Family Winter Holiday in Milan

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Family Winter Holiday in Milan

Ireland West Airport is a compact airport which we found very convenient and efficient. The Airport has a nice little play area for children and offers an executive lounge which we decided to take advantage of, a nice area to relax and watch the planes take off and land .Fully stocked with complimentary snacks and drinks. Ireland West Airport was fantastic, literally only took 10 minutes to get from the entrance door, bag drop off, through security and duty free to our boarding gate. We will definitely fly from Ireland West Airport again.

We flew with Ryanair to Milan/Bergamo Airport. Flight time was 2.25hrs and we picked the early morning flight as we love having the first full day to explore. The airport in Bergamo was nice and we were quick to get luggage collected and out the door to travel to Milan City. Taxis, public bus transport and organised bus companies were easy to find directly outside the airport and we went with a bus company into Milan which cost us €34 for 2 adults and 2 children .The journey took approximately 1hr .

We booked an Airbnb apartment in Milan city which was called La Corte Luxury. Highly recommend this apartment for a family as it was very central, very safe gated apartment block and extremely spacious for our family with washing appliances & cooking facilities which are always a bonus while travelling with children too as kids can be a little harder to please abroad with eating meals so it was nice to have this facility.

Milan is well known for many reasons such as fashion , architecture, food and arts . At times city trips are hard to please smaller kids but during the Christmas period Milan has lots to offer for families. We chose to see the Christmas Village, located in a beautiful park in Milan called Giardini Indro Montanell. The Christmas Village offered ice skating rinks , wooden chalets of food and wine and snacks and plenty of Christmas themed amusement rides that kept us entertained for hours . We visited smaller craft markets too in Milan city which was lovely to have a nice coffee and potter round the City at ease .

Cheap Flights to Ireland West Airport to Milan

We saw the most popular Duomo di Milano which is also the largest cathedral in Italy and truly was an incredible building and well worth the visit . Milan has such a wonderful balance of old and new architecture that makes just walking about the city so fascinating .The city is modern and trendy ,filled with history at every turn . I would definitely recommend checking out the Christmas tree in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele (Italy's oldest shopping mall), filled with bustling shops and restaurants. It's truly beautiful at night with all the lights twinkling and the atmosphere of joy and warmth and nostalgia . Other places I would recommend visiting while in Milan would be the science and technology leonardo da Vinci museum and the world of leonardo museum too .The great thing about Milan is that Public transport is so easy and we found it very reasonable which made it easier to get around sightseeing with the kids . A hop on hop off bus is also a good option to fit a lot of sightseeing into a short space of time .

Cheap flights from Ireland West Airport to Milan

Sometimes for us it’s hard to impress the kids with food abroad .While we love to be adventurous with food choices our kids can be quite picky and Italy did serve up some excellent choices with many dishes of the best pastas and pizza ever . There are also many street food options that we do find great for snacks . Milan has lots of great supermarkets around too so you have plenty of food options . Our personal favourite desserts were gelato and cannoli and the best cappuccinos . At the Christmas markets we loved the street food and mulled wine . Italy has lots of choices of food so make sure you try something new and cultural while away .

We decided to take a train trip out to lake como which we booked through Traineline.com …….. and cost €11.65pp we found the prices quite reasonable and booked seats in first class .
The journey was easy and a very comfortable trip with beautiful views . Once we arrived at Como, we made our way to the lakeshore and booked a boat trip out onto the lake and stopped off at Torno .Torno is located north of Lake Como and is probably one of the most picturesque places that we have ever visited .We chose to dine at Hotel Vapaore, on their terrace overlooking the beautiful Lake Como. We just relaxed and took in all the amazing views of the sun setting on the lake and the golden hues hitting the Alps .Well worth a visit .

We travelled to Bergamo, a city northeast of Milan in the Lombardy region by train which we booked with Trainline.com
We booked a B&B called Relais Dei Mandorli a 15 minute walk from Bergamo Town
Bergamo was a much quieter place than Milan and definitely gave more relaxed authentic Italian town vibes than the bustling atmosphere of Milan. We visited the Christmas markets in the town . An ice skating rink wooden chalets of gorgeous crafts and food gave a most magical Christmas feel .

Cheap Flights from Ireland West Airport to Bergamo
We chose to book an Uber in Bergamo and made getting around nice although you could choose to walk around too .
We visited the Bergamo funicular(cable car) which links the old and the new town ,an easy way to visit without a steep climb up to the old town and for a very surprisingly cheap price too (€19.80 return for a Family) . You go straight up to Citta Alta and the views are absolutely incredible as you're directly at the very top of the city over Bergamo . While up there we did a fun little tour in a mini bus all around the old town .The old town had Christmas lights and Christmas trees everywhere and going through the streets was magical ,they even have a lovely little Irish bar . We’re already looking forward to going back to Bergamo and with so much to offer it’s the perfect weekend away trip for couples and families looking to get a break away .