Shortly after moving to Nice in February 2025, Nik and I looked into buying tickets to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. Ice hockey was our preferred event to see and it turned out to be pretty easy to buy tickets, though the men’s games were a lot more expensive than the women’s games. Keep reading to see how it all went during our four day, three night stay.
Buying our Winter Olympics Tickets
In my previous life, a few years after college while trying to make the move into working in sports full-time, I got a temporary job with NBC Olympics to work the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy. I worked as a graphics producer for ice hockey and so from that experience I knew ice hockey events took place in two arenas.
When Nik and I looked at the schedule, we decided to get tickets for games all at the same arena, in this case at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.
Looking at the ticket options, all the games were scheduled through the whole tournament, though once it got to the elimination rounds, you wouldn’t know the opponent until a few days before. In the interest of wanting to see both men’s and women’s games, we decided to buy tickets for each of the women’s semifinals, knowing the United States and Canada were the two best teams and would probably play in the final. This ensured we’d see them each play once and at a ticket price that was a bit more cost efficient for us.
Buying for the men’s games was a little tougher because we wanted to keep the games close together in consecutive days. As the games progressed through the tournament the prices increased so we decided to buy a random men’s qualification playoff game.
Related: Getting Settled in Nice, France
The Venue
Leading up to the Winter Olympics, the Milano Santagiulia arena was very behind in construction. There was a lot of worry the arena might not be ready in time for the games. In addition, there were concerns the ice size didn’t meet International standards with the ice space around face-off circles and behind the goals.
As Nik and I walked around inside the venue, it was clear the arena was brand new. There was still exposed drywall, temporary signs directing people to the bathrooms and a few finishing touches that had yet to be completed. The food options were decent, with concession stands and a couple of grab and go markets. The only alcoholic beverages available were Corona and Aperol Spritzes.
Nonetheless, the arena was open and operational, though one end was not fully accessible from the concourse. Seating stopped at a certain point, with a temporary wall closing off the unfinished section. The area will be completed later in the year and the concourse will form a full oval around the arena.
The Games
The U.S. vs. Sweden women’s semifinal took place on February 16, and we didn’t know our seating location until the day before the games. We lucked out with seats behind one of the goals which provided a great view of the entire rink.
We saw plenty of scoring, some post-whistle shoving and had the perfect vantage point as the U.S. team celebrated their 5-0 semifinal victory.
The second semifinal game between Canada and Switzerland was scheduled to start about 90 minutes later. In between games, event staff cleared the venue and directed everyone to a designated waiting area outside, allowing us to return without going through security again. (Yes, it was cold out there!) Eventually, it was time to re-enter and our seats were in an upper section at the opposite side of the rink from our first game. It was nice to have a different perspective for the game.
It was a close game, but Canada defeated Switzerland to advance to the gold medal game, where the U.S. beat Canada 2-1 in overtime to take home the gold.
The men’s game we saw was the first one of the day on February 17, France vs. Germany. We were rooting for France, but from early on, Germany was the better and more skilled team. Our seats were excellent, just a few rows up looking at center ice.
Germany won 5-1 to stave off elimination. That hockey game concluded the Winter Olympic events we would see in Milan. All three games were a fun time and it was even better to be back at the Olympics in Italy as a spectator this time.
Related: Visiting Italy’s Amalfi Coast
Exploring Milan
Nik and I enjoyed our time in Milan and made our way around the city using public transit. The city was easy to navigate, especially since our hotel (Novotel Milano Linate Aeroporto) was located by the smaller airport and the Milano Santagiulia hockey arena, both of which were outside of city center.
In our free time, Nik and I made sure to seek out the Olympic Rings in Piazza della Scala (pictured above) and the Olympic flame at Arco della Pace, the old city gate of Milan.
The Duomo di Milano, also known as the Milan Cathedral, is an absolutely gorgeous landmark.
The largest Olympic merchandise shop was near the cathedral and always had a big line so we didn’t try to get in. We did our merch purchasing at the hockey venue – just a couple of pins and postcards to send friends.
Much like many of our travels throughout Europe, we came across a Stolperstein (stumble stone) honoring Angelo Fabello. A quick search revealed that Angelo was a tailor who collaborated with the Resistance, was arrested in Udine, Italy, in 1945, and deported to the Mauthausen camp, where he was murdered. The stone likely marks the location of his last known residence.
Dining Out in Milan
In terms of eating and drinking around the city, we covered a lot of variety. Our first night in Milan was a delicious Chinese dinner at Ristorante Cheng Du.
Another delicious dinner was at Razdora, a place Nik read about. A reservation was required and thankfully we had one. It’s a very small space and basically a staff of three people, the main chef/owner and one or two other people working in the kitchen.
We started with the meatball appetizer followed by entrees of cacio e pepe for me and spaghetti pomodoro for Nik.
Everything was fresh and made to order. Truly a gem of a spot that we highly recommend.
Not far away was a local spot called Bar Quadronno that was pretty busy. We decided to stop in for post-dinner drinks and while the service was a little slow, it was nice to check out a place that seemed pretty historic.
I learned in Torino that many of the Olympic countries have their own themed bars or special houses for fans to enter. Somehow we stumbled into the Lotto Belgium Pub, Belgium’s official fan-gathering spot where we enjoyed a few drinks and light snack. It was open to the public and very much sponsored by Stella.
As we were walking around the area of luxury shops, we popped into the Ralph Lauren store to see what they had for Team USA apparel. The items weren’t really of our interest and also quite expensive so we decided to have a few drinks at their restaurant, Ralph’s Bar, where we sat on the heated patio.
From there we strolled past the Dolce&Gabbana store which had a cool looking bar in the courtyard of a great old building. As the saying goes, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” so we decided to go in and check it out.
DG Martini, as the bar is called, occupies an incredibly cool space where the company’s branding is everywhere, from the staff carrying D&G bags while clearing tables to the branded details on our drinks and around our table.
While not cheap, I’m glad we checked it out. It’s not like we’ll be back in Milan any time soon.
The beer scene in Milan was ok. A couple places we stopped at include: Bierfabrik Milano and Brasserie Bruxelles.
Getting to Milan
We originally planned to spend four days in Milan, but after Koval passed away, we decided to extend the trip and add stops in Vienna, Salzburg, and Munich.
We started the journey by booking regular SNCF train tickets from Nice to Ventimiglia, a frequent route that takes about an hour. We built in plenty of time for our connection to Milan, which we booked through Italy’s train system. The four-hour ride from Ventimiglia to Milan was comfortable and easy.
Milan Central train station was busy and we just wanted to get to the hotel so we called an Uber. As mentioned above, we stuck to public transit most of the time otherwise.
After three nights in Milan and a great Winter Olympics experience, we boarded a flight to Vienna! Staying near Milan’s smaller airport made the departure easy and a quick Uber ride got us there with plenty of time.
