Posted by The absolute highlight for many visitors to the city of Milan is a visit to the roof of the cathedral. As a tourist, you can go up a staircase to the roof of the cathedral or take the lift up. Then you can walk around freely on the roof of the church and enjoy the view from above. A wonderful experience, no Milan holidaymaker should miss out on the cathedral roof.
Ticket Milan Cathedral: There is a total ticket for the cathedral / access to the roof / cathedral museum and crypt (cathedral cellar). There is only one sales point on site opposite the cathedral. The queues there are often extremely long. Therefore, be sure to buy your ticket online beforehand: The Dom Tickets are available on this website
Milan Cathedral roof: stairs or lift?
There are two different tickets. For about 15 euros, you can see the cathedral from the inside, go to the cathedral museum of Milan and climb up to the roof of the cathedral on a staircase. For 5 euros more, about 20 euros, you can take a lift up, but you still have to walk down.
If you have a bit of money, you might think that for 5 euros more you can take the lift to the top. Those who have to save money are probably thinking, I’ll save the 5 euros and take the stairs.
Short video cathedral roof Milan (Youtube)
Well, there is a catch to the lift thing. The queues at the bottom of the lift are often extremely long. Many people have thought to themselves while queuing at the lift, I wish I had bought the ticket with the stairs…
That’s why we recommend going up on foot. There are only about 200 steps. It’s a solid staircase with no oncoming traffic, you go back down on another staircase. If you don’t have a health problem with walking, you shouldn’t have any problems. You can be at the top in 5 minutes. If you’re not fit at all, you might need a few minutes more. And a little exercise can’t hurt.
View from the roof of the cathedral, the Alps in the background
On top of the roof
You arrive on the north side of the roof of Milan Cathedral. First you walk along the entire length of the cathedral. Then you go up another small flight of stairs (about 40 steps). Now you are directly on the roof above the church building. You can walk around freely, take pictures of everything on the roof and enjoy the view.
Up on the roof in the early morning with few visitors.
Then you go down a few steps on the other side. Now you walk along the south side of the roof of the Duomo of Milan for a long time. A staircase leads down. After five minutes you are at the bottom again.
Milan Cathedral ticket: There is one ticket for the entire cathedral / access to the roof / cathedral museum and crypt (cathedral cellar). There is only one ticket office opposite the cathedral. The queues there are often extremely long. Therefore, be sure to buy your ticket online beforehand: The Dom Tickets are available on this website
The stairs from the church roof down
The path leads into the church, which you can now visit from the inside. So you first go up to the roof and then into Milan Cathedral.
Checks at the entrance: Be careful, at the entrance to the roof of Milan Cathedral you will be screened like at the airport and all bags, backpacks etc. will be opened and checked. You are not allowed to bring knives or other dangerous objects. You can’t collect them either, they are disposed of as rubbish. I know from my own experience that you can’t take larger bottles with you. I had a 1.5 litre plastic bottle (Coke) with me. They took it from me and put it in the rubbish bin. The reason was: I could damage the marble with it. Oh well.