Milan in August

In August Milan does something no other large European city does in quite the same way: it genuinely empties. Anyone who stays notices immediately — the traffic disappears, there are seats on the metro, you can park. It is a different place for three weeks, and it is worth knowing whether it is the place you are looking for.

What stays open

Museums and the major sights. The Duomo, the Castello, Brera, the Science Museum, Pirelli HangarBicocca: open, on normal hours, without April's queues. In August you get into the Last Supper more easily than in any other month, though booking is still compulsory.

Transport. Metro, trams and buses all run, with slightly reduced summer timetables on some lines. It is never a problem.

Supermarkets and chains. Open, often on Ferragosto too, with shorter hours.

Pharmacies, which rotate on duty: there is always one open nearby.

What closes

Neighbourhood trattorias. This is what strikes visitors most: the best places, the family-run ones, shut for two or three weeks. If you have a specific address in mind, phone before crossing the city.

Workshops and small shops, with a handwritten sign on the shutter.

Part of the nightlife. The Navigli and the bar districts stay alive, but neighbourhood evenings thin out.

15 August, Ferragosto, is the stillest day of the year: much of the city closes, and those who stay head to a park or out of town.

The heat, which is the real issue

Milan sits in the middle of the Po Valley and in August you feel it: temperatures pass thirty-five degrees, with high humidity and little breeze. It is not the dry heat of the south, it is heat that weighs on you.

How to handle it:

• Go out early and after six. The afternoon, from two to five, is not walking weather.
• Air conditioning where you sleep. In August it is not optional, it is the condition for actually resting.
• Parks and water. Parco Sempione, the Montanelli gardens and Parco Lambro have real shade. There are public drinking fountains across the city.

Why August is worth it

Prices. It is the cheapest month of the year to sleep in Milan: the trade fairs are dormant, so is business travel, and demand collapses. The same flat that costs the most in April costs the least in August.

Queues. There aren't any. Museums, restaurants, transport: everything flows.

The city itself. An empty Milan is something the Milanese know and tourists do not. The central streets without crowds, the silent courtyards, the long evening light on the buildings: it is the city's most beautiful and least photographed version.

If you stay more than a few days

An apartment with a kitchen is worth double in August: when the trattoria downstairs is shut, being able to cook changes the stay. And our districts — Bicocca, Città Studi, Porpora — are quiet in August in a way they never are the rest of the year.

→ Milan in three days · Free things to do