Rediscovering the charm of Milan + my hotel review
#80 Easter weekend plans? Milan may be the perfect getaway.
As mentioned before, I was off to Milan this week for a business trip. To be honest, I didn’t quite feel like travelling this week as I’ve been pretty efficient and confortable working from home these past few days. However, once I arrived there and walked around the city, it felt good and it reminded me of the value of exploring and travelling.
I have been in Milan a couple of times before - hence also why I was probably less excited to travel this time- and yet, I was happy rediscovering the charm of its architecture and of course the magnificient Duomo. The weather was also particularly generous with a bright sun and 21 degrees temperature, which helped.
My colleagues definitely took advantage of the shopping options, with luxury items at a reduced price compared to London, to which you can add the detax. This is the only positive of Brexit. As I’m concerned, there were too many beautiful things so I felt overwhelmed and only came back with chocolates and the Colomba, the Easter brioche Italians enjoy.
Our Italian colleagues had planned a private visit of the Nuevocente museum, which was really well done and we ended the evening enjoying drinks and diner on a terrace overlooking the piazza. We felt very lucky!
All in all, a very nice short break. Transportation from both airports, whether Malpensa or Linate, to the center of the town is really easy and cheap so that makes it an easy city break for the spring. I do recommend it. You could even continue onto Venice, which is a 2h easy train journey from there.
Below is my review of the hotel we stayed at.
Next weekend we’ll be gone for Easter to my mum and then will spend one night in the refurbished Caudalie, so I’ll let you know what I think of it.
Have a great week and long Easter weekend.
Boutique hotel review of the Mathilde Hotel, Milan
The hotel is very centrally located, you're literally two steps from the Duomo, and the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle, which means that you're truly in the heart of the tourist highlights.
It’s a very easy journey from both Linate or Malpensa. From Linate, it’s direct on the subway and takes litterally 20 minutes. From Malpensa, I recommend that you take the train to Cardona, a central train station. From there, you could take the tube but I decided to walk, which was only 15 minutes and allows you to start discovering the city.
The downside of being so central is that it can get noisy at night. I slept very well, but my colleagues were disturbed by the tramway. So it depends on how delicate you are with sleeping. One advice would be to ask for a top floor room, and one that looks either onto the side street, or if you don’t mind not having a view to the back of the hotel.
The hotel is a lovely design, very nice and classy. It's in an old building with art deco stairs in smooth like marble stone and golden steel joints and the rooms have big windows, high ceilings, antique fireplaces and for some a balcony onto the street . The light flooded through the room.
I had room 401, and it came with a very nice double bed, which was very comfortable, a big sofa on which you could relax, a good size desk area to work from, two big windows, including one French window opening onto a little balcony. Opposite my room was a very beautiful building with classic architectural features.
The room has a nice bathroom with a walk-in shower with brass taps, and a single sink. Toiletries were nothing special. You also have all the amenities such as a TV, bathrobe, slippers, hair dryer, complementary still water and of course an espresso machine. No tea though but it’s no surprise given the Italian’s taste for coffee above all. Big cupboards too to put away all your stuff.
Breakfast in the morning is on the first floor of the café/bakery/ restaurant. It’s a bit weird to have to go through the café and then go up the stairs. I actually sat down in the café initially! Breakfast has got everything you want: a big buffet with savoury and sweets, lots of different Italian breads and biscuits and pastries, homemade cakes, a nice selection of fresh fruits and dried fruits as well, cereals, some cooked eggs.
Weirdly there is no lounge or bar. The closest is said café but that’s open to all the public from the street so doesn’t feel personal. That’s the one downside of the hotel. It’s not a place you come back to to relax with friends and colleagues, although you can certainly do that in your nice big room.
If you are looking for a central, well designed, clean hotel at a decent price for Milan (room was 365 Euros, not cheap but everything is quite expensive there), it’s a good choice. The rooms are the best bit of the hotel as the rest, while being done well and with smiley staff, felt a bit impersonal.
Restaurants recommendations
I was there for work so all meals, apart from the first evening where me and my colleagues enjoyed a nice pizza in the Galleria, were taken care of. We had lunch in the office and in the evening, they took us to the museo del novecento for a private visit followed by drinks and diner at Da Giacomo Arengario. The restaurant’s terrace overlooks the Duomo piazza so we had a superb view. The menu was set and not to my taste but colleagues did appreciate the food and I’m sure that if you can choose your dishes, it must be a very nice way to spend an evening.
A friend of mine though recommended this place called La Cantina di Manuela. I haven’t tried it but I would trust his choice!