As you start preparing for ITMA 2015 in Milan, we will provide you with some practical information which would help in planning your trip better.
It’s a really big year for the city of Milan. The 184-day World Expo 2015 to be held in Milan from May 1 till October end is expected to attract over 20 million visitors.
This major event will be immediately followed by ITMA 2015 being held in the city during November 12-19. For those who are planning to attend ITMA, it’s time to book their flight tickets and hotels as the rates have started hitting the roof. The average rates in city hotels are in the range of Euro 250 to 400 for a night. There are plenty of other options, including renting an apartment and bed-and-breakfast type of accommodation. The easiest option would be to approach a business tour operator who can take care of visa, flight tickets, accommodation, travel to the expo and back, and end the day with sumptuous Indian food.
Milan has two major exposition venues – the Fiera Milano and the Fiera Milano RHO. The first is right in the center of the city and the second is on the city outskirts. ITMA 2015 will be held at Fiera Milano RHO. Hence while making hotel bookings, confusion between the two venues is quite likely.
The Fiera Milano RHO is well connected by trains from the city center. During the expo days, shuttle buses will be run from the airport to the expo. It is quicker to reach the expo from the airport side rather than from the city center, as normally traffic used to be quite heavy on the other route. Fixing a hotel closer to the Malpensa airport would be a good idea.
When our Editorial Team visited Milan last November, it was raining incessantly. Hence the need to be prepared for a rough weather.
Further, early tickets booking is advisable, since air fares are being raised as the exhibition day is fast approaching. There are plenty of flight options, including Air India, Emirates, Jet, Lufthansa, Etihad, Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways and Oman Air. For those flying from Delhi, Air India will be the best option as it offers direct connections. From Mumbai and Chennai, visitors have all the above options, with a minimum of one stop. Anyhow, Oman Air seems to be a good budget option.
Our team travelled by Oman Air to Milan last year, and the overall experience was quite nice. We found Makemytrip offering reasonably good rates. Hence the suggestion to book your tickets at the earliest.
We hope you will find this update on Milan useful. We will provide you with more useful information as we get closer to the show. If you have any specific queries or assistance required, do drop in a mail at magazine.textile@gmail.com. We will try to help you in the best way possible.