Milan or Siena?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on nightlife and nature & day trips with your weighting.
Has no clear advantage with the weighting you have chosen.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Milan if you want evenings that continue after dinner, a wide choice of kitchens and museums, and easy days out, with protected countryside close by, parks near the centre and theme parks within reach for children.
Choose Siena if you want a small walkable town where nearly everything sits near the centre, warmer summer days, and 5 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Milan and Siena are level on 0.
| Milan | Siena | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 4 | 0 |
| Coast distance | 120 km | 64 km |
| Water distance | — | — |
Places to eat. Milan leads by 38 points.38
| Milan | Siena | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 70 | 32 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 1,991 | 242 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 20 | 11 |
Museums & heritage. Milan leads by 3 points.3
| Milan | Siena | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 74 | 71 |
| Museums within 10 km | 87 | 55 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 55 | 51 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 63 | 93 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 4 | 5 |
Nightlife. Milan leads by 58 points.58
| Milan | Siena | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 75 | 17 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 2,215 | 142 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 961 | 119 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 43 | 84 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 70 | 1 |
Nature & day trips. Milan leads by 46 points.46
| Milan | Siena | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 65 | 19 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 30 | 3 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 11 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 100 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 102 hectares | 29 hectares |
Good for families. Milan leads by 46 points.46
| Milan | Siena | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 77 | 31 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 76 | 13 |
| Park area within 2 km | 102 hectares | 29 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 5 | 0 |
Sights concentration. Milan leads by 24 points.24
| Milan | Siena | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 74 | 50 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 266 | 69 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Milan and Siena are level on 68.
| Milan | Siena | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 68 | 68 |
| Price level global | 64.9 | 64.9 |
| Daily budget | €155 | €155 |
Year-round weather. Milan and Siena are level on 64.
| Milan | Siena | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 64 | 64 |
| Monthly daytime high | 7 °C to 28.6 °C | 8.9 °C to 31.3 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 44 mm to 127 mm | 49 mm to 136 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 0 |
Where they differ
Milan has many times as many places to drink and dance. Around it, 30% of the land is protected against 3% around Siena, and about three times as much park space sits near the centre. For families, Milan also has far more attractions close in and 5 theme parks within reach, where Siena has none.
Siena trades on scale and warmth: what there is, including its few bars, sits within walking distance of the centre, and summer days run to 31°C against Milan's 29°C.
Where they are alike
Both sit in much the same temperature band across the year, Milan at 7-29°C and Siena at 9-31°C, and neither has a month at 40mm of rain or less, so rain is possible whenever you go.
Heritage is the other near match: Milan holds more museums, while Siena counts 5 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against Milan's 4. Neither is a place to swim, since neither has a month with the sea warm enough for it.
Which traveller are you?
Travelling with children: Milan. It has far more attractions near the centre, about three times as much park space as Siena, and 5 theme parks within reach, where Siena has none.
Out for food and evenings: Milan again, with many times as many restaurants near the centre, a much wider range of kitchens, and bars and clubs in numbers Siena cannot match.
A heritage trip on foot: Siena. Milan holds about twice as many museums, but Siena's compact centre and its 5 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach, one more than Milan's, suit slow walking better.
What the numbers don't tell you
The value comparison between these two carries no information: it is a national price level, identical for both by construction, so it says nothing about which city costs more. The €155 daily budget beside it is one national estimate, not a measurement of Milan or Siena.
No weather station near Siena records sunshine hours, so that series is missing rather than low, and its monthly picture rests on temperature and rainfall alone; that side of the weather comparison is unmeasured. Nor is either city a swimming destination, despite the 4 beaches within reach of Milan: neither has a month of sea at 21°C or more.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Milan: 1991-2020 normals, Novara / Cameri (41.2 km from centre). Siena: 2006-2017 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Arezzo (45 km from centre).
Milan works best from May to August, with highs of 23-29°C and midsummer its drier stretch. Autumn is the catch: September to November each bring more than 110mm.
Siena's season opens earlier and runs later, holding up from April to June and again in September, though September is wet at 103mm. July and August are its driest months, near 50mm, but daytime highs reach 31°C, which is hard work in the middle of the day.
Getting there
| Flying from | Milan | Siena |
|---|---|---|
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 1 h 20 m €46-63 MXP · 40 km | 1 h 40 m €143-159 FLR · 55 km |
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 1 h 45 m €48-103 MXP · 40 km | 2 h 5 m €180-199 1 stop FLR · 55 km |
| TiranaTIA | 1 h 45 m €31-93 BGY · 46 km | 1 h 35 m no fares PSA · 86 km |
| BarcelonaBCN | 1 h 30 m €34-53 MXP · 40 km | 1 h 35 m €113-168 FLR · 55 km |
| RomeFCO, CIA | 1 h 15 m €116-135 LIN · 7 km | 55 m €136-139 1 stop FLR · 55 km |
| AmsterdamAMS | 1 h 40 m €129-158 LIN · 7 km | 1 h 55 m €232-255 2 stops FLR · 55 km |
| MadridMAD | 2 h 0 m €63-91 MXP · 40 km | 2 h 10 m no fares FLR · 55 km |
| CataniaCTA | 1 h 55 m €36-88 MXP · 40 km | 1 h 35 m €135-156 FLR · 55 km |
| FrankfurtFRA, HHN | 1 h 15 m €67-76 LIN · 7 km | 1 h 30 m no fares FLR · 55 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 6 h 10 m €375-563 MXP · 40 km | 5 h 55 m no fares BLQ · 135 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-09 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Milan | Siena |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Italian | Italian |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CFL230 V, 50 Hz | CFL230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 138 m | 322 m |
| Main airport | Milan Malpensa International Airport (MXP)40 km from centre203 non-stop destinations | Florence Airport, Peretola (FLR)55 km from centre36 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 13 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Milan | Siena |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 1,354,196 | 52,812 |
| People per km² | 7,453 | 446 |
| Museums within 10 km | 87 | 29 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 4 | 5 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 79 | 25 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Milan or Siena somewhere new.