Best things to do in Milan: 16 sights in order of priority

Milan is a city for one cathedral, one Leonardo, a few very good picture galleries and an evening by the canals. Two full days cover the first eight entries on this list; a third day lets you add the smaller museums or the modern districts.

At a glance

• How long: two days for the main sights, three with the smaller museums. See how many days you need in Milan.
• Book well ahead: the Last Supper. Book a few days ahead: Duomo terraces and Pinacoteca di Brera.
• Closed on Monday: the Last Supper, Brera, the Castello museums, Museo del Novecento, the Triennale, San Maurizio and the Monumentale cemetery.
• Getting around: most of the list is inside or close to the old center. A single ATM ticket costs €2.20 and is valid for 90 minutes on metro, tram and bus.

The 16 best things to do in Milan

The order is the order of priority for a first visit. Background on areas, airports and costs is in the Milan city guide.

1. Duomo and its rooftop terraces

The cathedral is the reason most people come to the center, and the walk among the marble spires on the roof is the part to pay for. Allow 45 minutes inside and an hour on the terraces. The official visitor leaflet for 2025 gives daily hours of 9:00 to 19:00 for the cathedral and the rooftops, and lists the terraces at €16 by stairs and €18 by lift, or €26 for a combined ticket with the cathedral, the lift and the Duomo Museum. Prices may have changed since, so check the official ticket site. There are no toilets on the roof. Book a few days ahead in high season. Details are in the guides to the Duomo and the Duomo terraces.

2. Leonardo's Last Supper

The mural is on the refectory wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie, where Leonardo painted it between 1495 and 1497. The visit lasts 15 minutes, with a maximum of 40 people in the room. Reservation is mandatory for everyone, including children. The full ticket costs €15, under 18s enter free, and the museum is open Tuesday to Sunday from 8:15 to 19:00. Tickets are released in quarterly blocks and carry the visitor's name. Extra tickets for the following week go on sale online every Wednesday at 12:00. You must be at the entrance 30 minutes before your slot. The booking steps are in how to visit the Last Supper.

3. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

The 19th-century glass-roofed arcade by the architect Giuseppe Mengoni connects Piazza del Duomo to Piazza della Scala. It is a public passage with no ticket, and it takes ten minutes to walk through. The shops are luxury brands and the cafes charge for the address. Look up at the dome and the floor mosaics, then move on.

4. Castello Sforzesco and Parco Sempione

The brick fortress of the Sforza dukes holds several city museums, including the room with Michelangelo's unfinished Rondanini Pietà. The courtyards are free and open every day from 7:00 to 19:30. The museums are open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 17:30, with last entry at 16:30, and one ticket covers all of them. Leonardo's Sala delle Asse is closed for restoration. Give the courtyards 30 minutes and the museums up to two hours. More in the Castello Sforzesco guide.

5. Pinacoteca di Brera

Milan's main picture gallery has Mantegna's Dead Christ, Raphael's Marriage of the Virgin and Hayez's The Kiss. Allow two hours. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 8:30 to 19:15, with last entry at 18:00, and reservation is required. The Grande Brera ticket costs €20 and also gives access to the modern collection at Palazzo Citterio on the same day or within the following six days. See the Pinacoteca di Brera guide and the Brera district guide.

6. La Scala: the museum or a performance

The opera house is plain outside and the interior is the point. The museum is open daily from 9:30 to 17:30, with last entry at 17:00, and the full ticket costs €12 in 2026. The ticket includes a look at the auditorium from the third-tier boxes, but only when there are no rehearsals or performances, and the museum does not say in advance when that is. Allow 45 minutes. For a performance, the La Scala guide explains how tickets are sold.

7. The Navigli at aperitivo time

Two surviving canals, the Naviglio Grande and the Naviglio Pavese, run through a district of bars and small shops south-west of the center. It costs nothing and needs no booking. Go in the early evening, walk the Naviglio Grande for half an hour and stay for a drink. On weekend nights the towpaths are packed and loud. Take a tram or the metro from the center. See the Navigli guide and where to have aperitivo in Milan.

8. Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio

The Romanesque church founded by the city's patron saint is the best old building in Milan after the Duomo, with a brick atrium and a gold altar. Half an hour is enough. The basilica is open every day, and tourist visits are allowed Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 12:00 and 14:30 to 18:00, and on Sunday from 15:00 to 17:00, when no service is in progress. It is a short walk from the Last Supper, so do both in the same morning.

9. San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore

A former convent church on Corso Magenta with walls and vaults covered in Renaissance frescoes by Bernardino Luini and his circle. Entry is free. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 17:30, with last entry at 17:00. Volunteers of the Touring Club Italiano keep it open, and the city warns that it can close without notice. Allow 20 minutes.

10. Pinacoteca Ambrosiana

A historic library and gallery with Raphael's full-size cartoon for the School of Athens, Caravaggio's Basket of Fruit and pages of Leonardo's Codex Atlanticus. It is open from 10:00 to 18:00 and closed on Wednesday. The ticket office closes at 17:15. The full ticket for the gallery and the crypt of San Sepolcro costs €20, and the museum itself estimates 90 minutes for the gallery. See the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana guide.

11. Museo del Novecento

Italian 20th-century art in the Arengario building on Piazza del Duomo: Futurism, de Chirico, Fontana. The top floor looks straight at the cathedral. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 19:30 and until 22:30 on Thursday, with last entry one hour before closing. The full ticket costs €10. Allow 90 minutes. Milan's city museums are free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month. More in the Museo del Novecento guide.

12. Cimitero Monumentale

The city's monumental cemetery is an open-air collection of sculpture: family tombs built as temples, towers and bronze groups. Entry is free. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 8:00 to 18:00, with last entry 30 minutes before closing, and closed on Mondays that are not public holidays. An hour is enough for the central avenues. See the Monumentale cemetery guide.

13. Porta Nuova and Isola

The newest part of Milan: Piazza Gae Aulenti, the tree-covered Bosco Verticale towers and the Biblioteca degli Alberi, a public park owned by the city. It is free, takes about an hour on foot and pairs well with the Monumentale cemetery nearby. You look at the buildings from outside. Continue into Isola for lunch, or read the modern architecture guide.

14. Fondazione Prada

A contemporary art complex in a converted distillery south of the center, with a building clad in gold leaf and a cafe designed by the film director Wes Anderson. It is open from 10:00 to 19:00 and closed on Tuesday. The full ticket costs €15 and also covers the Osservatorio space in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II within 30 days. The courtyards and the cafe are accessible without a ticket. Allow two hours plus travel. See the Fondazione Prada guide.

15. Triennale Milano

The design museum sits inside Parco Sempione, behind the Castello. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:30 to 20:00. Entry to the building, garden and bookshop is free; the exhibitions need a ticket, and tickets bought online are €2 cheaper than at the desk. Worth an hour or two if design is why you came. Details in the Triennale guide.

16. Two small museums near La Scala

Gallerie d'Italia shows Italian painting and sculpture, including a 20th-century collection, in former bank palaces on Piazza della Scala. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:30 to 19:00, costs €6 and is free on the first Sunday of the month. Museo Poldi Pezzoli is a collector's house with a Botticelli and Pollaiolo's Portrait of a Young Woman. It is open from 10:00 to 18:00 and closed on Tuesday. Pick one and allow an hour. The full ranking of galleries is in the best museums in Milan.

What to skip if you are short on time

With one day, do numbers 1 to 4 and end at the Navigli. That is the route in the one-day Milan itinerary.

• Skip the inside of the Castello museums and keep the courtyards and the park.
• Skip Fondazione Prada and the Triennale unless contemporary art or design is a main interest. Both cost travel time.
• Skip numbers 10, 11 and 16 if you have already chosen Brera. One picture gallery per short stay is enough.
• Do not skip Sant'Ambrogio and San Maurizio. Together they take under an hour and sit on the way to the Last Supper.

How to group them by day

• Day 1, the center: Duomo and terraces in the morning, Galleria, La Scala museum, then Museo del Novecento or the Ambrosiana after lunch. Evening on the Navigli.
• Day 2, west and north: the Last Supper at your booked time, Sant'Ambrogio, San Maurizio, Castello Sforzesco and Parco Sempione, then Brera in the late afternoon.
• Day 3, modern Milan: Cimitero Monumentale, Porta Nuova and Isola in the morning, Fondazione Prada or the Triennale in the afternoon.

Monday rules out most of day 2. Tuesday closes Fondazione Prada and Poldi Pezzoli. Wednesday closes the Ambrosiana. Hour-by-hour versions are in the two-day and three-day Milan itineraries. With children, see Milan with kids. A spare day can go to one of the day trips from Milan.

For transport between areas, a 24-hour ATM ticket costs €7.60 and a three-day ticket €15.50. If you tap the same contactless card on each ride, ATM stops charging once you reach the daily fare. Lines and stops are in the Milan metro guide. To choose a base, read where to stay in Milan.

What to book ahead

• The Last Supper: as soon as your dates are fixed. Each buyer can purchase at most five tickets per calendar year, names cannot be changed and tickets are not refunded. If your dates are sold out, try the Wednesday noon release for the following week.
• Duomo terraces: a few days ahead from spring to autumn and around Christmas.
• Pinacoteca di Brera: reservation is required, so book as soon as you fix the day.
• Free first Sundays: the Last Supper and Brera still need a reservation. Free Last Supper tickets are released online at 12:00 on the Wednesday before.

Everything else can be bought at the door. A city pass only pays off if you plan several paid sights that it covers: the sums are in is the Milan city pass worth it. For days with no budget, see free things to do in Milan.

Questions travelers ask

Sources

• Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano: visitor leaflet 2025, hours and tickets
• Museo del Cenacolo Vinciano: visitor information and booking rules
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Santa Maria delle Grazie with The Last Supper
• YesMilano, city tourism office: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
• Castello Sforzesco, Comune di Milano: hours of museums and courtyards
• Pinacoteca di Brera: tickets and opening hours
• Museo Teatrale alla Scala: tickets and opening times
• Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio: opening and visiting hours
• Civico Museo Archeologico di Milano: church of San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore
• Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana: info and tickets
• Museo del Novecento: tickets and hours and Comune di Milano: tickets for the civic museums
• Cimitero Monumentale, Comune di Milano: opening hours
• BAM, Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano
• Fondazione Prada: visit, Triennale Milano: plan your visit, Gallerie d'Italia Milano: plan your visit and Museo Poldi Pezzoli: visit
• ATM Milano: how to get around Milan by public transport