Spend four days in Milan with me

Having always wanted to visit Italy for the culture and the delicious food - I purchased some cheap plane tickets to Milan - the perfect Autumn city break.

A couple of days in my opinion is the perfect amount of time to spend in Milan. So much so that after our first day. we decided to buy a train ticket and head to Lake Como.

Now in England, this would cost you upwards of £15 for a one way ticket. This approximate one hour trip was less than £5 - and so worth it.

As soon as you leave the station you are met by breathtaking views of mountains and of course the beautiful lake.

Once we soaked in the views and took a quick wonder, our stomachs were rumbling so we headed to a nearby cafe to grab some brunch.

We walked down a couple of side streets and were greeted by an ordinary looking cafe. However, they served the best red velvet muffin I have ever tasted and to top it off, a coffee was only around €1.60.

When in Italy, of course a high priority is eating plenty of pasta and ice cream and a popular little spot appeared to be Gelateria Lariana. There was a bit of a queue heading into the door and a few benches outside to sit.

I opted for the Amarena (cherry) ice cream which was absolutely delicious and the serving was huge.

Next to the lake, there are plenty of people trying to sell you private boat tours during which you can spend an hour cruising up and down the water. After haggling down the price we hopped on one and it was just our luck that we hadn’t even left the port area and our engine stopped working - so after getting towed back, that was enough for us - but at least we can look back and laugh.

On our first night we came across a quaint little pasta restaurant called Osteria Da Fortunata - Brera. However, the huge queue did not quite reflect the restaurants more petite appearance but even so we decided to wait around half an hour to see what the hype was about.

Through the window you could see three ladies making and rolling out pasta dough which drew in audiences.

The food was delicious and between three of us we shared a plate of prosciutto and bread (which I could happily live off of).

The pasta was also delicious - I opted for a carbonara esque dish - and extremely filling. On a side note, the cups were also adorable.

Afterwards, we took some time to walk through the nearby streets the area of the Piazza Castello Fountain which was beautiful in the evening.

We spent the whole trip travelling around via the metro or on foot (My step count was around 25,000 a day), it was so easy to navigate and the metro was very similar to the London Underground, you could just tap on and off.

On day three after we’d done our exploring, we decided to head to the social media famous QC Termemilano spa and entry was around £62 for five hours.

After seeing it on TikTok I was intrigued but convinced that we’d only be there for two hours. I was definitely wrong. We stayed at the spa for a whole five hours - there was so much to do from the popular thunderstorm room, saunas, steam rooms, jacuzzis, outside pools and even ice baths - it was wholly a relaxing experience.

There were even mini meringues and herbal tea to try. Another exciting feature (for some) was also the Dyson hairdryers in the ladies changing rooms (I’m a huge fan of the Airwrap).

I would definitely recommend visiting in a morning session. We went on a Sunday and as the day went on, more people started to come in.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon shopping before heading back to the Airbnb to get ready for dinner.

We also took this opportunity to explore Milan by night and our first stop was the Duomo.

Pasta d’Autore came recommended so we thought we’d give it a go and this was also a delicious meal.

However, the best thing that I tasted whilst in Milan was the tiramisu at Le Specialità.

In my opinion, the food was amazing as I’m not the biggest pizza lover but the pizza was incredible and the dessert - just wow - the best tiramisu.

One particularly unique landscape that we visited was the Santuario di San Bernardino alle Ossa - or the skull church.

The church was renovated under the direction of Giovanni Andrea Biffi, who made several important changes. He expanded the church and redesigned the ossuary, incorporating the human remains directly into the decoration of the walls.

You can still see the human skulls and tibiae arranged in intricate patterns across the walls. When in the room there is a slight eeriness and a strange scent of muskiness and something else. It’s certainly something I won’t forget.

Travel tip: When heading home from Milan Malpensa airport - once you go through passport control, there is a very very limited offering for shopping and eating - so make sure you make the most of the duty free beforehand.

Make the most of public transport - Ubers are expensive.