Milan 3 night stay
 

Two "senior" ladies taking 2-1/2 day layover in Milan. Thinking we would stay near Malpensa and take the train to get around. Is this a good plan? Any area near Milan you would recommend us traveling to? We are wondering if this layover will be too complicated for us. We are coming off a two-week European cruise, returning to US by air.

Very bad plan. You should definitely stay inside Milan. No reason to stay somewhere an hour away from town and commute twice each day.

Great plan and Milan is a wonderful city. Stay there and enjoy and do not plan to do daytrips from there. See the "Last Supper", the Duomo and window shop the fabulous boutiques.

I very much enjoy the Le Meridien next to Malpensa. We walked everywhere and there is a metro stop right there as well.

Last summer, I did a 2 night stay in Milan before a Med cruise with my mom and stayed at Le Meridien. We both had a wonderful stay.

Hi E,

Milan was OK, but I loved Lago di Maggiore. It's just an hour train ride from Milano Centrale, so from Malpensa might take about 2 hours. A 2 day visit would be nice, 3 would be better!

The Borromean Islands are beautiful, the views gorgeous, the gardens relaxing.

We stayed at Hotel Verbano on Isola dei Pescatori. Very nice!

I agree with Rkkwan. If you want to visit Milan, you have to stay there. It will be difficult to travel one hour each direction, daily.

If you want to visit the lakes, you can stay near near Magiore Lake (for instance in Stresa, and to visit Isola Bela, or to stay near Como.

Everyone is right don't stay near Malpensa!!!
That said, if $$ is no object, stay at the Gray, if you want to save your $$ for shopping, stay at the charming and spotless Hotel del Corso, just north of the city center, about 4/5 metro stops to the Duomo. Don't forget to shop at la Rinascente, and for designer bargains at Salvagente on Via Fratelli Bronzetti.
A great day trip is Lake Como, you can take the train from the Cadorna train station (the metro stops there too), it's about an hour each way.
I used to live in Milan, I wish you
Buon viaggio e buona fortuna