mauld

As others have suggested the MXP express bus to the Central train station is your best bet. It is a very easy and pretty straight walk down the wide street to the Westin. It's a safe area with major business HQ lining the route, so you shouldn't have any problems. The Westin is on the left side of the street, and is maybe a 10min walk. If you should take the subway, its only 1 stop, but can be a bit confusing as to which exit gets you closer to the hotel. If I remember correctly, the exit closest is in a small parklike area next to the Westin.

bhatnasx

Thank you everyone for your replies! I've book marked this thread for my trip in August - I appreciate it! It sounds like the best option is to take the bus into town & walk the 6 or so blocks (which I'm fine with - I'll just have a backpack - but it depends on what kind of luggage the other 2 guys & 1 girl will have - something tells me they won't have just a backpack).

Thanks again!

Jumpgate

I did this trip very recently. Take the Malpensa Express train to Cadorno ... Very simply transfer at the airport and comfy train ride. From the train station you can get the subway up to the Westin.

The Milan subway system is very easy to follow. Neither my traveling companion nor myself know any Italian, and we navigated it just fine throughout our trip.

Dovster

Jumpgate, why pay more than twice the price for a ride that is only 10 minutes shorter and requires you then to get on a subway?

Additionally, it is actually easier to get on the bus. When you get through Customs you will walk into the main terminal where you buy the bus ticket. You then walk out the door and the bus will be waiting for you. You can put your luggage in the bus's storage section (underneath) and be free of it for your trip.

If you take the train, you have to find the elevators which go down to the first underground level, buy your ticket there, take another elevator to the lowest level (an escalator is available if you don't have heavy baggage), validate your ticket, and carry your luggage onto the train -- and keep an eye on it at every stop.

psyflyer

... and its dirty as hell... BENVENUTO IN ITALIA (welcome to italy).

Prospero

The Malpensa Express has its drawback mainly due to Cadorno being at the other side of Central Milan. But the metro connections from Cadorno are easy, frequent and inexpensive.

The train in my experience is much more comfortable that the express bus and more sociable too if travelling as a group. To describe it as dirty as hell couldn't be further from the truth. The rolling stock is new, or at least, appears that way. In fact if it wasn't for the green upholstery you might be forgiven for thinking you were travelling on Swiss Railways.

Personally, I would lean toward the express bus as this is the most economical of the two but as both options run on a 30 minute frequency you're probably as well going for whichever leaves first. Bus leaves MXP T1 at 35min and 55min past the hour; the train at 23min and 53min past the hour. Not much of a gap between them

NickW

Either I'm losing my mind, or you're travelling on different trains from me - isn't the MXP Express stock the standard FNM double-decker with blue vinyl-type seats?

martinplas

I have searched and read several threads on different ways from MXP to the Westin Milan, and can find no discussion on the return route -Westin to MXP. They dont always translate backwards ,so I was wondering if :
1) is it just as expensive to take a cab to the Airport as it is to come from the Airport to the Hotel and aprrox. price
2) what other options are available and approx. price

tyn

A cab from the city centre to Malpensa a couple of months ago cost me 80 € and that was at 6:30 am when there was no traffic to speak of so it was a straight drive. If you prebook the cab, add about 4 € to that.

If you want cheapest, you can walk from the Palace to the Stazione Centrale (or do one stop on the metro Yellow line that stops right outside the hotel, ticket is 1 €) and take the coach bus to Malpensa, it's about 5-6 €

If you want comfortable take a cab from the hotel to Stazione Cadorna (I would say about 7 € but there can be traffic) and the Malpensa Shuttle train (11 €) You can also skip the cab by taking the metro to Stazione Centrale and from there the Green line to Stazione Cadorna.

TMOliver

In several years of reading here, I've never read a better, more informative and clearly worded post than the response above. I wish I had had it to read before my first landing at MPX several years ago.

tyn

Lol, thanks but the fact that I live in Milan rather makes things a lot easier

martinplas

Thanks Tyn, Would you mind giving me time frames on each option above . We have a 10.30 AM departure on CO and IMJ we need to be at the airport 2 Hours before departure from the Westin, (830AM) on a summer thurs. morning
Also ,not wanting to pay 80+ Euro for a cab, option 2 above with a cab seems most practical with luggage. Your opinion is most welcome

tyn

A cab ride from the Palace to Stazione Centrale should take no more than 10 minutes. Make sure the driver knows you want to be let off where the Malpensa Shuttle bus stops as they're doing massive renovation works at the station and the place has been turned upside down.

The website for the coach bus to Malpensa (http://www.malpensashuttle.it/) has the travel time indicated at 50 minutes. I would add about 10 minutes to that, not so much because of traffic seeing that it will ease up during the summer, but because the bus does a couple of stops along the way. Buses leave at :00 :20 :40

Hope this helps

martinplas

Tyn thanks so much for this info and the PM . We will do the cab/shuttle comb and save some Euros for more interesting things. Would you mind one more quick PM on what is the San Marco thing vs. Venice?

martinplas

I'm just back from a 5 day stay for 80,000 points at the Westin Palace Milan with Mrs Martinplas. We opted to use the points for a 20000 a night JR. Suite with its own Turkish Hamam. The 5th night was free so it actualy came to to 16.000 points a night.
We were welcomed with a wonderful doorman, and the front desk had a special SPG check in line. The front desk personal were very pleasant ,and inguired if we would like anything special for our stay, and while checking in took the time to tell us about the restauarants ,breakfast,Spa, and internet options.Internet is non wireless and cost either 4 Euoro for 1 hour or 11 euros for a 24 hour period, which I found quite reasonable compared to some other places we have stayed.
We were given a corner suite on the 11th floor and riding up the elevator it was clearly visible that the 11th and 12th floors foyers are much nicer in appearance than the floors below.
The manager sent a beautiful tray of Iced Champaigne, fruit and chocolate as a welcome amenity( Im just a lowly Gold )
The Jr. Suite was fabulous, clean, large and very nicely appointed with a pasasge doored entry,door bell, sofa, cocktail table ,desk ( with plenty of plugs for electronic gadgets), King bed, Large plasma TV, 3 closets, bathroom with 2 sinks, toilet, biday, tub/shower, towell warmer,and beautiful marble everywhere.
A seperate room contained a Turkish Steam Room (Hamam),with another room for its own shower and towell warmer.The Hamam worked great and was always stocked with extra large terry cloth towells to lie on the beatiful marble benches.
The housekeeping was exceptional, and every night we would leave for dinner and have our room turned down, clean towels and the Hamam ready to go again.
The rest of the Hotel was just as clean and beautiful as our suite. We opted to dine in on our last night and the service and restaurant were quite good and no more expensive than any other decent restaurant in Milan.
I am not a stranger to nice places and this hotel was every bit as nice as a Four Seasons or an Andrew Harper reccomendation( although not as intimate and small). I wish every Westin held the standard that the Westin Milan presented to us.