How to get around Milan

Understanding Milan's transport network

Milan has the most complete public transport system in Italy, and unlike Florence or Venice the honest advice here is to use it rather than walk everywhere. ATM (Azienda Trasporti Milanesi) runs five metro lines plus trams, trolleybuses and buses on a single integrated fare, and between them they reach everywhere a visitor needs to go.

Fares are genuinely cheap. Milan sits inside three fare zones (Mi1–Mi3), and that is also the minimum fare purchasable in the city, so the urban ticket is simply the standard one:

Ordinary ticket — €2,20, valid 90 minutes from first validation.
Day ticket — €7,60, valid 24 hours from first validation with no limit on journeys.
Three-day ticket — €15,50, valid to the end of service on the third day.
Carnet of ten — €19,50, each trip valid 90 minutes. It cannot be used by two people at once.

Children and teenagers travel free up to their fourteenth birthday across the whole integrated network, which makes Milan unusually cheap for families. Bicycles, kick scooters and similar micromobility devices also travel free, on every metro and surface line.

Contactless works: Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Maestro and VPay cards, or a phone holding a digitised card. In the metro, tap on the orange readers on the turnstiles.

The one thing to get right

Do not drive into Milan. Two restriction zones overlap, both running Monday to Friday from 7:30 to 19:30 and neither active at weekends or on public holidays. Area C charges €7,50 a day to enter the historic centre. Area B is larger — it covers most of the municipality — and it is a ban rather than a charge, excluding the more polluting vehicles outright along with goods vehicles over 12 metres. A hire car can therefore be barred from the city before the question of parking even arises.

If you need to sort out an entry or a permit, ATM runs an Area B and C Infopoint in the Duomo metro mezzanine, open 8:30 to 15:30 Monday to Friday, by appointment through the ATM app.

Verified against ATM — Azienda Trasporti Milanesi, October 2026.

Connections from Milan

How easily, and at what cost, can you combine the region’s main destinations?

Route	Best option	One-way time	Travel Smart take
Milan and Bergamo	Train	~50 min typical, not a timetable	Excellent day-trip connection. Milan works well as a base for Bergamo.
Milan and Lake Como	Train	~40 min–1 hr typical, not a timetable	Comfortable as a day trip. Milan is a workable base for Lake Como.
Milan and Mantua	Train	~2 hr typical, not a timetable	Possible in a day, but it takes most of one.

Cost compares the options for each route rather than quoting a fare: inexpensive means the price is not a factor in planning, moderate cost means a real line in the budget, and the expensive option is one worth weighing against the alternative. Fares change from year to year; the ranking between them does not.

The metro, and how the city is shaped around it

Five metro lines carry most visitor journeys, and because Milan is built on flat ground in rings, the network is genuinely radial: almost everything a visitor wants is on or near a line, and changes are usually to cross the city rather than to reach it. The cathedral sits at the intersection of two lines, which makes Piazza del Duomo the practical hub of any itinerary.

Trams are the other half of the system and worth using deliberately rather than as a fallback. Several routes still run historic rolling stock through the centre, and a tram crossing Milan at street level gives a far better sense of how the city fits together than the same journey underground.

Tickets in practice

The urban fare covers zones Mi1–Mi3, which is all of Milan, and three zones is also the minimum the city sells — so there is no cheaper short-hop ticket to look for. An ordinary ticket is €2,20 and runs 90 minutes from first validation; a day ticket is €7,60; three days is €15,50. Reaching one zone further out (Mi1–Mi4) costs €2,60 and buys 105 minutes, because the validity grows with the number of zones.

A contactless card or phone is the simplest method: tap the orange readers on the metro turnstiles, or the readers on board trams, buses and trolleybuses. If you prefer a paper ticket, ATM Points at Duomo, Cadorna FN and Centrale FS sell them, but access is by booking only, and at Cadorna and Centrale they take cards rather than cash.

Bicycles, and why they are easy here

Milan is flat, which makes cycling genuinely practical, and carrying a bicycle or a kick scooter on public transport is free on every metro and surface line. That combination makes a one-way cycle out along the Navigli towpaths and a ride back on the metro a straightforward afternoon.

Walking

The core is walkable and the great sights are close: the cathedral, the Galleria, the opera house and the Castello Sforzesco sit within about a kilometre. Beyond that ring, distances open up quickly — Brera is comfortable on foot, the Navigli and Porta Nuova are better reached by metro or tram. Milan is a city where walking covers the centre and transport covers the city, and trying to walk the whole thing is the most common way to waste a day here.

Arriving

Milan is the best-connected city in Italy by rail, and arriving by train is both easier and cheaper than driving into a city with two restriction zones. The rail connections are also what make the city work as a base: Como, Bergamo, Pavia, Turin and Verona are all comfortable day returns.

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Sources & verification Covers the sourced claims on this page.

Checked against ATM — Azienda Trasporti Milanesi — An ordinary three-zone (Mi1-Mi3) ticket costs €2,20 and is valid 90 minutes from first validation., A day ticket costs €7,60 and is valid 24 hours from first validation with no limit on journeys., A three-day ticket costs €15,50 and runs to the end of service on the third day., A carnet of ten tickets costs €19,50, each valid 90 minutes, and cannot be used by two people at once., Children and teenagers travel free up to their fourteenth birthday across the whole integrated network., Three zones is the minimum fare purchasable in Milan., Contactless cards and phones work, and in the metro must be tapped on the orange readers on the turnstiles., Bicycles and micromobility devices travel free on every metro and surface line., Area B is a restricted zone covering most of the municipality that bars the more polluting vehicles and goods vehicles over 12 metres, Monday to Friday 7:30 to 19:30., ATM's Area B and C Infopoint is in the Duomo metro mezzanine, open 8:30 to 15:30 Monday to Friday by appointment through the ATM app., An ordinary three-zone (Mi1-Mi3) ticket costs €2,20 and is valid 90 minutes from first validation., A day ticket costs €7,60 and is valid 24 hours from first validation with no limit on journeys., A three-day ticket costs €15,50 and runs to the end of service on the third day., A Mi1-Mi4 ticket costs €2,60 and is valid 105 minutes, because validity grows with the number of zones., Three zones is the minimum fare purchasable in Milan., Contactless cards and phones work, and in the metro must be tapped on the orange readers on the turnstiles., Bicycles and micromobility devices travel free on every metro and surface line., ATM Points at Duomo, Cadorna FN and Centrale FS sell tickets by appointment only, and take cards rather than cash at Cadorna and Centrale. (October 2026).
Checked against Comune di Milano — Area C operates Monday to Friday from 7:30 to 19:30 and is not active at weekends or on public holidays., Area C is not active on Saturdays, Sundays or public holidays., Area C's daily entry ticket costs €7,50. (October 2026).