Milan Card and Pass
Milan is undoubtedly among the most popular Italian metropolises in terms of tourism.
Italy's fashion capital, it holds a great artistic and cultural heritage-sometimes little known-that make it an ideal destination for a weekend and/or even longer vacation, up to a week generally.
Tourist passes to Milan are a good opportunity to consider, a tourist tool to save money when visiting city attractions, which in some cases offer crucial time and money savings for your trip.
The task of this article is to review all available cards for Milan, compare them with each other to highlight their convenience with respect to your trip to Milan.
INDEX
Card and Pass for the city of Milan
There is a premise to be made that-from a theoretical point of view-not all cards for Milan's museums and attractions always present real convenience (and this is roughly true for every tourist city).
Rather, they should be interpreted according to your specific itinerary (vacation days, what you want to do/see), and by knowing how each pass works go to see if indeed one or more cards or a pass can give you significant benefits, adapting to your itinerary.
It is therefore useful to go into detail about how the main cards and passes for Milan work, to understand their logic of use and help you make this assessment.
There are fourmain Cards for visiting the fashion city:
- Milan Card (usually not convenient)
- YES Milano City Pass (only official pass - for 3 days full of museums and attractions)
- Milan Digital Pass (flexible solution, for various types of vacations)
- Milan Pass (comprehensive, though expensive)
Milan Card
The Milano Card we list first because it is probably the best known and most sought after by users.
However, we anticipate that - in our opinion - objectively it does not turn out to be the best solution, except in rare cases.
The purely economic convenience of the card is questioned, as the services it offers are not as advantageous compared to visiting the city without a Milano Card.
It is a card designed primarily for foreign tourists, so much so that the website is English, but even reviews from those arriving from abroad report various disservices and many seem to regret the purchase.
However, it is incumbent upon us to evaluate how it works so that you can compare it to your specific case for objective judgment with respect to your itinerary.
So let's take a look at the services offered, how to purchase it and its cost.
In the final summary table we compare visiting the city of Milan with or without Milano Card to study its advantages and disadvantages.
What the Milan card includes
The Milano Card is a named card, non-transferable to third parties, which includes:
- free ATM public transportation
- discounts and free admission to museums and major attractions in Milan (**)
- a free audio guide
- €5 credit for an affiliated cab ride
- a free drink in one of the best clubs in Milan
Some packages also include airport transfers or a climb up Milan Cathedral
**discounts are 10% - 20% off the nominal price of the ticket/service (although in some cases the prices do not seem to match the official ones)
How to get the Milan Card
Obtaining the Milano Card is a seemingly quick and easy process. The purchase is made online via PayPal account or credit card; then the Milano Card will be sent via email or directly to your smartphone if you download the appropriate App.
Milan Card Prices
There are three types of Milano Card, with different time durations:
- Milan Card 1 Day 24h -> €15
- Milan Card 2 days 48h -> €22.50
- Milan Card 3 days 72h -> €24
*free for children under 10 years old.
In addition to these "basic" options, there are other special packages that include ascent to the Duomo terraces or shuttle to/from Milan Malpensa or Linate and Orio al Serio airports.
Validity of milano card
I point out that the duration of the card is 24h/48h/72h, after which you can no longer use the card. The validity starts from the first validation of it.
So these are actual hours. Example: if you activate the 72-hour Milano Card at 11:30 am on a Tuesday, it will be valid until 11:30 am the following Friday.
When does it pay off?
The Milano Card does not have a net convenience for those who buy it, sometimes even the economic convenience (only convenience) is not present.
Let's look at the comparison in the table, where we considered the case of a typical weekend with a visit to the Duomo and a cruise on the Navigli.
| with Milan Card + Duomo | without Milan Card | |
|---|---|---|
| transportation | free | €15.50 ATM ticket valid for 3 days (72h) from the time of first validation |
| cab | €5 discount on the first trip 24 |
no discount, in the center of Milan, however, you can get around very well on foot or by transport |
| Galleries of Italy | €8 (20% discount) | €10 |
| Leonardo da Vinci Museum | €7.50 (discount €2.50) | €10 |
| Cathedral (museum and terraces) | free | €20 |
| €57,50 | €55,50 |
The sense is that in fact the only service fully covered by the Milano Card is the season ticket for public transportation, which, however, if purchased normally without a card, costs less than the card itself.
Moreover, it is not always the case that everyone takes full advantage of public transportation so extensively as to require a full subscription (maybe sometimes a couple of rides are enough, the rest is done on foot).
The other included services are all discounted thanks to the card, but not sharply enough to make it so obviously attractive.
Let's say that to make the Milano Card economically advantageous, one must take advantage of all the discounts it provides, while still going for modest savings, and still being forced to tie the itinerary to what the card proposes.
It should also be noted that a visit to the Duomo purchased individually includes not only the Cathedral, a visit to the terraces and the Duomo Museum, but also the archaeological area, which is not included in the Milano Card.
YES Milan City Pass
The YesMilano city pass is a fairly new tourist card, but it represents (finally) the Official Pass of the city of Milan.
A card that includes transportation, museums, attractions and discounts. Practical to use, with good savings, it is for all intents and purposes anexcellent solution for those who want to take a tourist vacation in Milan.
What does it include and how does it work?
This City Pass to Milan is valid for 3 days and is available in 2 variants: Standard and All Inclusive.
The Standard Pass costs less, €60, and includes the Duomo and all the main sights in the city. It's great for a classic tourist vacation in Milan, allowing you to visit many museums and attractions.
The All-Inclusive Pass as the name anticipates includes practically everything, lots of museums, various attractions and discounts. Clearly the price also goes up, costing 90 €. Hard to be able to see all these things in 3 days, but for those who want maximum freedom of choice, it is the right pass.
Below are details of the attractions included in the 2 formulas.
STANDARD
Unlimited transportation subscription (3 days)
Duomo (Museum and Terraces - ascent by stairs)
Sforza Castle
CivicAquarium
Gallery of Modern Art
Archaeological Museum
Museum of the Twentieth Century
Museum of Natural History
Only 1 extra activity to choose from:
- Triennale Design Museum
- Leonardo da Vinci National Museum
- Scala Museum
- Bagatti Valsecchi Museum
- Pinacoteca Ambrosiana + Holy Sepulchre Crypt
- Poldi Pezzoli Museum
- Villa Necchi Campiglio
30% discount on:
- Open hop-on hop-off tourist bus
- Wine Tasting
ALL INCLUSIVE
Unlimited transportation subscription (3 days)
Cathedral (Museum and Terraces - ascent by elevator)
Sforza Castle
CivicAquarium
Gallery of Modern Art
Archaeological Museum
Museum of the Twentieth Century
Museum of Natural History
+ All extra activities included:
Triennale Design Museum
Leonardo da Vinci National Museum
Museum of La Scala
Bagatti Valsecchi Museum
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana + Santo Sepolcro Crypt
Poldi Pezzoli Museum
Villa Necchi Campiglio
30% discount on:
- Open hop-on hop-off tourist bus
- Wine Tasting
There are no reductions; prices are these for ages 6 and up.
Younger children do not need a pass, as they get in free almost everywhere.
Where is it purchased?
The Milan City Pass is purchased on the dedicated official YES Milano website.
Select the pass you are interested in, choosing between standard and all-inclusive, enter the expected start date of your vacation, the number of adults (and therefore the number of passes you want) and proceed with the purchase.
The date is only approximate; you will need it to retrieve your pass, which remains valid for 1 year from the date of purchase.
The actualactivation, which triggers the 3-day validity period, is done manually through the App. Same for the public transportation ticket, it is activated and validated through the App.
Buy the "YesMilano City Pass"use and validity
In order to use the Milan City Pass, you need to download the official App.
Here you will enter the reference data of your purchase that came to you via email, and you can start using your digital pass, both for museum admissions and for metro and transportation.
Does the YES Milano City Pass pay off?
The YesMilano City Pass is a good solution for those who want to visit Milan and its museums for good.
If well exploited, and that is if you visit the Duomo plus 4 / 5 other attractions it allows you to save quite a lot. If, on the other hand, you are not planning to visit many museums, experiencing a more exploratory vacation, then better go for other solutions - you would end up paying more.
The all-inclusive version needs to be evaluated carefully. Better to sketch out an itinerary idea, choose what you would like to go and see, and then evaluate whether there is a real savings in purchasing this version of the pass.
Milan Digital Pass
The Milan Digital Pass is a pass that is offered by Tiqets (an excellent retailer of tourist passes) and is in our opinion the best compromise for those who want to visit Milan, in a typical vacation that can be the long weekend, or at any rate the 3-day stay.
Buy the "Milan Digital Pass"
What is included with the Milan Digital Pass
Let's see in detail what this card includes:
- Milan Cathedral: queue-skipping access to the cathedral, archaeological museum, terraces and St. Gotthard Church
- Skip-the-line access to Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology, including temporary exhibitions
- Ambrosian Picture Gallery
- POPGuide app with digital maps and audio guides of the entire city of Milan
- 10% discount on other attractions and points of interest in Milan
The 3 main attractions included evenly cover tourist tastes, according to the statistics of tourism liking in Milan.
The Duomo is the symbol of the city par excellence, the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana is popular for its rich display of artistic masterpieces, and the Museum of Science and Technology generally meets the taste of a wide audience, including children and young people, as it is very curious and educational.
Public transportation is not included, which is not a major handicap, however, since the cost of it is low, and it is used only in certain situations.
This pass basically offersfree access to three of Milan's main attractions and a 10% discount for every other attraction.
The ticket does not have a fixed expiration date like the other two cards, however, the days and times when you intend to visit each of the three included attractions must be selected.
It is not compulsory to visit them all on the same day but also on different days.
Getting the Milan Digital Pass: how to do it
As the name of this card suggests, the Milan Digital Pass is a digital pass, which can be purchased online at the Tiqets website and conveniently downloaded to your phone.
Buy the "Milan Digital Pass"Milan Digital Pass Prices
The cost of the Milan Digital Pass is €60 full price, there are then reductions:
- €43 for children with ages 19-27
- €36 for children with ages 12-18
- €21 for children 6-11 years old
- €9 for children 3-5 years old
- €39 for senior range, 65+
Convenience
The Milan Digital Pass pays off when we plan to visit the attractions it offers.
Adding up the costs of individual tickets for the included attractions, we far exceed the cost of the pass, which therefore saves us money.
You also take advantage of the card for 10% discount on other tourist attractions in Milan, an element that further contributes to the savings given by the Milano Digital Pass.
This card is also convenient because of its non-temporal factor: we can take advantage of the visit to the free attractions and the 10% discount on all others when we feel like it most, just once.
Milan Pass
The Milan Pass is one of the most comprehensive passes for Milan, which is suitable (due to its validity of 24h, 48h or 72 hours) for all types of vacations-long or not-where you want to condense the exploratory part of the city's tourist attractions into a couple of days.
Milan Pass: what is included
The Milan Pass combines, as is often the case with the tourist card, free travel on the city's urban line anddiscounted access to several points of interest in Milan.
Let's look in detail at what the Milan Pass includes:
- Free access with skip-the-line admission to many attractions including:
- the Cathedral (skip-the-line ticket, including terraces - with elevator)
- the Teatro alla Scala Museum
- the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology
- skip-the-line admission to Leonardo exhibition 3
- the House of Milan with the adjoining Mondo Milan Museum
- Ambrosian Art Gallery
- Leonardo's vineyard
- the Museum of Art and Science
- the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum
- the Cruise on the Navigli (spring/summer period)
- The Shuttle Bus to the different outlets in Milan.
- a map of the city of Milan
- a range of offers and discounts on services
- a welcome kit
- ATM public transportation - from 48 or 72 hours
- (optional) 48-hour or 72-hour hop-on/hop-off bus
Validity of the Milan Pass
Depending on the option purchased, the Milan Pass is valid for 48 hours or 72 hours.
We are talking about hours, not days, from the time you pick it up at the Milan Visitor Center. If you activate the pass on a Wednesday morning at 10 a.m., it will be valid for exactly 48 hours, so until 10 a.m. the following Friday.
How to get the Milan Pass
The Milan Pass can be purchased online.
You then have to go to a Milan Visitor Center to pick up the pass and then activate it. They are centrally located, so as soon as you arrive in the city it will be easy to pick it up, either at Central Station or Castello Sforzesco.
Milan Pass Prices
There are multiple purchase options for the Milan Pass: it changes validity, 48 or 72 hours, and having included hop-on / hop-off buses or not.
All include free visit to museums and everything listed in the list above.
- 48 Hours Milan Pass with ATM public transport - offers 48h travel on the entire ATM public network: streetcars, buses and trains - €89
- 48 Hours Milan Pass with ATM public transportation + hop-on/hop-off bus - allows, for 48h, travel on the 3 hop-on/hop-off bus lines in the city of Milan - €99
- 72-hour Milan Pass with ATM public transport - offers 48h travel on the entire ATM public network: streetcars, buses and trains - €109
- 72 Hours Milan Pass with ATM public transportation + hop-on/hop-off bus - allows, for 48h, travel on the 3 hop-on/hop-off bus lines in the city of Milan - €119
* for children ages 4 to 11, there is a discounted rate of €39, for all versions
** hop-on/hop-off bus lines are tour buses that continuously travel the same sightseeing route, taking you near the city's main tourist attractions and points of interest.
Youcan hop on and off as many times as you like during the hours that the Milan Pass is valid, effectively using it as a means of surface transportation, which unlike the subway allows you to admire the city even as you travel. There is always an audio guide service in these buses that comments on what you are seeing as you travel through the city.
It is always recommended that you take advantage of the service by taking a complete tour of the planned route in each case.
Convenience
The Milan Pass is a very rich and rather expensive pass. If we could see all the things included, it would allow absolute savings!
The question-in case you are oriented to use this pass for Milan-is to plan a vacation itinerary capable of condensing as many of the included attractions as possible into the 48 or 72 hours of its validity.
The more effective you are in this, the greater the savings.
On an average vacation of, say, 3-5 days, the ideal strategy might be to condense visits to the attractions included in the pass into two nice intense days, and leave the other days for more relaxed and quiet exploration of the city.
In the average case, even if you have to leave out some attraction for time reasons, it will be easy to calculate how much the Milan Pass saves you by adding up the nominal ticket price of what you want to see, and comparing it with the price of the pass, which I remind you also includes public transportation for 48 hours (metro, bus, streetcar, etc.).
Buy the "Milan Pass"Milan Pass and Card Summary Table
You can see, in the following summary table, the convenience of different existing passes for the city of Milan.
For optimal reading of the table,
look at it from desktop pc or rotate your smartphone.
| Services included | Milan Card | YesMilano City Pass | Milan Digital Pass | Milan Pass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milan ATM Public Transportation | YES | YES | NO | YES |
| Hop-on / Hop-off bus | NO (discount) | NO (30% discount) | NO (discount 10%) | YES / optional |
| Milan Cathedral | NO / optional | YES | YES | YES |
| Scala Theater and Museum | NO (30% discount) | NO (all inclusive version only) | NO (discount 10%) | YES |
| Ambrosian Picture Gallery | NO (discount 5€) | NO (all inclusive version only) | YES | YES |
| Science and Technology Museum Leonardo Da Vinci |
NO (discount 2.50€) | NO (all inclusive version only) | YES | YES |
| Museum of the Twentieth Century | NO (discount) | YES | NO (discount 10%) | NO |
| Milan House and Museum | NO (discount 2 €) | NO | NO (discount 10%) | YES |
| Sforza Castle | NO | YES | NO (discount 10%) | NO |
| Civic Aquarium | NO (discount) | YES | NO (discount 10%) | NO |
| Gallery of Modern Art | NO (discount) | YES | NO (discount 10%) | NO |
| Discounts on additional attractions | YES | YES (30%) | YES (10%) | YES |
| VALIDITY. | 24h, 48h, 72h | 3 days | Flexible | 48 or 72 hours |
| PRICE (adult) | 24h -> 15,00 € 48h -> 22,50 € 72h -> 24,00 € |
standard € 60 all inclusive € 90 |
€ 60 | 89 to 119 €. |
| PURCHASE | Online Purchase Milan Card |
Online Purchase YesMilan City Pass |
Online Purchase Milan Digital Pass |
Online Purchase Milan Pass |
At first glance the Milano Card might seem the cheapest, however, you have to consider that by adding museums and attractions (albeit discounted) the price goes up. Also as I told you many have complained about how it works and that it is often not accepted or generates misunderstandings.
Milan Card and Pass: convenience and personal opinions
Summarizing, there are four types of passes for visiting the city of Milan:
- the Milan Card
- the YesMilano City Pass
- the Milan Digital Pass
- the Milan Pass
The Milano Card does not present a concrete convenience. By buying individually what the card would offer, you are going to save on transportation: sure, you will not get a free drink but, for the same price, you will have the opportunity to travel with ATM urban transport, one day more.
It should also be pointed out that this card is rather superfluous in that it trivially offers a discount on several attractions in Milan while offering free of charge only the urban transport, which, purchased without a pass comes at a lower cost!
The Milan City Pass from Yes Milano is the only official tourist pass, and indeed it is in my opinion the best pass for Milan. The affordability is there, and if you want to spend 3 days of your vacation fully visiting the city's museum heritage, it is the right pass for you.
In the all-inclusive version, it is suitable for those who keep a nice sustained vacation pace, so that they can actually go and "spend" the convenience offered, visiting as much as possible.
The Milan Digital Pass is the most balanced pass among the cards offered both for short vacations (weekends/long weekends) and especially for longer stays. With no hourly expiration, you will have the opportunity to choose when to visit the included attractions, while also having a 10% discount on all other attractions in Milan.
Buy the "Milan Digital Pass"The Milan Pass is the richest and most comprehensive. It offers potentially great financial savings.
However, it requires good organization to be able to plan visits to the many attractions included, in its 48 or 72 hours of validity. Therefore, it is not for everyone, but an excellent tool for those who have no problem doing two intense days of sightseeing, leaving the quieter part to outside exploration of the city on the remaining days, if you have them available.
Other tourism options
There are additional cards and passes for visiting Milan's museums. These are special solutions, which do not include public transportation, with very extended validity in time, usually 1 full year.
That is, they are tourist cards designed for people who stay in Milan for quite a long time, or know that they will have to travel to the Lombard capital very often, with free time on their hands.
Milano Card Musei (Milan Museum card)
The Milano Museo Card is a card that allows over the course of 1 year of validity, to visit all of Milan's Civic Museums free of charge.
Clearly, given such extended validity, this is a named card, not transferable to third parties. At the entrance of the museums they may also ask you for ID for confirmation.
- Gallery of Modern Art - GAM
- Archaeological Museum
- Museum of the Twentieth Century
- Sforza Castle
- Civic Aquarium
- Museum of Natural History
For exhibitions at Palazzo Reale, Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea (PAC) and Fabbrica del Vapore, the museum card entitles the holder to a 20 percent discount.
Also part of the Milan Civic Museums circuit would be the Boschi Di Stefano House Museum, Palazzo Moriggia - Museum of the Risorgimento, MUDEC - Museum of Cultures and Palazzo Morando - Costume Fashion Image, but these are always free admission for all.
- PRICE: €15.00
- VALIDITY: 1 year from the date of purchase
It can be purchased online at the VivaTicket website or on-site at city museum ticket offices.
There are no price reductions for children or teens, because up to 17 years old get in free anyway.
The affordability is there, but if your intent is for a short tourist vacation, consider that the Milan City Museums are already included in the YesMilano City Pass, along with public transportation, other discounts and attractions.
Museum subscription Lombardy and Milan
Lombardy, Piedmont and Valle D'Aosta, have come up with special passes for museums, royal residences, historic palaces and other important places of artistic, historical and cultural heritage in the region.
- PRICE: € 45.00
reduced children and teens: € 20 up to 14 years old - € 30 from 15 to 26 years old
reduced senior 65 + € 35 - VALIDITY: 1 year from the date of purchase
On this page you can find the complete list of museums included, divided by region and city.
A good idea if you want to learn more about the rich museum heritage of Lombardy and Aosta Valley.
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