TRAVEL TO MILAN

Milan is a city that arouses extreme feelings, just like the city lifestyle is extreme too. A frenetic, restless rhythm is part of both work and leisure, so much so that it is difficult to stay unmoved and not get overwhelmed by all the cultural and social stimulus.
Maybe for this reason, Milan makes itself indispensable, because it is impossible to feel so alive and full of energy when you are away from the city.
Milan is always one step ahead: a laboratory of artistic experiments and a building site for social behavior that is continuously changing. City full of contradictions, ancient and modern, trends and counter-trends, fashion and underground, middle class and working class, but always simply “cool”. 

Getting there

Milan is the Italian city with the best national and international connections, thanks to its airport, railway and road network, the most efficient in Italy.

By car: Milan has the biggest Italian highway system. Milan's ring road is the end point of highway A4 coming from Turin, of the A4 from Venice and Verona; of A1 connecting Milan and Bologna, Florence and Rome; the A7 coming from Genoa and Liguria; and the A8/A9 that go to Switzerland and to Lakes Como and Maggiore. The ring road is divided in Tangenziale Est and Tangenziale Ovest.

By train: Milan has the major railway system in Northern Italy, at the center of important national and international lines. The main station is Milano Centrale, which is found very near to the center of the city. From here trains leave for all parts of Italy and so do international connections to France, Switzerland, and Germany. The station of Milano Cadorna serves the Malpensa Express for the airport and the FNM regional direct trains to the north of Milan. For times please consult the Trenitalia site or call the green number 89 20 21.

By plane: Milan has two airports: Malpensa (MXP) is the main airport and also has intercontinental flights, while the Linate (LIN) airport serves domestic flights and some European links. The Malpensa airport is connected to Milan by the Malpensa Express train and by the coach bus Malpensa Shuttle. From Linate there is a bus service that goes to Central Station. Linate and Malpensa are moreover connected to each other by a shuttle service provided by Air Pullman. At 45 km from Milan you will find Orio al Serio (BGY) international airport. It is Italy's first low-cost airport with many flights for Italian and European destinations. From the airport there are 30 daily coach service runs to Milan Central Station provided by "Autostradale" and "Locatelli Air Pullman".

Hotels and lodgings

There are all kinds of accommodation available in Milan, for all budgets and needs.
If you want a place that is close to all the most important artistic and cultural attractions in the city, you can choose from among the several Milan hotels. There is no end of choice in the range of categories: in the center you can find from 1-star to 5-star hotels. If you must abide by a tighter budget but you don’t want to miss out on the comfort of staying in the city center, there another three possibilities: bed & breakfast in Milan, room-rental or hostel. If you are planning a mid-long stay in the city, why don’t you rent an apartment in Milan instead, that are available for stays of more than one week.
If you are on a business trip, you are in the right place: many hotels in Milanhave meeting and conference facilities of all sizes , both in the city center and outside the city too.
Do you want to get to know the area outside Milan, as well as the city? Then why not choose a rural country farmhouse as the base for your trip? There are several pleasant ones between Milan and Pavia, that offer both accommodation and food to their guests.

Shopping in Milan

We can begin our itinerary from the heart of the luxury shopping area in Milan: Via Montenapoleone, Via della Spiga and Via Sant'Andrea, elegant streets that together with Via Manzoni, Via Borgospesso and Via Santo Spirito are the outer limits of the famous Fashion Quadrilatero. This area contains the most prestigious boutiques and showrooms in the world, full of minimalist design and high tech, that follow on without any nd to this continuity, and provide a triumph of consumer stimulus that only a select few can respond to. In this square area, that is really extremely expensive, luxury is the true protagonist. Dazzling jewels created by the most famous name, clothes and accessories to die for, to be owned and flaunted, shoes that are works of art. Everything reeks of ostentation and the splendor of a chic, fashionable lifestyle. Many foreign tourists come to the showrooms and come out full of parcels, because Italian fashion continues to attract and fascinate the whole world, and Milan is the most representative symbol of all this. 

source; http://www.travelplan.it; wikitravel.com