How To Buy Milan Cathedral Tickets (And Avoid The Crowds)

Confused about Milan Cathedral ticket options or not sure if you should visit the terraces?

Our guide will help you out!

The Duomo di Milano, also known as Milan Cathedral, is the most visited attraction in Milan.

You are free to stand in the grand Piazza del Duomo to take photos and gasp at the immense Gothic building’s intricate, beautiful facade, but if you’d like to enter the Cathedral or access the rooftops, it’s now mandatory for all visitors (except worshippers and pilgrims) to purchase an entry ticket.

Thankfully, due to capacity, it is unlikely to sell out for your dates despite the popularity.

However, there are an overwhelming and bewildering number of ticket types available, making it easy to spend more than you need and waste time working out the best ticket option. Additionally, the introduction of time slots and limits for going up to the spectacular terraces makes booking in advance essential to avoid the worst of the crowds and shape your Milan itinerary.

The purpose of this short fuss-free post is to simplify things for you, and help you quickly choose the right Milan Duomo ticket and time slot for your travel tastes and budget.

We’ll also share the best ticket to buy if your number one priority is avoiding the crowds on the terraces (spoiler alert: it isn’t the most expensive one!)

At the end of the post, we’ve also shared a few travel better tips for your visit – and the one mistake you definitely want to avoid if you’re planning on going up on the Cathedral rooftop.

The Essentials | Milan Duomo Tickets

We’ll go into more detail on the ticket types, the terraces and the time slots, but what you really need to know is:

1. Unless you’re a Christian pilgrim or worshipper, you require an entrance ticket to go inside Milan Cathedral. It’s open every day from 9am – 7pm, but the time you enter depends on the type of ticket you buy.

2. At our last count, there are ELEVEN ticket packages to choose from on the official website, giving different access to different parts, priority queue entry, with or without the terraces, the choice between the stairs or the lifts, multi or single day, and the added quandary of whether you want to slap on entrance to a few nearby museums or not!

3. The cheapest option is the €10 Duomo + Museum  (9am – 6pm entry), which also includes the Church of San Gottardo. The museum is a worthwhile stop after the Cathedral, but note that it’s shut on Wednesdays (but the ticket costs the same).

4. However, the majority of you will also want to visit to the rooftops of Milan Cathedral, usually referred to as the ‘Terraces’. They offer some of the best views of the city, as well as wonderful photo opportunities, but you have to buy a specific ticket with a time slot to enter.

Choosing to visit the Terraces in addition to going inside the Duomo increases costs quite a bit, averaging out at €20 – €30 per adult for the popular combined ticket.

5. Alternatively, there are now standalone Milan Duomo Terrace ticketsavailable. These are an increasingly popular option, but it’s important to be aware that they do not allow you to spend time in the Duomo (the Terraces have three separate entrances round the back).

6. If you want to visit the terraces, you can choose to head up via the lift or the stairs. The former is slightly more expensive than the latter, but will obviously be more convenient or essential for some travellers. If you’re fit and able though, then just opt for the 250 stairs which aren’t as steep, confined, or challenging as many others we’ve gone up in old buildings and towers in Italy.

7. There are also ‘fast-track’ tickets available for those who want to take the lift, which will cut down on your queuing times. These skip-the-line type tickets are usually a good option but, as the ‘fast-track’ lift access only opens at 10am (an hour after the stairs and non ‘fast-track’ lift), it prevents you from getting up to the terraces at their emptiest.

8. For the Duomo and the terraces, you should set aside about two hours for a meaningful independent visit.

9. Unless you are on a budget and need to choose between the terraces and the cathedral, we recommend purchasing the combined Cathedral & Terraces by Stairs ticket. It’s valid for three days, so gives you the option to spread out your visits.

Note that is also available to purchase here on GetYourGuide with an audioguide included.

If you are not on a budget, or want a more insightful experience, then the highly-rated Fast-Track Milan Cathedral and Terraces Guided Tour may be the better option.

Groups are small as standard, but can also be made private on request – book here.

Families should take advantage of the money-saving but limited ‘family ticket’ options.

10. Despite the high number of tourists, Milan Cathedral remains an important religious building, place of Christian worship, and symbol of the city. All visitors need to dress and act appropriately (see the ‘travel tips’ at the end of the post), and respect the space, the objects, and the faithful.

Travel Tip // If you are only in Milan for a short stay, you may wish to consider joining a walking tour which pairs the Duomo with Da Vinci’s masterpiece ‘The Last Supper’, and several other historical sights in Milan.

This small-group experience led by an English-speaking is very highly-rated.

Alternatively, to significantly increase your chances of securing a ticket for your Milan dates, read our guide on how to buy Last Supper tickets.

Milan Cathedral Ticket Types & Costs

There are currently eleven types of Milan Duomo tickets available on the official website, with the various options giving different access to different parts, priority queue entry, with or without the terraces, the choice between taking the stairs of the lifts, multi or single day, and then the quandary of whether you want to slap on entrance to a couple of nearby galleries or not!

We’ve grouped, simplified, and summarised them for you below:

1 / Duomo+Museum: This ticket grants a single access to the interior of Milan Cathedral, as well as the worthwhile neighbouring Duomo Museum and Church of San Gottardo.

€10 for adults, €5 concessions (children aged 6-18, any children under 5 are free).

Family tickets are €25 (2 adults + 1 child under 18) or €30 (2 adults + 2 children under 18)

Best for those on a budget who just want to go inside the Cathedral – note that the museum is closed on Wednesdays though, but the price remains the same.

Buy it here on GetYourGuide or here on the official website

2 /  The Terraces Only: This only allows a single access to the rooftops, with the option to go up via the stairs (cheaper) or the lift (more expensive). If going for the lift, be aware that there are still 80 steps to reach the upper terrace, all visitors still have to exit via stairs, and that the rooftop is not wheelchair or pram-friendly.

There is also the more expensive ‘Fast Track Terraces’ option which allows you to skip the line for the lift.

Best for those who have no interest in going inside the cathedral.

By Lift / €16 for adults, €8 concessions, family tickets are €40 or €48

By Stairs / €14 for adults, €7 concessions, family tickets are €35 or €42

Fast Track Lift / €26, €13 concessions, no family tickets available

Buy them here on GetYourGuide or here on the official website

3 / Combo Duomo + Terrace Tickets:  These tickets are valid for three days, and also include entrance to the Duomo Museum and San Gottardo Church. 

These offer a small cost-saving over buying the tickets separately, and are the best option to book in advance if you’re certain you want to do both activities.

Best for those who want to do both the main activities, and don’t care about fast track entry.

Combo Lift / €25 for adults, €12.50 concessions, family tickets are €62.50 or €75

Combo Stairs / €20 for adults, €10 concessions, family tickets are €50 or €60

If the above sounds like a good fit, but you’d like to have more context and insight on your visit, then consider this highly-rated guided tour of the Duomo Rooftops and Cathedral which includes all your tickets and skip-the-line entry.

Buy the tickets here on GetYourGuide or here on the official website

4 / Fast Track Pass: The premium option includes all aspects of the Milan Duomo, including the museum, San Gottardo, St. Charles Crypt, the archaeological area beneath the cathedral and skip-the-line access for the terrace using the lift. It’s also valid for three days.

Best for those who have time and want to do everything.

€30 for adults, €15 concessions

No family tickets available. 

Buy it here on the official website – or opt to include an English-speaking guide.

5 / The Culture Passes: It took us a while to figure out exactly what the differences were between the Culture Pass tickets and the regular ones. It seems that, for a few euro extra, they offer the same as the standard Duomo+Museum ticket but are valid for three days instead of one. More importantly, the reduced price concession tickets are available to students under 26 years old (with presentation of a valid student ID).

The slightly more expensive option includes entrance to the recently restored Scurolo di San Carlo.

€12 for adults, €6 concessions

€14 for adults, €7 concessions

No family tickets available. 

6 / Duomo + Ambrosina: The most expensive Duomo ticket package, only introduced in 2023, and the one we actually purchased so that we could a) give you a clear recommendation on what is unmissable; b) go into the Scurolo di San Carlo crypt, and c) see another Caravaggio painting in Italy and Da Vinci’s Codex.

This ticket grants access to the Duomo, the museum, the terraces via the stairs, the excellent Pinacoteca Ambrosina and the attached St. Sepolcro Crypt.

Note that the Pinacoteca Ambrosina is NOT the same place as the more famous and more visited Pinactoeca di Brera, which is also in Milan. However, it is an excellent, calming and lesser-visited treasure trove of a gallery. Standalone tickets for it and the crypt cost €20 for adults, so combining it with the Duomo ticket means a really decent saving too. If you’re not in Milan for long though, this ticket is possibly not the best option unless you’re certain you’ll have the time to give Pinacoteca Ambrosina the attention it requires.

€34 for adults, €22 concessions. No family tickets available.

Travel Tip // As mentioned, if it’s your first time in Milan, you should absolutely be trying to stand in front of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper masterpiece as well. Daily visitor numbers and time slots are highly restricted, with tickets released on a weird schedule and selling out instantly, so it’s often hard to come by a ticket last-minute. 

We’ve shared everything you need to know in this guide to buying Last Supper Tickets.

When + Where To Buy Milan Duomo Tickets

To maximise the chance of a preferable, early time slot, we highly recommend purchasing your tickets in advance of your visit.

You can buy tickets directly on the official Duomo di Milano website, but the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano – the organisation responsible for the Cathedral and the official website – also sells the same tickets on GetYourGuide (a website we both use and recommend a lot).

When purchasing your Duomo tickets via the official website, note that booking fees of €1 – €1.50 per ticket are added in addition to the prices listed above. You also have to to go through several stages before getting to the final check out, including the option to buy access to webcams from the spire for 20 minutes (€2) or 12 months (€15)!

Tickets go on sale three months in advance of dates (i.e. in September, you can purchase up to the end of November).

Alternatively, you can find the Duomo ticket office in Piazza del Duomo, just to the right of the main entrance and queue (here on Google Maps). It’s open every day from 9am to 6pm, and is the best option if you are turning up on the day, but queues and wait times vary.

That online booking fee isn’t charged but the main downside to this, beyond potential queues, is that it almost guarantees that you won’t be able to get the best morning time slots for either the Duomo or the terraces.

The Timeslots & The Terraces

On our visit, quite a few people with the combined ticket were confused about whether the time slot was for their entry to the Duomo or the terraces.

This is because, whatever type of ticket you purchase, you’ll be asked to select a 30-minute time slot – whether you’ve got the terraces included or not.

For the avoidance of doubt though, if you have a ticket which includes the terrace stairs or lift, the time slot you’re selecting when buying it is for your entry to the terraces.

Based on our experience and others, the staff on the terrace entries will still let you in a bit early or a bit later than your stated slot, but it depends on how busy it is.

If you want the best experience inside the Duomo, we highly recommend visiting early in the day and joining the queue by about 8.50am for the doors opening at 9am (another reason to have your ticket purchased online). That’s what we did, and from about 10am onward there was a significant influx and change of atmosphere due to the crowds.

As the terraces have a limited capacity, it’s less important to head up there early. However, as it’s a narrow, confined one-way navigation route, it does get congested in parts so anyone focussed on taking particular photos or not being rushed should absolutely prioritise the early time slots and save the Duomo for after.

Note that, when leaving the Terraces, you will go down the stairs and arrive inside the Duomo.

Our analysis of the various Duomo ticket options revealed that, if being first or last on the rooftops is your number one objective, then you’re actually best to purchase the Combo Stairs or Combo Lift ticketsas they start at 9am and finish at 7pm, whilst the the first time slot for the Fast-track Pass with Terraces By Lift is 10am (and the last entry is 4.10pm).

Lastly, be aware that there are three separate entry points for the terrace stairs + lifts, and these are in a different place to the main entrance for the Duomo. We’ve shared them below with a Google Maps link:

· The Stairs / Gate 1

· North Lift / Gate 2

· South Lift / Gate 3 – usually only for Fast-Track

Travel Better Tips for Visiting Milan Duomo

· From personal experience, you should definitely check the forecast if you’re booking terrace tickets last minute. It’s uncovered and a little treacherous when wet, so the views and the experience just aren’t the same if it’s raining. However, it does actually tend to rain quite a bit in Milan so it’s not a bad idea to have an umbrella to hand most days .

· Every single visitor should dress and act appropriately inside the Duomo. Shoulders and knees must be covered, hats removed on entry, and silence or hushed voices is the way to go. An excellent travel better tip for women in Italy is to have a scarf / cover up in your daybag so that you can quickly and easily cover your shoulders for entering any church.

· The Museo del Duomo di Milan is just across the road (here on Google Maps, 10am-7pm) and we found it to be significantly more interesting than we expected. It’s quite a slow starter, but really permits one to understand the scale, skill, and ambition to create and complete the Cathedral over six centuries, so definitely give it half an hour. Note that it’s closed on Wednesdays.

· The new videoguide is unfortunately one of the latest in the line of the ‘what tourists really want in a place like this is to be looking at a screen and dealing with tech’ approach, rather than just a simple and well-narrated old school audioguide (much more immersive and enjoyable). You can pre-purchase them online and collect inside the Duomo, or opt to get one when you arrive but you’ll need to leave an original copy of an ID Card, passport or driving licence.

The cost of €6.50 is prohibitive – especially on top of the already high ticket cost.

· Finally, do take your time inside the Duomo to savour the details of the stain glass windows, the marble tiles, the forest of giant stone pillars, and the level of human endeavour and faith which made it all possible.

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