter where something is open when you finish.
The centre is a ring — the Cerchia dei Navigli, the line of the old canals — and almost everything a visitor needs sits inside it or one stop beyond. The trade is simple: inside the ring you walk everywhere and pay for it; just outside, in Brera or Garibaldi, you get space and a neighbourhood that is still awake at ten.
Where to sleep, and what it means
- Brera
- The art quarter, cobbled, low buildings, the best evening walk in the city. Central without being on the Duomo. The first place to look for a long stay.
- Porta Garibaldi and Porta Nuova
- The new towers and the station that takes you to the airports and to Switzerland. Where the business stays go. Modern flats, and the only part of Milan with a skyline.
- Centro Storico, around the Duomo
- Inside the ring, everything on foot, and the quietest nights in the centre because so little of it is residential. Pay for the location, not for the character.
- Navigli
- The two surviving canals, and the only part of Milan that stays out late by habit. Lovely to stay on, loud on a Friday. Ask which side of the water the room faces.
What a visitor asks first
- When is Milan hardest to stay in?
- Fair weeks — Salone del Mobile in April and the fashion weeks in February, June and September. Every rate in the city moves and the good apartments go months ahead. If your dates touch one of those weeks, contact the address directly and early; that is exactly when an OTA has nothing left and an owner still does.
- Which airport?
- Linate is fifteen minutes from the centre and is the one to ask for. Malpensa is the long-haul airport, roughly fifty minutes by the train from Cadorna or Centrale. Bergamo is neither, whatever the ticket says.
- Is August a good month?
- It is the cheapest and the emptiest. Much of the city closes for two weeks around the 15th, including the restaurants you came for. Good for space, bad for a first visit.
The next city, before anyone else
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