Milan is Italy’s second-biggest city and one of its most visited. With a combination of great food, fantastic art galleries, striking architecture, and the Last Supper, it is easy to understand why. In this article, I’ll cover the best tours of Milan to take and why.
Pro Tip: It’s easier to organize your trip when you have all your resources in one place. Bookmark this post along with our guide to Milan for more planning resources, our best Milan tours for a memorable trip, and how to see Milan in a day.
Should You Book a Tour Milan?
The short answer is yes. But why? Milan is a city of incredible museums and sites of major historical significance, with local expert guides to sites like Teatro Alla Scala, the Duomo, and, of course, the Last Supper come alive.
A tour guide can solve logistical issues, like hard-to-get tickets. They can help you access areas closed to travelers without a guide, like La Scala. And they can heighten your experience through expert knowledge and amazing stories, elevating sites like the Last Supper even higher.
This tour is perfect for anyone wanting to catch the highlights of Milan in one action-packed tour. This half-day adventure covers the colossal Milan Duomo in depth. You’ll visit the ancient baptistry and enjoy the spectacular view from the rooftop terrace before heading through Milan’s stunning city center en route to the Sforza castle, home to Michelangelo’s final, unfinished masterpiece.
A four-hour romp through the history and culture of Milan and the perfect way for you to get acclimatized to all that Milan has to offer.
Peanut butter and jelly, whisky and soda, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, everybody loves a good double act! Here’s another great double act for you: Visit Da Vinci’s Last Supper and the Duomo in one day.
Tickets to the Last Supper sell out months in advance, but with this tour, we have all the logistics covered. Your expert guide will lead you with skip-the-line tickets in hand, past the long lines of disappointed tourists to view the Last Supper before escorting you across town and skipping the lines to enter the Milan Duomo.
This is an excellent tour for anyone wanting to visit the heavyweights and one of the best tours of Milan.
For lovers of opera or ballet, or music lovers in general, a trip to Milan would only be complete with a visit to Teatro alla Scala, probably the most famous opera venue in the world. With this tour, you’ll get to explore the interior of this storied venue; if you are lucky, you may even catch a live rehearsal.
The tour also includes entry into the La Scala’s onsite museum, where you can view iconic outfits, stage designs and listen to some of the most famous recorded performances in the theatre’s history.
A must-do experience for any music or theatre lover!
Lake Como has long been the playground of the rich and famous, from Roman Emperors through to George Clooney. But with this tour, you don’t need a seven-figure bank account to enjoy the beauty of this magnificent area.
With this tour, you’ll enjoy a walking tour of Como before embarking on a lake cruise to Torno, with spectacular views of Moltrasio. You’ll have plenty of time to explore on your own and take in this idyllic corner of Italy.
Arguably Milan’s coolest neighborhood, you’ll explore streets lined with artisans selling their wares, learn the legends behind ‘the street of bright flowers’ and the ‘street of dark flowers,’ and explore one of Italy’s best art collections at the Brera Gallery.
At the Brera Gallery, you’ll be struck by the beauty of masterpieces by Hayez, Caravaggio, Raphael, and Rubens—an unforgettable experience.
You must understand a culture’s food to immerse yourself in a place truly. That’s why the first place I head to in any new city is the food market. And that is what you will do on this tour.
You’ll start by meeting local vendors in Milan’s central market and stocking up on fresh produce that you will lovingly prepare in your upcoming cooking class.
You’ll head to a local cooking school in the heart of Milan, where a talented local chef will teach you how to make unique Milanese dishes back home.
Oh, did I mention you also get to eat all the food at the end over a couple of glasses of locally produced-wine? The perfect tour for foodies and definitely one of the best tours of Milan.
If the Last Supper is one of the main reasons for visiting Milan, then don’t miss out. Tickets to the Last Supper sell out months in advance. Trying to book them can be like getting tickets to a Taylor Swift concert, as you sit at your laptop constantly clicking refresh as you wait for the next batch to be released.
With this tour, we take care of all that for you and throw in an expert local guide to elevate the experience to another level—the perfect tour for lovers of art and Da Vinci.
Not ready to book a tour? Check out our free Guide to Milan
9. Milan Duomo: Cathedral, Baptistery and Terraces Tour
The facade of the Duomo holds 2000 sculptures. It is the largest church in Italy (excluding St. Peters, as it is in the Vatican State and not Italy). Its history dates back to 1386, even earlier if we include some of the archaeological areas.
It is a site that deserves your undivided attention. With this tour, that is what it gets. You and your expert guide will skip the long lines before heading into the Cathedral to explore its main sights and a few lesser ones, like the baptistry and the rooftop terraces.
Perfect for anyone wanting to understand the significance of this magnificent structure.
Not ready to book a tour? Check out our free Guide to Milan
10. Private Day Trip From Milan to Lake Como – With Luxury Boat Tour
Photo courtesy of Lake Como Cruise
Starting the day at your hotel in Milan, your guide will pick you up and transport you to Lake Como in a luxury vehicle. But let’s be honest, you didn’t come all this way to experience the blue beauty of Como by car, did you?
Jump aboard your private boat and skip across the lake like a stone as you make your way to Bellagio and Villa Balbianello. There will be wine, food, and photo ops galore on what will be a truly unforgettable day.
Not ready to book a tour? Check out our free Guide to Milan
Find the best places to stay
Where To Stay in Milan
Milan is a small city with plenty to explore from iconic landmarks to a vibrant art and design scene and old-world charm. Plan where to stay in the best neighborhoods in this beautiful city.
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