Ricgstevens

Fellow travellers, we need some expert advice!

Family of four heading to Milan for a four night stay from Sept 12 to 16 this year. Two adults and two not so young ones under 15 yrs old.

Can't seem to find any apartment style accomodation. Hotels seem to be plentiful, but golly they are expensive. Hence the desire to settle for an apartment.

Am prepared to stay outside of the city provided we can bus/train into the major city sites daily.

Been looking up Venere.com with limited success.

Perhaps as a starting point you could suggest some areas in and around Milan I should focus my searches on.

Thanks so much,

Richard

zeppole

Check Trenitalia the train schedules to see if any these towns work for you:

Pavia
Desenzano
Peschiera del Garda
Stresa
Bergamo
Arona

Remember that the destination you want is "Milano" and the train station you want in Milano is "MI C.L.E."

You can Google up the towns for pictures and information if you think the distance is not to far by train.

If you think those towns might work for you, and you find hotel availablity in one of them, be sure to ask the hotel whether you can walk to the train station from there, or take a bus to Piazza Castello in Milano.

lovisa

Although it's an hour away, you might think about staying in the town of Como.

I have filed Hotel Quarcino away as a possible stay for a future trip. It has quad rooms, is relatively inexpensive, gets good reviews on tripadvisor, and is near the Como Lago station of the FNM railway:

http://www.hotelquarcino.it/

lovisa

Looking at hotel search engines, both www.hotels.com and www.expedia.com show a Il Passante Residence or Residence Il Passante and describes it as being 5 km from the center of Milan.

For your dates the rate is $329 for first two nights, and $157 for last 2 nights for average of $242. It has beds for adults and sofa beds for kids, and is described as an apartment.

There are a couple of reviews on Tripadvisor in Italian.

zeppole

Como would also make sense for travelers come in and out of Malpensa, because of the easier train connections to and from the airport.

Jean

Have you considered just cutting back on your time in/near Milan? I'm a big fan of Milan, but I don't think you need 4 nights (3 full days) to see the sights. Of course, if you're sleeping an hour or more away, you might need the additional time.

And exactly what is your budget?