# Is Centrale a Good Area to Stay in Milan? Map & Verdict Verdict: Mixed. Fine for some travellers, wrong for others. Interactive map: https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-milan/centrale Every Milan district: https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-milan.md Milan's densest block of cheap hotels, wrapped around the country's second-busiest station. Two metro lines, every train, and the one part of the centre that people are warned about after dark. Facts: 35 min walk to the Duomo; 50 min to the airport; price €€; best for budget, business trips, longer stays; lines M2, M3. Safety: Mixed after dark. The station forecourt, Piazza Duca d'Aosta and the streets immediately east of the tracks are where Milan's pickpocketing and hustling warnings apply. Book towards Repubblica, and take the metro rather than walking the last stretch after midnight. The district runs from Piazza della Repubblica up to and past Milano Centrale, and it is really two places. The southern end, around Repubblica and Via Turati, is grand hotels, offices and the Giardini; the northern end, on Via Napo Torriani, Via Vitruvio and Via Scarlatti, is the cheap hotel belt, dozens of two- and three-star places within 400 m of the platforms. The case for booking here is transport and nothing else, but it is a strong case. Every high-speed train in Italy stops at Centrale, the Malpensa Express leaves from it, M2 and M3 cross underneath, and the coach from Bergamo arrives outside. If Milan is one stop on a longer trip, or you are in and out on business, that is worth real money. The case against is the ground you cross to reach it. The forecourt and the streets immediately around the station are the specific place Milan's safety warnings are about, and the business blocks south of it empty out completely at night. The rooms themselves are ordinary and safe; it is the walk back at 01:00 that is not, so book near Repubblica if the budget allows, and use the metro rather than walking the last stretch late. What works: - Every high-speed train in Italy, plus the Malpensa Express, from the district - M2 and M3 cross under it; the Duomo is nine minutes on M3 - The cheapest hotel supply in central Milan, and a lot of it - The Repubblica end has the city's grand hotels at business rates What does not: - Thirty-five minutes on foot to the Duomo, further than the map suggests - The station forecourt and the blocks east of it are what the warnings mean - The office blocks south of the station are dead after about 20:00 - Hotels near the platforms are ordinary rooms priced by their address Hotels in Centrale: https://www.stay22.com/allez/booking?aid=stayzones&link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Fsearchresults.html%3Fdest_id%3D773%26dest_type%3Ddistrict%26group_adults%3D2%26no_rooms%3D1 ## Other districts in Milan - [Duomo](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-milan/duomo): Recommended. The whole core inside the old canal ring, not just the cathedral square: the Castello, Sant'Ambrogio and the Colonne di San Lorenzo are all this district. You pay Milan's highest rates and walk to everything. - [Brera](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-milan/brera): Recommended. Ten minutes north of the Duomo, cobbled and low-rise, with the Pinacoteca and the best-looking streets in Milan. It is also the district that fills up loudest on a Friday. - [Magenta & San Vittore](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-milan/magenta-san-vittore): Recommended. Corso Magenta and Sant'Ambrogio, ten minutes west of the Duomo. The Last Supper is in it, and it is the quietest central district in Milan. - [Sarpi & Chinatown](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-milan/sarpi): Mixed. Milan's Chinatown, on a pedestrianised Via Paolo Sarpi fifteen minutes north-west of the Duomo. The best cheap eating in the city, and no sights at all. - [Pagano](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-milan/pagano): Mixed. Corso Vercelli's shopping street and the wealthy blocks behind it, one metro stop past Magenta. Safe, dull, and cheaper than it looks. - [Ticinese](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-milan/ticinese): Recommended. The strip running south from the Colonne di San Lorenzo to the Darsena. Close enough to walk to the Duomo in under twenty minutes, close enough to the canals to skip the taxi home. - [Navigli](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-milan/navigli): Mixed. Two canals lined with bars, and the best evening in Milan if you are out in it rather than asleep above it. Half an hour on foot from the Duomo and short of daytime reasons to be here. - [Guastalla & Porta Vittoria](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-milan/guastalla): Recommended. The quiet blocks south-east of the Duomo: the Besana rotunda, the botanical garden and the courthouse. Ten minutes in, and nothing loud in it. - [Porta Romana](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-milan/porta-romana): Recommended. The old Roman gate and the streets behind it, twenty minutes south-east of the Duomo. Where Milanese eat, with Fondazione Prada at the far end. - [Porta Venezia & Corso Buenos Aires](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-milan/porta-venezia): Recommended. A shopping avenue with three metro lines under it and Milan's best value rooms along it. Book the Porta Venezia end; the discount at the Loreto end is the discount for a reason. - [Isola](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-milan/isola): Recommended. A former working-class pocket behind the tracks, now the district under the Bosco Verticale. Good food, real evenings, and a thirty-five-minute walk from anything historic. - [Loreto](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-milan/loreto): Avoid. The cheap end of Corso Buenos Aires, on an M1/M2 interchange. Wikivoyage names it among the areas that can be unsafe at night, and the rooms are priced accordingly. - [San Siro](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-milan/san-siro): Avoid. Cheap rooms 5 km west of the centre, next to a stadium you will visit once and a racecourse you will not. One metro line, and an hour and a quarter on foot to the Duomo.