Milan
Next up in our glorious City Guides is the beautiful and cosmopolitan city of Milan; home to the world famous Opera House and some of the most sought after designers, from Leonardo da Vinci to Dolce and Gabbana.
With a dedicated team of Market Managers who know their cities inside out and have hand-picked the best deals just for you, hotels.com have helped us pick the most unusual hotels and essential top tips that you won’t find in any guide book.
New Hotels in Milan
The Chedi Hotel (five-star) - Spiritual relaxation - From £186 per room per night
The Chedi hotel opened just over a year ago and is in a quiet residential neighbourhood in central Milan. The hotel has a private garden in a peaceful courtyard where you can enjoy a relaxing evening drink.
The restaurant overlooks the courtyard garden and the lounge bar offers a wide variety of cocktails. The health club has a sauna, hammam, hot tub and relaxation room plus there is a fitness club and indoor swimming pool.
‘Chedi’ means 'spiritual monument' in Thai and all the guestrooms reflect this with soft colours and stunning painted mosaics on the walls.
Quirky Hotels in Milan
Enterprise Hotel (four-star) - Former 1930’s printing house - From £113 per room per night
The Enterprise Hotel was the first design hotel in Milan and is housed in a former printing works, just moments away from Parco Sempione, the Duomo and La Scala. The hotel’s Sophia's Restaurant serves excellent Milanese dishes in the building’s former printing office.
Rooms are stylish and contemporary and all have integrated entertainment systems with music libraries and video games consoles.
Hotel Mediolanum (four-star) - Technicolor dreams - From £79 per room per night
The Mediolanum is in the very heart of the city centre and is just a short walk to the Piazza del Duomo opposite the renowned Duomo Cathedral.
The hotel is chic and contemporary in design and each guestroom has a different colour theme ranging from hot pink to lime green. A range of cocktails and complimentary tapas are served in the evening in the hotel bar.
Deals in Milan
Save at the three-star Hotel Mennini, just round the corner from the Municipal Museum of Natural History and the Modern Art Gallery. The hotel has a babysitting service so is a perfect choice for families.
Top Tips
Fashion heaven
Make sure you leave room in your suitcase for all the designer clothes you are bound to fall in love with. Milan’s Via Montenapoleone is the heart of the fashion world and is home to names such as Giorgio Armani, Fendi, Valentino and Versace. If you love the labels but not the price tags, why not shop at cut-price designer outlets such as Salvagente, which means "life-saver" in Italian and is at 16, Via Bronzetti.
Balls of luck!
Halfway down the Vittorio Emanuele Gallery are four floor mosaics representing Turin (the bull), Rome (the she-wolf with Romulus and Remus), Florence (the lily) and Milan (a red cross on a white background). There is a Milanese tradition that if you turn quickly 3 times on your heel over the testicles of the Turin bull it will bring you good luck.
Views to climb for
For the best views of the city, walk along the roof of the Il Duomo Cathedral. On a good day when the sky is clear, you can see all the way to the Alps. There are two ways up the cathedral, one is by walking and the other is by lift. The walk costs €3.50 and is quite demanding so if you are not up for the challenge then opt for the lift, which costs €5.00.