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I love Italy, and Milan is no exception. As always, amazing food and wine, lovely weather and lots to see! I visited Milan on a hen do for one of my University friends, so I can’t say we made the most of the history of the city – we mainly drank, enjoyed the sunshine and spent quality time together. But then again, Milan is perfect for that!

We flew to Milan on the Saturday and were only there until Sunday night so didn’t have loads of time in the city. That said, it’s a great weekend destination from the UK as it’s only a couple of hours’ flight from London, and the airport is about a 45 minute taxi ride out from the City Centre. You can also reach the centre by train on the Malpensa Express. A weekend was just long enough to see the main sights of Milan, and my top 5 highlights of the weekend are below.

Duomo di Milano

The Duomo is amazing. The cathedral took nearly 600 years to finish, and is the largest church in Italy, the third largest in Europe and the fifth largest in the world! It really is amazing to see. We decided to do the audio tour of the inside of the Duomo, the archaeological museum in the Duomo and climb up to the roof. In total, this took half a day – and I thoroughly recommend buying tickets in advance if you want to go in to the Duomo as the queue can get very, very long.

Shopping

We enjoyed spending our time exploring the beautiful shopping galleries of Milan. The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is right next to the Duomo and a great place to start. It’s beautiful just as a building itself!

Sforza Castle

This castle was built in the 1400s, and in the 16th and 17th century was one of the largest citadels in the world. It was extended in the late 1800s and now houses several of the city’s museums and art collections including The Museum of Ancient Art, The Museum of Musical Instruments, The Antique Museum and the Archaelogical museum. We chose to visit The Egyptian Museum and it was definitely worth a visit. The Castle also lies in Sempione Park which is well worth a walk around.

Take a traditional Italian cooking class

My highlight of the visit to Milan was a visit to a cooking class taught by an amazing Italian lady who teaches novices like us how to cook amazing authentic Italian dishes from her home. We made traditional Italian lasagne and bruscetta. It was delicious. The food in Milan is just amazing – from perfect pizzas to lovely markets. It’s nice just to flan around and eat! Preferably with wine as well.

Visit a local market or cheese bar

Milan is full of incredible culinary treats, including markets stacked with fresh produce – from fruit and veg, to cheese, to wine, to cakes and confectionary, and actual cheese bars – which in my opinion should be a thing everywhere. Just pull up a stool, order your cheese and wine, and spend a few hours watching the world go by in the sun!

And that bring to a close my top 5 things to do in Milan. Thanks for reading and I hope this post was useful if you’re planning a visit to this famous Italian city. Stay safe and happy travelling!