The tourist passes in Milan are very popular. Come find out how the Milan Pass compares to the Milano Card and which ones is worth getting. These cards both offer unique discounts and tourist access help visitors see all the best cultural sites in Milan at a affordable price. The pass costs the same no matter how many sites you visit, so be sure to check out as many as you can.
Every traveler’s plan consists of many budgeting and planning when visiting a city like Milan. They all want to get the best value for their money and to be certain they will see as much as possible of what Milan has to offer. One of the best ways to do this is to get advantage of a travel card or a travel pass.
Milan offers different possibilities to save up to 20%-50% of your tour costs with passes, travel cards and so called skip the line tickets. All of them beside savings, help better planing, you’ll be updated with all new tours and new experiences, and first of all it will save your time without waiting in long queues at some top Milan attractions.
Good to Know
Everything visitors need to know about the Milan city passes that believe or not, even some Milanesi don’t know how it works.
- Is it worth getting Milan pass and what to expect?
- What’s the different between – MilanoCard and city pass?
- What sites and museums you can visit for free with the pass?
- Where can you buy the pass or Milano card?
- Skip the line passes and tickets
What to Expect
Whenever you decide to purchase this pass, there are two main advantages for every visitors. The first one is convenience and easy to use. The second one, not less important, is entirely economical.
When it comes to convenience, the ‘Skip the line’ feature is sometimes the most important. It’s nice to know you can just show up and go right to the front of the line. This is most important at the Last Supper, where lines can be long, not only in high season.
Another advantage of the pass is a comprehensive city map and audio guide of Milan, included in the package. Particularly recommended is ticketbar the Last Supper including ‘skip the line’ with audio-guide! Another service that will be of a great help is the cognition to have a free access to any of Milan transportation means, from excellent metro, bus and tram network.
Looking at the pass from economical view, it all depends how long you are going to stay in Milan. If you are in Milan for a day, it will not be a big savings. From the point of view of savings:
Pros
The pass is worth getting it if:
- If you intend to visit at least 3 to 4 museums or most important Milan monuments in a period of two days .
- If you use Milan metro network including trams and bus more than 8 times in 3 days.
Cons
It won’t be worth getting it if:
- If you are not interested visiting more than 2 museums or only few most important Milan’s monuments in less than two days.
- If your visit will be concentrating in the strict center of town where you don’t need to use public transportation much.
Pass vs Card
Many of you,maybe, don’t know that there are two passes at your disposal:
- Milan City Pass
- Milano Card
Let’s see going through the specifics of each card to explain the difference between these cards and offer guidelines on how you can purchase these cards and get the most value for money.
Milan City Pass
This pass is available for 48 and 72 hours stay in Milan. In two/three days visitors can choose to visit any of the ten landmarks in the city for free. This pass also includes some free tours like the wine tasting tours and exclusive shopping tours.
Depending on provider most of 48/72 hours passes offer free ride on the Milan Hop-on Hop-off bus Tour or unlimited free travel on the public transport.
There are practically two types of these passes. The standard and full pass. The first one incorporates free admission to eight top Milan attractions including La Scala. Visitors will get also an ease to follow city map and Milan guidebook.
Free entrance to attractions included with standard Milan pass:
- Duomo terraces and museum
- La Scala Museum and Theater (free entrance or discount on a guided tour)
- Brera Art Gallery (free entrance or discount on a guided tour)
- La Triennale Museum
- Art and Science Museum
- San Siro stadium and museum tour
- The World of Leonardo museum
- Vigna di Leonardo
Standard pass gives to the visitors the choice between free hop-on hop off city sightseeing bus ticket or 48-hours travel on public Milan transport around the city.
Full Milan pass – offers all benefits of the standard one, plus both free city sightseeing hop-on hop-off bus ticket and free city public transport.
Where to get this pass?
All passes are available online. Viator offers both standard and full version, 48 or 72 hours. Here is the standard 48 hours pass with departure point from Milan Central Station, at ground floor where is Milan Visitor Center.
On ticketbar.eu visitors can purchase 48 hours Milan City pass for only 69 that includes free entrance to 12 Milan museums, 6 free tours, discounts in 7 restaurants from 5 to 10 %, and some shopping discounts. The pass also include the choice between Hop-on hop-off tour or public transport.
Milano Card
What is Milano Card? It’s available only online and it can be used directly via your smartphone or downloading the Milano Card App. While the Milan Pass is applicable for 48 and 72 hours, Milan Card offers three alternatives: For 24, 48 and 72 hours.
What does Milan Card include? Milano card website offers the following services when you purchase the card online:
- Free public transport for 24h,48h or 72h
- Free personal driver for one ride
- Discounted rates for Airport Bus Malpensa, Linate and Bergamo airport
Free entrance to following museums and important Milan sights: Rooftop Vittorio Emanuele Gallery , Duomo Milan Cathedral Rooftop , La Scala Theater Museum, Leonardo Last Supper , San Siro Stadium and Museum, The World of Leonardo museum, Branca Tower (Sempione park). Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Casa Milan (Milan Football club), Bagatti Valsecchi Museum and Sforza Castle.
Important notes: Not all museums offer free entrance, Some apply discounted rates from 10% to 100%. When you get to Milan, exchange your voucher for the Milano Card at Milan Visitor Center in Milan Central station, located on the ground floor on the west side. Open in Google maps! Milan Visitor Center is open everyday from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
Skip the Line
Not all visitors need to buy Milan pass or Milano Card. A visitor who has less than 24 hours will not need to buy neither pass nor card. For example, if you are short with time purchasing a Milan card for only 8 for 24 hours, won’t be of a great advantage.
Milano Card for 24 hours offers free use of public transportation and free entrance to many civic museum as well to some top city highlights, but when you are bounded with time, it won’t be of a great help.
So what to do in this case? The only solution will be to plan carefully what you would like to see in Milan. The problem always comes up with some top sights that must be visited. Let’s suppose you are in Rome less than a day, you’ll probably consider Rome Colosseum and Vatican museum (Sistine Chapel and St.Peter church) to be your priority
Like in every city you visit there are the most packed sights like Paris, London or Rome and Florence in Italy. Milan is also one of them where some sights are guaranteed to be crowded. The time in most cases is the most important and precious for visitors.
But fortunately there’s always a strategy or shortcut that can break you out of the crowds, a guided tour that includes last-minute reservations, like Milan pass with line-skipping privileges or just tickets for a single skip the line city sights.
- Best value Duomo Cathedral and rooftop ticket
- Best value Milan sights tickets