3 Great Places in Milan to hang out

There are a few really cool places that we love to regularly visit in Milan. They’re quite eclectic and we found it difficult to categorize them. Yes, we go there for food but we couldn’t fit them in our article on the restaurants in Milan as they’re way more than just a restaurant. Let’s find them out!

Santeria

Address: Via Ettore Paladini, 8 Milano (Bus 54, Tram 5)
Phone no.: 02 36685216 / 02 36685215 (shop)

Milan should be full of places like this. A nice spot, based on a simple solid idea, that would fit perfectly in Shoreditch, Prenzlauerberg or Williamsburg, and that (sadly) in Milan is the first and only of its kind.

Breakfast, brunch, lunch, aperitivi, vintage clothes records and book shop, gigs, indie movies and co-working space. If they also had mattresses to lay down between the tables there wouldn’t be a reason to leave Santeria.
Visitat their website: www.santeriamilano.it

Ostello Bello

Address: Via Medici, 4 20123 Milano (MM1-3 Duomo, Tram 2-3, how to get there)
Phone no.: 02 3658 2720
Not only it’s one of the very few authentic hostels in Milan, but Ostello Bello offers some of its services and activities to a wider audience. Anyone can visit it without necessarily having to spend a night. They have food all day round and leisure activities from music to games, sometimes they’re improvised so any day is good to pop there. If you’re after a meaty lunch make sure to go there for the monthly “Turbo Burger” day. Only one item on the menu, guess what it is?

Visit their website: www.ostellobello.com and follow them on facebook to keep up to date.

La Balera dell’Ortica

Address: Via Giovanni Antonio Amadeo 78, Milano (Bus 54, 39)
Phone no.: 02 70128680
It takes just 20 minutes by bus from Duomo, or a short bike ride, to end up in a place where time seems to have stopped 50 years ago. The “Balera” could be a perfect set of an old school Italian movie, like Fellini showing the more trivial aspect of the Italian working class having a good time with the few spare money they had. As you enter you will find the balera itself to your right: a open-air dance floor where couple dance the night away whirling on the rhythm of the traditional popular music called liscio, which means smooth.

To the left you’ll find the bar restaurant. A very rough diner, not the same quality of the bocciofila Caccialanza but cheaper. Ideal during the warmer months, when you can enjoy the patio outside and chill with few drinks. Few minutes in and you’ll forget to be in a big city and you’ll start feeling the relaxed atmosphere of a vintage countryside.

Open every day of the week from 13.00 to 00.30 (1.30 Friday, Saturday and Sunday).
Visit their website: www.labaleradellortica.com

Travel Like a Local