Milan, 2026
Over the many years of traveling, we had accumulated quite a hefty bank of Alaska Airlines miles that we wanted to redeem for a trip somewhere. After doing some research, we found a good deal on flights to Italy which included a return trip on the new Rome to Seattle direct. Unfortunately, because we were bound to certain dates due to award availability, we only had just over a week in Italy. The inbound leg was a Condor flight to Frankfurt followed by a 4 hour layover for a one hour flight to Milan. We had read numerous horror stories about the long lines due to the new EES system, but we must have gotten lucky because there was no line for a machine to complete the EES registration, and the line to talk to the immigration officer was about 15 minutes, leaving us with plenty of time to make the connection for our flight to Milan.
Once we arrived in Milano Malpensa airport, we took the train to get into the city, and then a short taxi ride to our hotel, the amazing Mandarin Oriental Milan. The front desk manager, Stefano, was super friendly and surprised us with an upgrade to a junior suite! Too bad we only had two nights in Milan because we definitely didn’t get to enjoy our awesome room for very long.
We quickly freshened up and headed off to a spot that will not be a surprise to anyone who knows me:
We didn’t have any time to go inside today, but don’t worry, I did get some shopping done before we left Milan, which I’ll write about later in this post.
After all of the traveling, we were a bit peckish, so we went next door to Marchesi 1824, a pasticceria owned by Prada. The store is actually above the Prada mens store, which offers a great view of the famous Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II:
I think it was about 3pm when I took this photo, and there were already a good number of people taking photos in the center, but this is nothing compared to some other times when we walked through here when it was super crowded.
But back to Marchesi 1824, they have a super cute bar with pastries and candies, but we were here for tea and some food. We decided to split a tea menu, which was the perfect amount of food to give us energy for the rest of the day:
Still trying to keep ourselves awake from the overnight flight, we walked over to the Palazzo Reale di Milano, the royal palace of Milan. Inside, you can walk through some of the rooms of the palace as well as pay to see some exhibits and museums. We didn’t have much time to spend here, so we just walked inside to marvel at the decor:
The reason we didn’t have much time in the royal palace was because we had a timed entry to La Scala, the famous opera house. We weren’t there to see an opera, instead we wanted to walk inside and see the theater. Even if you’re just visiting to see the inside, you’ll need to buy a ticket, either online or at the door. Unfortunately, they don’t allow photos of the theater itself, but you can take photos of the hall outside the doors to the theater:
You can still get a sense of the majestic setting that the wood floors and chandeliers offer while walking around. Around this hall are a few plaques with information about the history of the theater, including how it was severely damaged during WWII and the restoration efforts that followed. From the hall, you can walk through the doors to go into the theater, where they have about eight mezzanine level box seats that you can walk into to get a view inside. I wish we could have taken photos of the theater because it was so beautiful, with the rich red upholstered seats and ornate decor surrounding each box. There were also a few rooms with an exhibit about famous musicians who’ve been associated with the opera house, including this amazing bust of Toscanini:
By this point, the jet lag was hitting us, so we headed back to the hotel to get dinner and then rest up for our only full day in Milan.
After enjoying the amazing breakfast buffet at the hotel, we took a taxi to Fondazione Prada, a museum founded by Miuccia Prada. The exhibits range from social commentary to contemporary, housed in various buildings that were part of a distillery back in the day. None of the exhibits are about Prada, so don’t go in expecting to see only fashion.
When we were there, there was an exhibit about the application of technology for the purposes of farming in rural Asia.
It was fascinating seeing videos of older farmers piloting large drones to spray pesticides or fertilizer on their crops, while discussing how this has helped them expand their farming production and management.
From there, we went through the other buildings, enjoying the various distinct art in each:
One of Nick’s favorite exhibits was one that we almost missed because it’s located down some stairs behind a large building. I only noticed it because two people were walking up the stairs, so we walked down into a small room. Inside was an artist’s recreation of a cave they saw from a postcard, but the medium they used was over 900,000 pieces of cardboard, which we believe they laser cut into shape:
Attached to the entrance to the museum is Bar Luce, a bar designed by Wes Anderson. It definitely captures the Wes Anderson aesthetic, with contrasting colors and the mid-1900s design:
It was getting quite warm during the middle of the day (and in fact, a heatwave was soon approaching Italy), so it was nice to be able to sit and relax for a bit.
Normally, we would have walked to the train station to go back to the hotel, but the 15 minute walk to the station would be in the sun, so we opted to take an Uber to the Prada store. Our one and only experience with Uber in Milan was not great. Our first driver was 15 minutes away, and then never moved for 5 minutes, at which point Uber decided to find us another driver who was much closer. As they were a few minutes away, they cancelled so we had to wait for another driver to accept. I guess the third time’s a charm because the driver actually showed up. As expected, the area around Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II was very busy, so we asked to be dropped off a couple of blocks away.
I was excited to see the Prada Milan store, but I will say, my first impression was…not great. As I opened the door, I was asked to wait a few minutes, which was fine since they must get a lot of tourists who want to go inside. Soon, I was invited inside, and I was initially surprised by how small the store was. For being the home of Prada, I was expecting a grandiose store with a large collection of pieces to browse through. To me, it felt like there was only like 30% of what I would see in Vegas. After going through everything there, I picked up a shirt and a wallet and I asked if I could try on the shirt. My exchange with the woman who was ‘helping’ me was odd because one of her clients showed up during my conversation with her, so she immediately dumped me to another sales associate. I then asked her if I could try on this shirt, and the new sales associate said, ‘yes, give me a few minutes’ and then walked away. I had no idea what was going on, and was about to give up and leave, but soon she showed up and put the shirt in a paper Prada bag and asked me to follow her. She walked me outside the store, around the corner and into the entrance to Marchesi 1824, and then into an elevator. Still not sure what was happening, we just went with it. She scanned her badge on the elevator (it’s a public elevator) to access the secure second floor. Once the doors opened on that floor, she invited me into the private showroom featuring the rest of the available offerings for both men and women.
As she walked to the back to find the right size for my shirt, I whispered to Nick how odd this was, and he explained that this must be how they vet actual customers from the casual tourists that just want to see the store. Once I started choosing more items that I was interested in, Mara, my new sales associate, became super friendly. There were a few items I liked, but they didn’t have the right size, but she and the manager told me that they could send it to the hotel in Bologna, which would be the last city we would visit before going home. With that assurance, I ended up buying a few items, and the ironic part of this was that I saw my first sales associate with her client, and I’m pretty sure I spent more than he did on this visit. I sort of wanted to recreate the iconic Pretty Woman scene when Vivian confronts the woman who wouldn’t help her and says “you work on commission right? Big mistake.” Alas, I’m not that petty or dramatic…
I think I spent like two hours in the store, and I told Nick that he should go and see the botanical garden and observatory while I’m here. Even he was shocked how long I spent there, but it wasn’t because I bought a lot, it was because it took soooooo long for them to get me the right size to try on. After all was said and done, I made two new friends at Prada, so now when I return, I can contact them and not have to deal with the awkward vetting process.
For dinner, we were able to get a reservation at Seta, the two Michelin starred restaurant inside the hotel. We loved the bold design of the plates:
The menu consisted of two different tasting menus, but you could also create your own two or three course menu by selecting individual items from either menu. As we were being shown to our table, the host suggested that we try the risotto. It was only available on the traditional tasting menu, which made our decision quite easy. What followed was an amazing dinner experience (click on some images for more description of each dish):
Before the dessert courses, we were presented with an amazing cheese cart:
We gladly allowed our server to choose some cheeses for us, including the very pungent Époisses:
While I’m not a huge fan of strong cheeses, I still appreciated the choices presented to us, and it was a wonderful prelude to the desserts.
For our last morning in Milan, we booked tickets to see the Duomo di Milano. Since we wanted to go up and walk the rooftop, we opted to pay for the fast entry that included the elevator to go up (you still have to walk down). Before we left our room, we made sure to wear a t-shirt and long pants to respect the dress code they listed on our ticket. But when we were in line, we noticed that some women wore tank tops, so they were offered a very sheer disposable top that they could wear over their clothes. We also noticed many men in shorts who were allowed to go in, which we would have liked to do since it was quite hot that morning.
Anyway, after a few minutes of waiting, we took the elevator up to the top and started walking around and appreciating the gothic architecture everywhere:
So many flying buttresses!
Eventually on the walk around the perimeter, we walked up some stairs to walk on the roof where we got some great views of Milan:
Even though we chose an earlier entry time, there were many visitors enjoying the Duomo with us, which meant that the line to go down to the interior of the Duomo was quite long:
We were happy that the line moved at a decent pace because the combination of the sun and the reflection of the heat off the roof made the wait a bit hot. After a dizzying walk down a winding staircase, we made it inside the Duomo, where it was much cooler.
The gothic architecture continues inside, with large vaulted ceilings and enormous columns with ornately carved figures at the top. A plethora of stained glass windows allow some light to flow inside and while also illuminating each scene they’re depicting:
While wandering around, we noticed a staircase that went downstairs, and we soon discovered that our ticket also included entry into the underground ruins of the site of an older church and basilica. It’s a rather small exhibit, but still cool to walk around and read about on the path.
And with that, we headed off to the train station, but not to take the train, but to find the Enterprise car rental booth. Our next couple of hotels weren’t easily accessible by train, so we decided to drive it instead. However, finding the car rental booth took a lot of meandering around the station. It wasn’t until we walked around the outside of the station that we found a small booth with the Enterprise logo on it. It was then a ten minute walk from there to the parking garage where all the cars were located. After that mildly stressful ordeal, we were finally in the car and off to Lago di Garda!