Conner & I are living our best DINK (dual income no kids) life and took a long weekend to go to Italy last week. We mainly went to see a rivalry soccer game between AC Milan and Inter Milan, which has been on Conner’s bucket list for years and I’ll never turn down a trip to Italy so we made it happen. I’m recapping our trip with general tips and must sees below!
General Italy Tips
- You have to bring outlet adapters, my favorite one is THIS, it has a USB-C and several other outlets all in one adapter which is super convenient for charging my phone, back up battery, etc all at once.
- You can buy an outlet converter which is different than just an adapter, but to be honest I’m not sure how reliable they are. As a personal golden rule I do not attempt to use any devices that are not dual voltage. For example: my Sedu hair straightener is dual voltage but my Dyson is not (the stickers attached to cord/the device itself specify this), so for our Sicily trip last year I bought THIS big blow dry brush that is dual voltage so I didn’t risk breaking my $600 Dyson.
- Italy always has bottled water, there’s no tap water at so what we have found helpful is stopping by a local market or grocery store and buying a couple big liter water bottles (normally at a market these will be ~50 cents each compared to 2+ euros at a hotel or restaurant).
- Passports: all hotels will ask for your passports when you check in and when shopping in Italy if you are buying something that is eligible for tax refund you will also need your passport information.
Milan
Conner and I both agree that ~2 full days in Milan is probably all you need to explore and get a good feel for the city (3 would be the max I’d recommend). It rained the entire time during our full day there this past trip so we didn’t get to see everything we originally wanted to but we still had a great time. Some additional things we planned on doing that we didn’t get to include:
- Naviglio Pavese
- Santa Maria Presso San Satiro
- Last Supper painting
- Piazza Castello
Where We Stayed – Sheraton San Siro
- This is a bit outside the city center but we picked this location for proximity to the stadium so that we didn’t have to take the subway in the chaos. They do have shuttle service into the city but this has limited capacity so you’ll want to reserve in advance. It is also possible to take a taxi into the city and back (~26 euros one way).
- Parking garage was larger than our Lake Como hotel but may still fill up during peak months so I’d try to reserve ahead of time.
- Honestly was not impressed with this breakfast, it was 26 euros so only 3 euro cheaper than Lake Como but was not worth the price to me at all. If we stayed here again I wouldn’t eat breakfast there and I’d opt for a local cafe.
- Steak restaurant onsite came highly recommended and is owned by one of the AC Milan players.
Milan Driving Tips
- Driving in the city is possible if you have a rental car but here are a few things to keep in mind. There is a lot of parking but it can be a little hectic to find a garage with capacity (especially on a weekend). The garage we used was underground and had a mechanical car lift and elevator to bring the cars below, we got a glimpse at the below storage and it was crazy probably 7 stories high of cars!
- We were also told there is a tax of ~7.5 euros to drive a gas vehicle into the city on week days but not on weekends (not sure how this tax is captured/payed for but our hotel warned us about this).
Duomo di Milano
- I cannot recommend visiting this church enough, Conner and I have seen so many historic churches in Italy but this one is beyond words. The scale is unbelievable and simply stunning.
- This church requires tickets to enter so buy tickets ahead of time online (HERE) because there is always a long line at the ticket office. Don’t worry about the exact entry time on the tickets you purchase, no one ever checked the time we were entering just that we had a ticket in general. You’ll want to buy tickets that include the rooftop terrace which has incredible views and allows you to see the top of the church architecture up close. There are also crypts and other things to explore that come with other more comprehensive tickets.
- You do have dress code restrictions here while other churches in Italy we’ve been to (besides the Vatican) do not. This generally means shoulders and knees need to be covered and the website states no skirts, shorts, tank tops, etc.
Shopping
- Shopping in Italy is amazing whether you are looking for little keepsakes, ceramics, designer items etc. We got some ceramic serving plates and bowls in Sicily last year that we can’t wait to use for Sunday dinners when we get a house. BUT, what I’m sure most of you want to know about is shopping designer in Italy so see THIS blog post for all the juice there.
- Milan has a ton of shopping to offer and there are stores spread out all over the city. A large hub for shopping is at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II which is essentially a shopping mall with all the big name designers and there are a lot of restaurants and cafes inside as well. The Galleria is located right next to the Duomo square so it is very busy and popular with tourists.
- A less touristy stretch of shopping can be found along Via Monte Napoleone and the surrounding area. A lot of the stores that can be found in the Galleria have stores in this area and per the sales associates these stores are where they locals normally shop (there is Prada, Gucci, YSL, Chanel, etc). Also a note if you have your eye on a Chanel, every store did tell us we had to have an appointment, so definitely make one if you want to shop Chanel.
Soccer Game at San Siro Stadium
- Conner and I have now been to two AC Milan games and each time was so fun! Our first game was back in August of 2018 when we did a Contiki tour during college. We were only in Milan for one night and it happened to be a day they had a game so it was perfect timing. This time we planned our trip around the game because it was a rivalry game against the other Milan team which Conner has always wanted to see in person.
- The atmosphere of Italian soccer games is like nothing here in the US. The vibe of the Super Bowl is maybe equivalent the a normal game in Italy. When we went to the rivalry game each end of the stadium had these huge elaborate signs that all three sections created, there are always giant flags waving and there were so many flares lite during the game that the smoke covered the entire field.
- There are no official stadium bag rules like there are in the stadiums here. I saw women with large bags so size shouldn’t be a problem for purses. They do have a list of restricted items on their website. I didn’t bring my purse or my small Canon camera to be on the safe side but looking back I definitely could have brought them and wish I did because lighting for photos is never good in stadiums haha.
- We are AC Milan card holders so we bought tickets through the website this time and had to show IDs matching our names on the tickets at the gates but in 2018 I believe we just purchased tickets from a public website like Ticketmaster so that is possible as well.
Lake Como
I’d definitely recommend 3 to 4 full days in the Lake Como area based on how much there is to see and how inconvenient traveling can be to each town (via long ferry ride or driving and trying to find parking). The ferry rides can be quite long but there is an option for “fast ferries” that do dramatically shorten the trip, however these cannot be purchased online so you have to go to the ticket office as soon as they open to try and buy tickets before they sell out. I’d also recommend if you are driving somewhere to go as early as humanly possible in order to snag parking in a convenient spot near the town center. I know this doesn’t sound fun while on vacation but when you aren’t walking up and down a mile long narrow hill to your car and back you’ll thank me. Lake Como was busier than we thought it would be for April so I can only imagine how busy it gets in the summer hence the above advice.
Where We stayed – Sheraton Lake Como
- The parking garage is rather small, we were able to get a spot but if going during peak season I’d call ahead to reserve (there is some nearby street parking as well).
- AMAZING breakfast, 10/10 recommend eating breakfast there, it was $29/person when we went but so worth it.
- Walkable to ferry stations (but all ferry rides would go to Como first and then everywhere else on the lake from our experience when we were there in April).
- Michelin Star restaurant that came highly recommended is right across the street (we would have eaten here but type B Conner convinced me we didn’t need a reservation in April and indeed folks we did it was fully booked haha).
Boat Tour
- We had a private boat tour booked with Como Classic Boats which many of you already know had to be cancelled due to very high winds that day, they did give us an option to reschedule but there next available day was when we were already in Milan
- We were planning on doing the 2 hour Romance Tour since we only had so much time in Lake Como but they also have longer tours available where you can get off the boat and explore different towns, etc. Knowing how busy the roads and ferries are it would be nice to do a longer tour that would bring you to other towns but of course this is more expensive.
- Como Classic Boats was the best overall company we found and their rates were very comparable to other companies. They offer pick up from almost anywhere and another company that was priced about ~100 euros cheaper told us it was an extra 500 euros to have pick up in a different location.
Como
- Largest city on the lake and was a great place to walk around. There are a lot of cute shops and so many restaurants. Their main church is also beautiful and had stunning blue detailing on the ceiling. Como is also a major hub for the ferry and you can visit most other towns by getting on a ferry in como. Some of the things we had on our list to check out were:
- Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta – Duomo di Como
- Villa Olmo
- Tempio Voltiano
- Basilica of Saint Abundius
Bellagio
- Bellagio was absolutely breathtaking! Like Como there are many shops and restaurants and it’s nice to just walk around in but Como is much more flat compared to Bellagio. A lot of the shops and restaurants are up steep cobble stone streets so I don’t recommend heels while exploring here.
- Plan your visit here in the evening to watch the sun set across the lake.
- Some of the things on our list to check out were:
- I Giardini di Villa Melzi
- Punta Spartivento
- Basilica of St. Giacomo
Tremezzo/Menaggio
- We didn’t get a chance to walk around the Tremezzo area because we attempted to go there in the early evening and couldn’t find any parking. We did find parking in Menaggio and walked along the lakefront and visited the shops which was lovely.
- I’d recommend visiting here in the morning to early afternoon because this side of the lake is the first to go dark as the sun is setting and the sun sets behind you so you can’t see it. When we were there it was late afternoon into evening time and it go much colder once the sun set on us so I wish we went in the morning.
- Some of the things we had on our list for these areas were:
- Tremezzo
- Villa Carlotta
- Parco Civico Teresio Olivelli
- Church of San Lorenzo
- Menaggio
- Walk along lakefront (Viale Benedetto Castelli)
- Tremezzo
Hope this was helpful if you plan on visiting either of these areas in Italy! I’m certainly keeping Lake Como on my bucket list because I need more days there, warmer weather and to finally go on a private boat tour.
