Do you only have a short amount of time to go away? Or don’t want to take holiday to do a small trip- this outline might be perfect for you. We spent two days exploring both Milan and Verona, and all for under £100 each! Short trips seem a scary concept, but actually are ideal for exploring cities and culture.
Price Rundown for Two
Flights with Ryanair – £39
Stansted -> Milan Departure: 07:15 Arrival: 10:05
Milan -> Stansted Departure 21:10 Arrival: 22:15
Hotel- £41
Hotel Siena Verona, found on Booking.com.
Bus to and from Verona with Flixbus – £11
Milan -> Verona Departure: 16:30 Arrival: 18:30
Verona -> Milan Departure: 12:45 Arrival: 14:40
How to eat on a budget in Italy?
Breakfasts in Europe are so easy to find cheap. There are nearly always tens of local bakeries within walking distance, and all will do a variety of fresh pastries and breads for a couple of euros- sorted. Italy has these window- like bakeries along the streets, so for us we usually grab a pastry and eat it on the go, instead of sitting down and losing time to explore.
Generally, if we’re doing a short two day trip like this one, lunch will be something similar. These bakeries do such a huge range of paninis, sandwiches and focaccia so a quick, cheap lunch on the go is always easy to find too.
Dinners we generally spend a little bit more on (nothing crazy..), but as we’ve saved so much from cheap breakfast and lunch- we don’t mind the extra. Plus, by dinner time we’ve been walking all day long, so a relax and a sit down is very welcome! Local pizzeria restaurants are usually, very reasonably priced, and very delicious.
What to do in Milan?
Milan is obviously famous for its high end fashion and design, shopping, and two top league football clubs (AC Milan and Inter Milan), but also has some hidden gems to explore!
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is the famous shopping gallery covered with a glass roof. Next to the Duomo di Milano, it’s an impressive site to walkthrough to reach the cathedral surrounded by high end luxury shops. Once out the other side you are in a lovely plaza surrounded by these stunning buildings (and people paying to feed pigeons…)
A short walk from here is the Castello Sforzesco. With a fountain adorning the clocktower entrance, this free to walk around site is well worth a visit. Once you’ve wandered around the grounds, there’s the Sempione Park out the back which is a quaint walk featuring an aquarium and museums before leading you to the Arco Della Pace. From here it’s another short walk to “CityLife” home to a load of luxury apartments and very funky skyscrapers.
This little wander placed us nicely by the metro station to get over to Lumpagnano bus station to catch our FlixBus over to Verona!
What to do in Verona?
Verona has a much older, medieval feel to it creating a nice contrast to Milan. Famous for being the setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, this city was full of intrigue.
Upon walking into the main section of the city centre, you are greeted by Verona Arena, a roman amphitheatre that is used for concerts and festivals over the summer. From here you can get lost down all the winding Italian streets.
The Piazza Delle Erbe was a hustling plaza with market stalls surrounded by stunning architecture. Of course there’s the famous Juliet statue, where everyone is grabbing her left breast for good luck, and if you’re a big fan you can pay to go around the house and onto the balcony.
For us, we loved going just out of the main city using a funicular railway to go up to Castel San Pietro. The journey up cost 2 euros each and provided an excellent view. From the top we wandered back down again admiring the views of this stunning city.
Our evening in Verona consisted of dinner in a wonderful pizzeria, a walk along the river admiring the city at night, followed by a few drinks in a local craft brewery.
We then returned to Milan on our FlixBus the following afternoon for one last wander around Milan before heading back to the airport for our flight!
This perfect 2 day trip cost us just £45 each for transport and accommodation. The great thing with short trips like this is the price stays so low- your spending can be minimal, you can take advantage of bargain flight deals as you only need a small overnight bag, and whilst tiring, allow you to see more of the world on what could just be your days off from work or study!
If you have any questions on how we planned this trip last minute for a bargain price, feel free to drop us a message!
Adam & Lauren 🙂