Unless you venture into the dangerous suburbs, Milan is a rather safe city. Certain areas near Loreto, Central station, and Porto di Mare (Southern end of the yellow metro line) can be unsafe in the night. At the station, do not seek help from any random person offering to help with the booking machines / ATMs or under any other pretext. After they have helped, they will pursue you to get as much money as possible for their "help".
Beware of the migrant vendors in the streets: most of the merchandise they sell is imitation/fake luxury goods. Even at a fraction of the cost of the original merchandise, the quality is spotty, and the goods are not well maintained in storage.
They may also try giving you "free" friendship bracelets (sometimes calling them 'a gift'). After you take the bracelet, a coloured piece of string, they will hit you up for money and relentlessly pursue you until they get as much as they can.
They will be forceful, physically tying the bracelet to your wrist, or laying it on your shoulder as you try and walk away. This is especially true in the tourist areas around the Duomo and Castello Sforzesco. They usually first ask "Where are you from?"
Just ignore them. In empty places, watch for strangers directly approaching you. Try to be with other people like in a bus station or a shopping mall.
Beware of people hanging around the square outside Duomo: they will walk up to you and forcefully give you corn on the hands to feed the pigeons on the pretense that they are free. All the pigeons in the surrounding area will then fly to you. The people will then relentlessly pursue you and ask you for money.
Stay away from the area around the central railway station at night.
Be careful crossing the street: drivers don't usually respect pedestrian crossings unless there is a red light for them to stop.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Milan
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Milan - updated May 2024
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Milan Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
