Velo Europe and cycling in and around Milan
The city of Milan supports cycling in Milan and provides a dense bike rental system to explore the city.
Velo Europe offers routes from Milan to the Mediterranean metropolises, but also northwards with some Alpine passages.
Route destinations from Milan are Florence - Venice - Nice - Zurich - Geneva - Innsbruck.
With the exception of the route to Venice, all routes are for more sporty cyclists, as many meters of altitude have to be overcome. However, Velo Europe also shows what possibilities there are to simplify the difficult stages and to avoid using ship / train / taxi wheel height meters. Details are then given for the individual routes and stages.
Velo Europe daily stages from Milan
1) Milan to Pavia ( Navigli Pavese ) : ca 36 km
2) Milan to Como / Lake Como: approx. 100 km via Lecco
3) Milan to Lecco / Adda : ca 74 km
4) Milan to Lago Maggiore : about 100 km to Arona ( Navigli Grande )
5) Milan city tour ca xx km
6) Milan Malpensa Airport - Milan City: approx. 48 km
7) Milan Linate Airport - Milan City: approx. 8 km
Velo Europe Routes from Milan
Milan to Innsbruck
From the northern Italian metropolis Milan at the southern edge of the Alps we use the old canal system in the direction of Lake Como. Through the lake landscape into the Veltlin, parallel to the river Adda up to the Stilfser Joch.
From the Stilfser Joch down, past the Ortler Massif, to Mals in South Tyrol. Now up the Reschenpass again, then we cross the border to Austria and Tyrol.
Along the Inn from the Upper Inn Valley to Landeck and on to Tyrol's capital Innsbruck.
Milan to Lago Maggiore with all options to Zurich via Bellinzona
The Naviglio Grande is fed by water from the Ticino River, which rises near the St. Gotthard Massif, flows through Lake Maggiore and later flows into the Po at Pavia.
Along the Navilio Grande there is a cycle path to Abbiategasso. From here, in a northerly direction, parallel to the canal and the parallel Ticino to Tornavento.
At the outlet of the Ticino from Lago Maggiore at Sesto Calendo we cross the river to Sopra Ticino. Sesto Calende belongs to the province of Lombardy and Castelleto Sopra Ticino to the province of Piedmont.
From here parallel to the shore but not directly on the shore of Lagos to Arona.
For cycling trips to Switzerland we suggest a boat trip to Locarno, as the lakeside roads are sometimes very busy and narrow.
Milan to Nice
First along the Navigli Pavese to Pavia. From there we follow the Po a short distance upstream, before turning south and following the river Tanaro into the Langhe region in Piedmont.
Through this very hilly and charming wine-growing area, through the towns of Alba and Cuneo, we then set course through the Ligurian Alps.
Here we partly have to reckon with some meters of altitude before we cycle down to Imperia to the Ligurian Mediterranean Sea.
From Imperia along the Mediterranean coast over the ital. - French border, through Monaco and again to France before we arrive in Nice.
Milan to Florence
Again our stage starts at Navigli Pavese to Pavia and from there we follow the Po downstream via Cremona to San Daniele at the Po.
Option 1 - we cycle the route via Parma and at the x towards La Spezia or
Option 2 - we follow the Po until Bondeno/ near Ferrara.
The stage via Parma and x through the Appenine with numerous altitude metres ends at the Ligurian Sea at la Spezia.
From there we cycle along the coast via Viareggio to Pisa and from there parallel to the Arno to Florence.
If we decide for the route via Bondeno/Ferrara, we will pass the city of Bologna and cross the x mountains via x from north/north-east to Florence.
Milan to Venice
On the route from Milan to Venice we can drive as in many other cases also alternative routes, but the Velo Europe route network is that it accompanies rivers and canals where people have settled and we drive through places steeped in history.
From Milan in direction to Venice we start at the Navglio Pavese in direction to the south up to Pavia. Here the Naviglio flows into the largest river and economic axis of northern Italy into the Po.
From Pavia we follow the Po downstream and the next stop is Piacenza then Cremona (optional excursion to Parma).
Here also the Adda flows from the north which we can follow upstream also in direction north (direction Lago di Como to Lecco or trezzo sul Adda back in direction Milano).
From Cremona continue east via casalmaggiore to Ostiglia.
Before Ostiglia we can alternatively enter the stage via Mantua to Lake Garda and Verona.
In the next section we go from Ostiglia to the Ferrara junction.
From Ferrara we can cycle via Bologna towards Appenin.
This route to Venice leads from Ferrara along the Pos in the direction of the Po Delta. In the delta we have different options - we cycle via Porto Viro then to Chioggia to the Adriatic Sea.
The last stage leads from Chioggia along the Adriatic coast over the offshore islands and we also use the ferry here.
