The main international airport is Malpensa (Milan Malpensa, IATA: MXP). It's a large, modern, two-runway airport. The airport has two terminals, with Terminal 1 being the largest (international and intercontinental flights). Terminal 2 is used by a number of budget airlines, such as Easyjet, and has grown consistently in the last few years (2004-2008).
The two terminals are connected by a free shuttle bus service (running approximately every 20 minutes). However, such shuttles are very small and the frequency is inadequate: long queues tend to form, which prompts several taxi drivers to station right next to the stop and pick up those passengers who don't want to or can't afford to wait. It is not uncommon for passengers to wait up to 40-45 minutes for the transfers: most shuttles are packed, forcing passengers to wait for the next one.
SEA Aeroporti di Milano -The firm operating Malpensa and Linate airports.
Malpensa Express Trains. This is the only frequent railway link between Malpensa and central Milan. From December 2010 trains connect Malpensa airport terminal 1 to both Milano Cadorna and Milano Centrale.
The Malpensa Express Trains between Malpensa and Milano Cadorna is recommended as the easiest and fastest connection if you travel from the terminal 1 of Malpensa airport to the city centre (or vice versa), though it may be crowded at rush hours. Trains to Milano Cadorna leave every 30 minutes from Terminal 1, arriving at Milan's Cadorna train station after less than 40 minutes (the Cadorna station is connected to Milan's subway network, at the intersection of the red M1 and green M2 lines). Some trains are not-stop while some trains stop at some intermediate stations (usually Busto Arsizio, Saronno, Milano Bovisa). Non-stop trains take 29 minutes to reach Milano cadorna, while stopping trains take 36 minutes. For full timetable see The last train departs at approximately 11:20pm, so if you arrive on a late flight or are delayed then you will need to take a bus or taxi. (see below) After the last train there are both buses that connect to Milan Cadorna station and buses that connect to Milan Central station (for bus to Milan Central station see below). Taking the train is not recommended if you have to reach Terminal 2, as the connections between T1 and T2 are very poor (see above)
Fare: one-way €11.00, round trip in a single day €14.50. A new offer allows a family (or group) up to 2 adult and 2 children (up to 18 year old) to travel one-way for € 25. Your ticket must be bought and validated in the station before boarding. It isn't possible anymore to buy tickets on board. The only option for a passenger without a ticket is to contact a ticket inspector when boarding or immediately after boarding (a surcharge of €5.00 will be added to the cost of a full rate single ticket in this case) . From 4 April 2011 it is possible to buy a ticket for the Malpensa Express, as well from ticket offices and self-service ticket machine, also from the on-line buying ticket section of the Malpensa Express web site (please note that the procedure to buy ticket from this web site is not completely easy and you have to strictly follow the procedure described).
The Malpensa Express Trains between Malpensa and Milano Centrale connect the the terminal 1 of the Malpensa airport to Milano Centrale. These trains also connect to Milano Bovisa and Milano Porta Garibaldi. There are 1 or 2 trains each hour. These trains stop at Milano Bovisa, Milano Porta Garibaldi and Milano Centrale. Some trains also stop at Busto Arsizio, Saronno, and some trains also stop at some intermediate stations. For full timetable see Running time varies, according to the number of stop enroute, from 43 minutes to 52 minutes between Malpensa and Milano Centrale. The part of the journey between Milano Bovisa and Milano Porta Garibaldi and Milano Centrale is not very fast. Also these trains stop in Milano Porta Garibaldi and Milano Centrale in a point that is far from the underground. For these reason is you are going to city centre it may be easier to get to Cadorna instead. On the other hand if you are getting to Milan by a train that stop a Milano Centrale or Milano Porta Garibaldi, this service is to be preferred.
Fares to Milano Centrale. A promotional offers is in place for the first 6 month of this service (from 12 December 2010 to beginning of June 2011). During this period a one-way ticket to (or from) Milano Centrale or Milano Porta Garibaldi costs €7.00. After the end of this offer, fares will be the same as to Milano Cadorna (see above).
Note: As far as mid June 2011 the promotional offer is still in place and an explicit end date for this offer has not been given (the validity of this offer may be extended for some months more)
Note: you can get this promotional offer from the usual national railway website trenitalia. To get this promotional offer you must buy the ticket in one of the following ways: 1) at ticket office at the departure station 2) at self-service ticket machine at the departure station 3) from the on-line buying ticket section of the Malpensa Express web site (please note that the procedure to buy ticket from this web site is not completely easy and you have to strictly follow the procedure described) 4) From the self-service ticket machine located at the beginning of platform 3 in Centrale railway station
Buses leave approximately every 20 minutes for Centrale Station and Linate airport, costing about €7.50 (€15 for a return ticket). Travel can take from 40 minutes (weekends) to 1 hour or more (during weekday mornings). Buses are the best bet if you arrive at Terminal 2. Since you need to take the slow airport internal shuttle bus to get to the train station, you might as well get on a bus directly to Milan. There is always a bus waiting, and they usually wait until the bus is completely full before departing.
Using a taxi to get from Malpensa to the city center is expensive: €85 (fixed fee for a City-Airport trip, without further stops). Only taxis registered in Milan itself have signed up to the fixed fee agreement - taxis from outlying cities (which you will also find at Malpensa) have not signed on to the agreement, will still take you to Milan but will charge you the meter reading (generally €80+ in light traffic). If upon entering a taxi you do not see a card on the window or rear of the driver/passenger seats, then you are in a non-Milanese taxi. You can request the fixed fee if the driver refuses, then take the next taxi in the rank. You may find that if you take the fixed fee from a non-Milanese taxi then they take a slower non-toll road rather than the toll paying motorway (tolls are ALWAYS paid by the driver so are included in the meter or fixed fee). For more information about taxi fare see (in Italian, the fixed fares between airports and the city are in the bottom part of the page)
You can reach Milan by Trenitalia trains departing from Gallarate train station. A bus service is available from Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 to Gallarate.
You can also connect to Trenitalia trains in Busto Arsizio FS (also called Busto Arsizio RFI) station. A train (currently replace by bus, see note below) runs every hour, during daytime only, from Malpensa airport to Busto Arsizio FS (also calling at Fermo and Busto Arsizio FNM). and vice versa. First train from Malpensa airport to Busto Arsizio FS at 07:10. Last train from Malpensa airport to Busto Arsizio FS at 20:10.. First train from Busto Arsizio FS to Malpensa airport at 07:39. Last train from Busto Arsizio FS to Malpensa airport at 20:39. The journey takes 14 minutes. For full timetable of this service look at column in blue colour in the full timetable of service by Le Nord between Milano, Malpensa and Novara (this connection is not shown in some shorter timetable). In Busto Arsizio FS station trains from Malpensa Airport arrive at platform "1 tronco" and train to malpensa airport depart from platform "1 tronco" (platform "1 tronco" is not the same as platform 1) . If you want to connect to a train service by Trenitalia (or other operator on the railway line managed by RFI) you will need to change platform. Trains from Milan arrive at platform 4. Trains to Varese (and other Northbound trains) depart from platform 4. Train from Varese (and other Southbound trains) arrive at platform 5. Trains to Milan depart from platform 5.
From 1 July 2010 until unknown date the rail service between Malpensa airport and Busto Arsizio FS is suspended. It is replaced by a bus service which take 38 minutes for the journey. Until the railway service is suspended the total time of the journey is greatly increased and so this route is not advisable.
From late September 2010 a new train service is being started connecting Milano Centrale to Malpensa terminal 1 directly by train with trains coming from other city in Italy (e.g Naples, Rome, Florence, Bologna). These trains after calling at Milano centrale will go to Malpensa airport terminal 1.. Standard fares from Milano Centrale to Malpensa airport T1 (or vice versa) are €13.00 in 2nd class, €16.00 in 1st class. As middle September 2010, there are just two service per direction per day. Departure times from Malpensa airport terminal 1: 12.21, 18.10 journey time 42 min; from Milano centrale: 08.57, 15.57 journey time: 54 min. (Note: these services are in addiction to the Malpensa Express train service to Milano Centrale, see above. Note that ticket are not interchangeable between the two type of trains).
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Milan
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