I am trying to book two hotel rooms for the end of May 2004 and am having a difficult time finding available rooms in Milan. Is there a trade show in town? Can anyone recommend a centrally located hotel near the Duomo for about 150 euros? Or should I give up on Milan and go to Lake Como for 4 nights instead? Help!

It may simply be too soon. They might not have their reservation books for spring 2004 until a month or two from now.

But four nights at Lake Como is ten times better than any number of nights in Milan.

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi Rex:
Thanks for the reply. This will be my first visit to Italy and I've heard conflicting views on Milan. It's either a boring industrial city unless you're a hard-core shopper (which I am not) or there are some worthwhile museums and art to see (the Last Supper) and la Scala. But everyone tells me that Lake Como (especially Bellagio) is worth a visit. Perhaps I'll split the difference and spend a couple of days in each area. It's just that I'll be flying back home out of Milan so it made sense to end my Italy trip there. Thanks for your input.
Judy

Judy,

You can try Hotel Spadari al Duomo, which is located one block from the Duomo. I was there last year. It is a very modern, trendy boutique hotel, and is just a bit more expensive than what you quoted. I believe their website is www.spadarihotel.it.

MMM

I disagree somewhat with Rex. We enjoyed our time in Milan (total of two days at beginning and end of trip). We don't shop but were kept busy the entire time. The Duomo is beautiful, and walking around on the roof was very interesting.

We also enjoyed Bellagio very much, so we can recommend that too. I'd follow your inclination to spend time in both places.

MMM,
You must have been reading my mind. I just checked out the fodors hotel reviews on Milan and Spadari al Duomo had such rave reviews that I just emailed them. Any recommendations for Bellagio or Varenna?
Thanks,
Judy

We should be staying at Hotel Spadari next year. The hotel gives a weekend discount (Fri.-Sun.).

Hotel Belvedere in Bellagio gets good comments here.

We can reccomend the Hotel Zurigo, doubles 185 including breakfast. It's located a few blocks south of the Duomo. They put us on to a terrific restaurant, Incontru, which is on Manzoni a couple blocks from the Duomo.

La Scala is being renovated. To see the Last Supper you have to make an appointment. Call 02.8942.1146

One of the things we did during our recent stay was to see Leonardo's Horse, the largest equestrian sculpture in the world.

Flying out of Malpensa would justify a couple of nights. But other than that I agree with Rex.

RonZ,

Are you sure you're not confusing the Zurigo with somewhere else??

While clean and well-located, it's a bare-bones 3 star with the smallest rooms I've stayed in in a long time! EUR 185 is also far too expensive for that place - I think the company which put me up there (was travellling on business) paid about EUR 100.

No comparison with Spadari al Duomo in any event.

Hope this helps,
Andre

Hi

My wife and I want to Milan and Venice in June this year. I thought that Milan was interesting the three days when we were there. I was very impressed by the Duomo, The last supper was great,Sforza Castle (Castello Sforzesco) was woth a stop and so on. And the ice cream that we found in Milan was just heaven We stayed at a hotel called Marconi near the metro station Rebubblica. It only took us a few minutes to get into the Duomo. I have posted a "review" of the hotel in my trip report on my homepage www.gardkarlsen.com. Maybe you can find some useful information there I have also posted lots of pictures from our trip.

Have a great trip to Italy

Regards
Gard
Stavanger, Norway

Hi Gard:
I just visited your website; very impressive. I felt like I had a personal tour of Milan. Thanks for the warning about the mosquitos. None of the guidebooks mention this and I'm very allergic. I've decided on two nights in Lake Como (varenne) and two nights in Milan. I'm curious to see the Last Supper for everyone who's read Dan Brown's daVinci Code. Thanks everyone for all of the suggestions.
Judy

Hi judyyee

I'm glad you enjoyed my homepage and I'm glad you got the warning about the mosquitos. I was taken a bit off guard when it comes to the mosquitos because I thought I would be safe in the city But things improved when I bought some mosquitos spray

Regards
Gard
www.gardkarlsen.com