Milan Malpensa Airport Terminal 1

tomh

I am scheduled to go on "Bellissima Northern Italy" tour on 9 May 2015 and will be arriving at Milan's Malpensa for the first time on 8 May 2015. This is my first visit to Milan and I have found nothing good being said about this airport as late as 2014 online, i.e. poor signage, broken toilets or closed for repair, etc. I will be arriving from JFK/New York. Can anyone who has been there recently give me any advice? Location of customs, baggage claim area, arrivals hall, etc.? I would really appreciate any advice/heads-up you can give me in advance. Thank you.

jdurkin

Hi Tom,

Although I haven't been through Malpensa yet, I hope my reply will still be of some help. I found this site for the airport:
http://www.airportmalpensa.com/terminal-map.html
You will find the map for your Terminal 1 there. You will arrive at the B section of the terminal since you are flying in from a non-Schengen region. As is normal for international arrivals, you will have to clear customs and immigration air side. These areas are not detailed on the diagrammatic map ... I imagine for the normal security reasons. But armed with your Tauck arrival information and the detailed instructions for meeting your transfer, I think everything should be fairly clear.

I am actually researching this trip at the moment ... so I'd love to hear back from you with a report of all the wonderful things you have seen!

Cheers,

Jan

crackers54

I am going on this trip on 5/21/2016. I too would like report on trip.

tomh

Thanks, Jan. Yeah, i had seen the map before, but as it does not detail where the customs/baggage locations were (as most international airport maps now do), it still was somewhat confusing. I think that some of the problems at Malpensa, i.e. poor signage, etc., may have been with all of the reconstruction taking place there related to "improving the airport" in anticipation of the upcoming Food EXPO which is scheduled to begin on 2 May 2015. I did see one internet comment from a couple of months ago indicating that the individual liked the airport and it was vastly improved due to the ending of construction there. We will see. :-)

jdurkin

Tom! Did you say Food EXPO! In Milan! How lucky are you to be in Lombardy with such an exciting thing going on in the vicinity! Lucky you. My taste buds are very envious. Don't worry about the airport. Think of all that wonderful cotoletta and risotto and ossobuco alla milanese. You'll just float through it all on a fragrant cushion of wonderful northern cuisine.

Have fun!

Cheers,

Jan

tomh

Jan, although we will only be in Milan for a few days and not have a chance to visit the world food expo there (there were protests, etc., on opening day there on 1 May), it is a big event. Unfortunately for you, it ends in October 2015. Nevertheless, I thought that you might like to hear/see this piece by the Italian ambassador to the U.S. re the expo and Italy. ;-) http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/2015/05/01/food-at-center-stage-for-milan-expo-2015/70789208/

lxyldyhb

We arrived at Malpensa airport and had no problems. Everything was self explanatory. Once you leave the passenger area just look for that wonderful Green Tauck Sign and the driver. You are in for a treat with this journey.

jdurkin

tomh wrote:

Jan, although we will only be in Milan for a few days and not have a chance to visit the world food expo there (there were protests, etc., on opening day there on 1 May), it is a big event. Unfortunately for you, it ends in October 2015. Nevertheless, I thought that you might like to hear/see this piece by the Italian ambassador to the U.S. re the expo and Italy. ;-) http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/2015/05/01/food-at-center-stage-for-milan-expo-2015/70789208/

Thanks for that link, Tom. Apart from the frivolous side, which is naturally delicious, I'm glad to see the Expo takes on some of the serious issues of feeding our global community.

Cheers,

Jan

Robin_L

Did you have any trouble when you arrived at the airport in Milan? I am booked on the Belissima Northern Italy tour arriving in Milan from JFK on the morning of July 4th, and your post got me concerned!

tomh

RLevine. No problems at all at the Malpensa Airport 1; everything was fine. I suspect that some of the reports re trouble at the airport from earlier this year were related to all of the improvements going on there to get the airport ready for the big World Food EXPO that began on 1 May. Everything is OK now.