Italian ticket validating machines

Whenever your traveling on the trains or buses across Italy, be sure to validate your ticket. At the entrance to every platform there is a yellow machine (or orange on the bus) that you slot your ticket into, which validates your journey with the time and date. If you accidentally forget to stamp your ticket or have ran to jump on the train, make sure you find the conductor straight away or you will be in for a hefty on the spot fine.

Buying train tickets can be a job in itself in Italy, so I would recommend buying your ticket before your journey, or arrive at the station early. Unfortunately getting onto the train without your ticket will just result in a fine, which can be a little harsh if the machines are not working or only one person is behind the counter?

A good tip for as a second choice is newsagents in train stations often sell tickets for buses and trains from behind the counter and will give you tickets based on the distance you're traveling. They only accept cash.

Castello Sforzesco, Milano

The City of Milan isn't one of the top destinations in Italy compared to other parts of the Country, and the concusses seems to be that it's an ugly City compared to the likes of Rome, Sorrento, Florence and the other tourist traps.
The truth is that City did suffer in World War II, but the streets are still full of beautiful buildings and monuments along with a fantastic choice businesses and cultural centres to visit.
One building certainly worth a view is the 'Castello Sforzesco' which is based only ten minutes walk from the piazza Duomo and next to Parco Semione and Brera district.
The Castle is absolutely vast in size, and was built in the 14th century, but to most people visiting the City for the first time this is must, certainly take a little time out to visit the building and maybe go and relax in the park?!    

Castello Szforzesco, MIlano

 

The Lakes. Como, Menaggio, Bellagio

Some of the most popular places for tourists to visit are the great lakes of Italy. Amazing Alpine backdrops, beautiful buildings, great weather and wonderful food.
Como seems to be the main lake for International visitors to be attracted too, with inevitably Como Town at the forefront of everyone's visit to the area. Como benefits from being one of the easiest destinations outside of Milan to travel too, and other destinations around the lake can be reached from there on.
The Town of Como has trains and boats onto places like Bellagio and Menaggio, and sits less than three miles from the border of Switzerland. Como Town itself is probably not the most stunning of places to visit in Italy, but it does have some of the usual ancient Italian buildings next to the lake and around the Duomo area, that are very nice to take some pictures of, but generally it's all a bit too touristy for me.
Personally the best thing about Como Town is getting on the boats and going up the lake. From there on the scenery is stunning, some the houses along the lakeside are amazing and it leads you to likes of Menaggio and Bellagio, both of which are worth a visit and sit on different parts of the lake.
If you feel brave enough to drive in Italy, this would be the place to do it, as the lakeside drive upto Menaggio is totally stunning.

Lake Como

Milan Metro

You've arrived in Milan at 'Centrale' or 'Cadorna' train station and now need to get to your hotel, you've now got a choice of options for getting around. First is the Metro, a great way for getting about and fast and frequent.
At the moment the city benefits from three lines, but a new line is due to open pretty soon.
You can buy tickets for single journeys, daily, weekly or monthly, all from the ticket machine or from the stand at the entrance to the metro in Centrale (small counter on the right) or the enterance to Cadorna (opposite the small bakery) for the weekly or monthly passes. These passes are really useful, and entitle you travel on all types of transport in the Milan area that you've paid for.

I've provided a link to the ATM webiste, which also has a really useful AP to go with it.

http://www.atm-mi.it/en/Pages/default.aspx

Milan Metro

Milan's airports and travel connections

Milano or Milan is like most major bustling cities, with a good affordable network of trains, airports, trams, buses and the metro.
When you first arrive into Milan you'll either arrive at one of the three airports. Malpensa is the main International Airport located around one hour away from the centre of Milan to the North West of the City, and actually very close to the border of Piedmont. Malpensa is the main hub for long haul flights, usually from the Americas, Far East and Middle East.
Bergamo is the second busiest of the airports in the region and is around fifty minutes outside of Milan to the North East of the City.
Bergamo Orio Airport is well positioned for travelling to the lakes, Brescia and Verona. Recently Bergamo Airport has been undergoing lots of refurbishment, adding new restaurants, bars and square meters in the process. The airport mainly deals with short haul flights to the rest of Europe and other parts of Italy, with flights running frequently with carriers such as Ryanair and Easyjet.
Linate airport is perfectly located for a short taxi or bus journey into the centre of the City. Based only fifteen to twenty minutes to the south east of the City of Milan, Linate is usually used by the business community to connect quickly to the financial quarters of  Milan.
Carriers such as British Airways, Alitalia, BMI and some Easyjet flights, frequent the airport.

Type into your address bar the link below that will take you to the attached link for the airports around Milan.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=
201872845517385443899.0004a12d403dca674e9e0

Welcome to Lombardy and Milan!

The idea of this blog is to help you find your way around Lombardy as an Tourist, Student or Expat? 
Having lived in the region for some time you get to discover the places you wouldn't as a tourist on a short visit, things that you might miss from your home Country and great places to eat.
Milano is the capital city of Lombardy (Lombardia) and by far the money pot of the Country, despite only being Italy's second city.
Milan has generated most of it's money through it's proximity to the rest of Europe, helping it attract major International Businesses in recent years, especially through the banking sector. The City still has it's strong fashion and design industry attracting tourists from all over the globe.