Comparison · Italy
Milan or Venice: Which Should You Pick First?
Milan or Venice for a first trip to Italy? Airport transfers, days and costs, same-month climate normals and sights, compared using both city guides.
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The short answer
Milan, Lombardy's capital, is Italy's second most populous city. Its highlights are the Duomo, six centuries in the making, the Galleria, Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper (booking only), the galleries and lanes of Brera and the Navigli canals, busy with aperitifs in the evening. Lake Como is about an hour away by train.
Venice is a city on the water where 118 islands are joined by more than 400 bridges. Waterbuses and gondolas travel the canals instead of streets, and you go by boat to St Mark's Square and the Doge's Palace, the art museums on the Grand Canal and lagoon islands such as Burano with its brightly coloured houses.
Who each suits: Milan, if you want art, city walks and evening aperitifs plus a day at Lake Como. Venice, if you want to ride waterbuses between canals and islands and soak up the city on the water. Both guides suggest 2 to 3 nights.
From the airport to the city
At Milan Malpensa (MXP), the Malpensa Express train links T1-T2 with Milano Centrale, and you can tap a credit or debit card at the gate instead of buying a ticket. Airport buses from four operators also run between Centrale and the airport. If you land at Linate (LIN), metro line M4 takes you to the city centre.
At Venice Marco Polo (VCE), ACTV Aerobus line 5 goes to Piazzale Roma (the bus terminal), and from there you can walk over the Ponte della Costituzione to Santa Lucia station. ATVO express buses run without intermediate stops to Piazzale Roma and Venezia Mestre station. Alilaguna water buses go to Venice and islands such as Murano, Burano and Lido, but ACTV tickets are not valid on them.
Check the official information before you go for journey times and the Malpensa Express fare.
- Milan, Malpensa Express: from Centrale 5:25 to 23:25, from the airport 5:09 to 22:09, every 30 minutes
- Milan, airport buses: Centrale (Via Sammartini) to the airport, about every 20 minutes across the four operators
- Milan, Malpensa taxi: fixed EUR 114 to anywhere in Milan
- Venice, Aerobus line 5: 75-minute ticket EUR 10, return EUR 18, Aerobus + 90-minute waterbus ticket EUR 18
- Venice, airport taxi: fixed EUR 40 to Piazzale Roma
How many days, and what it costs
Both guides suggest 2 to 3 nights. The Milan plan covers the Duomo and Brera on day 1, the Last Supper, Castello Sforzesco and the Navigli on day 2 and a train day trip to Lake Como on day 3. The Venice plan covers the Grand Canal, Rialto and St Mark's Square on day 1, the Accademia Galleries, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and an evening in a bacaro on day 2, and Torcello, Burano and Murano on day 3.
In both cities accommodation is most of the budget, so compare prices for your dates on booking sites. Below are sample transport and admission prices for each city.
- Milan transport (ATM): 90-minute ticket EUR 2.20, 24-hour ticket EUR 7.60, 3-day ticket EUR 15.50
- Milan admissions: Last Supper EUR 15 (ages 18-25 EUR 2, booking required), Grande Brera EUR 20, Duomo guided tour EUR 35
- Venice waterbus: 1-day ticket EUR 25 (24 hours), 2-day EUR 35, 3-day EUR 45
- Venice admissions: St Mark's Square Museums ticket (incl. the Doge's Palace) EUR 35, Accademia Galleries EUR 20, Murano Glass Museum EUR 15
- Venice access fee (Contributo di Accesso): check dates, amount and exemptions on the city's official site (cda.ve.it)
Weather: the same months side by side
The Milan guide picks April, May, September and October as good months for walking; the Venice guide notes average highs of about 18-27°C in May to June and September to October. Here are the normals for May, September and October, the months both choices share.
In all three months the daytime highs are almost the same in both cities, while Milan gets more rain than Venice. In Milan, October has the most rain of the whole year.
In Venice the Biennale alternates Art and Architecture exhibitions each year from April/May to November, and the 2026 Art Biennale runs until 22 November. In fog or when the tide rises above +95 cm, waterbus services change and St Mark's Square can flood. If you add a day at Lake Como from Milan, the Italian tourism board names April to the end of September as the best time.
The normals are 1971–2000 data from the WMO World Weather Information Service (Italian Air Force Department of Meteorology): 'Milan (WMO city data)' for Milan and 'Venice (WMO city data)' for Venice, rounded. Check the official forecast for this year's weather before you go.
- May: Milan high 22°C, low 12°C, rain 96 mm / Venice high 22°C, low 13°C, rain 66 mm
- September: Milan high 24°C, low 14°C, rain 93 mm / Venice high 24°C, low 14°C, rain 72 mm
- October: Milan high 18°C, low 9°C, rain 122 mm / Venice high 18°C, low 10°C, rain 74 mm
What you do there
In Milan you start at Piazza del Duomo. A lift takes you up to the Duomo's terraces among the spires, and from the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II next door you can walk on to the Pinacoteca di Brera and the Brera lanes. Every Last Supper ticket must be booked, and up to 40 people visit at a time for 15 minutes.
In the evening head to the Navigli, where two canals branch off from the Darsena; small bridges and lanes line the water and bars and restaurants fill with people out for aperitifs. A day trip by train to Como also works well: the Como-Brunate funicular climbs 1 km in 7 minutes, and from Brunate you look down over Lake Como and the town.
In Venice you start by riding waterbus line 1 along the Grand Canal to the Rialto Bridge and market and on to St Mark's Square. The Accademia Galleries and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection are both in Dorsoduro, and in the evening you eat cicchetti with a spritz in a bacaro in San Polo or Cannaregio.
Don't skip the lagoon islands: Murano for glass, Burano for colourful houses and lace, and Torcello, with very few inhabitants, where the view from the bell tower reaches as far as Burano. Italy's tourism board suggests a day on the LN line from Fondamenta Nuove or San Zaccaria covering all three islands.
The food differs too. Milan is known for saffron risotto alla milanese, ossobuco and cotoletta alla milanese; Venice for sarde in saor, bigoli and Burano's risotto di gò.
How to choose, or combine both
Choose Milan if you want art, city walks, aperitifs and a lake day trip from one base; choose Venice if the point of the trip is moving by boat between canals and islands.
If you combine both on one trip, plan the days around each guide's suggested length (2 to 3 nights each). Check the official information before you go for how to travel between the two cities and what it costs.
Check official information before travel for entry requirements (visas, ETIAS and so on). Last Supper tickets are released three months at a time, are named and cannot be changed or refunded. On Venice waterbuses, validate your ticket every time you board and every time you change. Check your government's current travel advice for Italy before you go.
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FAQ
Which is better for a first trip to Italy?
Milan if you want art, city walks and aperitifs plus a day at Lake Como; Venice if you want to explore the canals and lagoon islands by waterbus. Both guides suggest 2 to 3 nights.
When is a good time to go?
May, September and October, where both guides' choices overlap, are a safe bet. By WMO normals, daytime highs in all three months are almost the same in both cities (about 18-24°C), while Milan gets more rain than Venice.
How do I get from the airport to the city?
From Milan Malpensa the Malpensa Express runs to Milano Centrale every 30 minutes, and a taxi to anywhere in Milan is a fixed EUR 114. From Venice Marco Polo, Aerobus line 5 goes to Piazzale Roma (75-minute ticket EUR 10), and a taxi to Piazzale Roma is a fixed EUR 40.
If I visit both, how should I split the days?
Both guides suggest 2 to 3 nights. Day 3 of the Milan plan is a Lake Como day trip and day 3 of the Venice plan is the islands, so decide whether you want those days. Check the official information before you go for how to travel between the two cities and what it costs.
Related reading
ⓘ Photo credits
- Naviglio Grande canal · FlavMi / CC BY-SA 3.0
- A small canal in Venice · Jorge Franganillo / CC BY 2.0