The Hostel situation in Milan sucks at best. To add to that, besides the Duomo & Last Supper, you're not missing much, and you'd be saving a ton of money by passing right through.
I attempted to stay at Il Postello, but they had no rooms. The place was nasty. Stunk like beer the minute you walked in the place. The neighborhoods around appear nice or ok, but you turn onto this street, and every building is laden with grafitti, "trouble" lurking outside on the street corners and all down that particular road. A place to seriously avoid.
I wound up sleeping at the Airport to wait for my flight the next day. Very nice and safe. A tip, if you go to the 3rd floor of the airport, ther are nice comfy couches to sleep on. There were only 2 other people sleeping up there compared to the number downstairs. Police are everywhere, but I didn't see them hassle anyone, but they were always around, in large numbers, all night. Military vehicles patrolled outside at various times too. There is also great wifi connections there. I paid for a full days access for 12 Euro. Not too bad for having nothing else to do.
Reply to this ahh, yeah, the reason it sucks... other than the crappy one I visited for a minute. There aren't many of them. One claims itself as a Hotel/Hostel kinda thing. But when I checked, it was 60 Euro/night. Not much of a Hostel price there. The others were all out in neighborhoods, away from the central station, which makes it easy to get anywhere.
Also, whoever opens a hostel anywhere near Malpensa is going to make a frickin fortune!!! People are flying through that place left and right, and I can only assume with the number of people sleeping in the airport, they too couldn't afford the 160+ Euro per night accomidations near Milan Malpensa Airport. Malpensa is 40 minutes by "Malpensa Express" train, and 50 minutes (or more in rush hour) by Shuttle Bus. This makes any flight before noon a rush with security restrictions.
Also, as you should do anywhere else, watch your packs kids. My pack had three of it's zippers opened and a phone stolen while I was wearing it outside the train station!!! Like an idiot, I hadn't locked it yet, or secured my other zippers. The 1 time on a 17 day trip I let my guard down, and it was taken advantage of.
Reply to this i know...its not just in Milan...its the problem all over Italy...they steal at broad daylight
Reply to this Not true, Arnab, and unfair from your part. It's not THE WHOLE country (are you sure you have visted it ALL, so that you are actually in the position of making such a statement???), just some places and some people scattered around in the country, just like in many other countries.
Youth hostel and cheap hotel bookings Reply to this Hey Francesca! may be you are right! but I had very sad experience at Rome. We were walking down one of those crowded streets. My mother had a nylon handbag which contained our visa and passport. At the end of our street we found out the bag was partially cut by some sharp devices(maybe blade) of some sort. Luckily important documents were wrapped by some good layer of clothes..so nothing happend.
Well I visited Sicily,Rome,Venice,Pisa,Venice,Vatican City and Piombino! I like the art,architecture,culture,cuisine(with olive oil) and wine of Italy that draws me there!
Besides I was charmed by the hospitality and love songs sung by the boatmen of Gondola
Just hoped that Italy be so better place for foreigner tourists like us if this minutes had not taken place!
By the way Francesca looks like you are very fond of Italy and you cannot tolerate any single objection to it.. hee hee
Reply to this Actually I'm not that fond of my country and I know there's so much to be ashamed of. However, I just think there's good and bad in every place and a bad experience is not enough for being so negative about the whole country, don't you think? I'm glad there's something you enjoyed...mind you, you've seen very little of Italy, just a few of the most touristic cities (and that's exactly where there's more trouble for tourists), but if you really want to get to know this country, than you should see the less visited spots: the countryside in Umbria and Tuscany(the latter is actually well know and full of British and American citizens), the mountains in Trentino and Val d'Aosta, the coast of Liguria and Puglia...
Well, I hope you're still keen on coming over again!
Youth hostel and cheap hotel bookings Reply to this sure Francesca! it would be my pleasure to come to Italy again... and thanks a lot for the inputs!
do keep in touch... I might need your help when I come down there!
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