Review: Park Hyatt Milano, Milan hotel review

Why book?

This is the place to base yourself in Milan for close proximity to tourist attractions like the Duomo and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II — both next door — as well as the Castello Sforzesco and the Teatro alla Scala. It’s especially well-suited for first-timers to the Italian capital of fashion, design, and finance.

Set the scene

I checked in at 8:00 am on an unseasonably chilly Saturday in late April. Overcast Milan was looking even grayer than I’d have liked, but I was heartened by a gracious welcome at the Park Hyatt, tucked away on a side street of the Piazza del Duomo. The attentive staff, the intimate scale of the hotel, and even the warm-toned marble lifted my spirits. The interior design emphasises sleek lines, columns, and travertine — a good-looking material, in shades of tan and oat, fashioned from sedimentary rock; the lobby feels as if it were meticulously laser-cut out of a cliffside. This, combined with the refined and amiable staff, gave the hotel an understated yet self-assured personality. It knows exactly what it offers: luxury without excess.

After being shown my room, I was invited to have breakfast at the main dining venue, La Cupola. It sits at the heart of the hotel, right past the lobby, underneath a large glass dome (the titular cupola). Around me were fellow guests wearing Fendi headscarves and puffy Prada vests — none yet of the business travellers checking in with expense accounts. Chatter in different languages filled the air; there were more thank you’s than grazie’s. As the servers gamely let me practice my Italian over un cappuccino con latte d’avena, the sky above us opened, pouring sunlight through the vaulted glass into the hotel, ready as it was for a new day.

The backstory

The Park Hyatt Milano is, as the contemporary parlance goes, so back. The property, which takes up residence in an 18th-century palazzo, looks fresh-faced and gorgeous after a multi-year and multi-phase renovation executed through the peak of the pandemic. It closed down entirely for about two years, from early 2020 (you can imagine why). Rooms were once again bookable in 2022, when the world began to more confidently open up; the hotel held a soft opening in 2023; it held a grand party in early 2024 to celebrate its 20th anniversary, as well as five new signature suites designed by the architect Flaviano Capriotti, who also authored the hotel’s dinner restaurant Pellico 3 and mixology bar Mio Lab. The furnishings at the all-day dining spot La Cupola have been revamped also, and the Park Hyatt Milano’s glass dome gleams anew.

Milan itself is on the rise. In the past, it was commonly regarded as a gray business city and merely a stopover en route to the lakes of northern Italy (Como, Garda, et al.). Now, it’s an ascendant European capital of design, growing ever greener, and a worthy three-day stay before or after Florence or Venice. More hotels are expected from exciting names in hospitality like Edition, W, and Rocco Forte—just in time too, as Milan will co-host the winter Olympics in 2026, a duty shared with the ski town of Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Dolomites. The city is readying itself for the future, and the renovations at the Park Hyatt Milano feel aligned with that project.

The rooms

The hotel’s 108 rooms — apart from the five new signature suites — generally retain their original design scheme, dating back to the hotel’s debut in 2004, but freshened up after two decades: warm creams, textured taupes, oak parquetry, zebra-like Breccia Medicea marble, and plenty of travertine to go around. The effect resembles sophisticated tonal dressing — the rooms, personified, are a well-groomed Italian gentleman in monochromatic Zegna cashmere jovially mingling with the crowds at Milan Fashion Week.

I stayed in room 205, a deluxe king room. Soft lighting, well-placed mirrors, and scattered glints of gold finishings made the place glow. A short hallway forked into the bedroom area, with views looking over Via Tommaso Grossi and into the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, that extravagant shopping arcade next door capped with a glass dome; and into the bathroom, generously oversized, with a standing tub, a walk-in shower, and large closets. Amenities were plush: stealable slippers, robes of fur-like terry cloth, and toiletries with a new signature scent created for the hotel by the Florentine perfumer Lorenzo Villoresi. Even the blackout curtains that opened with the touch of a bedside button lent the room ease and elegance. Comfort is the number-one priority here; and yet, so is style.

Food and drink

The Park Hyatt Milano’s all-day dining venue is La Cupola, open from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., which serves a buffet at breakfast and an a la carte menu for lunch and dinner. The spread is extensive in the mornings, with classic continental fare like prosciutto, pasticcini, and a wheel of Sicilian cheese broken into crumbly bits; there are even Chinese, Indian, and Middle Eastern options, which speaks to sizeable portion of the clientele. Servers take orders for espresso drinks and hot made-to-order dishes like fresh omelettes. The breakfast is served until 11 a.m., perfect for the more brunch-inclined among us.

Dinner is an event at Pellico 3, the hotel’s gastronomy project, reconceptualised in 2022 and conducted by executive chef Guido Paternollo, who has worked under haute cuisine kings Enrico Bartolini and Alain Ducasse. As a restaurant, it throws breadth out the window in favor of focus. The dining room has 28 seats, a private event space holds 10, and the menu proposes just three Milanese and Lombardian dishes for each of the antipasti, primi, and secondi courses (four for dessert). Order a tasting menu and Paternollo will select one of each for you. For my meal, I was served a very cool oyster dish topped with cucumber-gin-tonic shaved ice; a spring salad dressed so gorgeously with arugula pesto and chestnut honey that it looked like a Kandinsky painting; and a rich butter risotto with teriyaki eel, caviar, and preserved lemons. But my personal come-to-Jesus moment was the bottle of Berlucchi ’61 Brut Nature, a sparkling wine from Franciacorta made in the traditional Champagne method, bone-dry and bracing.

As for the bar, Mio Lab, open until midnight, emphasises creative mixology — the name literally means “my laboratory.” As for whose, it belongs to Alessandro Iacobucci Vitoni, the bar and lobby manager, whose negroni menu I loved. The saffron negroni served as a soothing nightcap after I had a run in with Inter Milano fans raucously celebrating their championship win against Turin as they stormed the Piazza del Duomo next door. In the spring summer, the space extends to a patio outside, called Dehors, perfect for sipping on Campari spritzes and watching the bustle of Milan go by.

The spa

The hotel’s spa — officially the AQVAM Spa powered by Beautick — makes its home in the lower floor of the hotel, where it has three treatment rooms. There’s also a small but well-equipped 24-hour gym, a sauna, steam rooms, and a Jacuzzi area with daybeds. The atmosphere is dark and subterranean, a Batcave of wellness. Ultimately, the vibe is a respite. On my first visit to the spa, it felt like an escape from the crowds stomping through the streets above.

The neighbourhood/area

Park Hyatts tend to be at the centre of everything: Park Hyatt Paris off the Place Vendôme, Park Hyatt New York at the bottom of Central Park. It’s the same in Milan, where the hotel stands next to the Piazza del Duomo and its grand cathedral, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II with its luxury shops and cafés (book a table at Marchesi 1824 for an espresso and the view of the arcades below), and the massive department store Rinascente (the Obica on the roof has killer views of the Duomo). The hotel is also off the Duomo stop on the Metro, making it a convenient base from which to explore the city. It’s a more than sufficient spot for first-timers to the city, or those who want to maximize a stopover before moving north to Lake Como or south to Tuscany.

The service

Gracious and genial, the staff operates on a high level. Two servers who took care of me were lovely; one encouraged me to practice my Italian, but all of them were confident English speakers, a necessary skill for communicating with an international clientele speaking — as I overheard at breakfast over multiple days — Urdu, Arabic, Cantonese, and Russian. The head concierge was brilliant and warm; after I checked out, he personally drove me to Milano Centrale to catch my train to Rome, discussing with me the virtues of Milan and where it was heading next. Most memorable to me were the little touches throughout my stay, like the chocolates left in my room at turndown service — not on the pillow, but on the bedside table, on a glass dish covered with a glass cloche. At the Park Hyatt Milano, there’s refinement on all fronts.

For families

I saw one child during my entire weekend stay, so they’re certainly welcome. That said, the milieu of the hotel is more on the buttoned up side, and there’s nothing in the way of kid-friendly entertainment. Standard rooms might be a tight squeeze for groups of three or more, but everything from a junior suite and up can accommodate families well.

Eco effort

Locally-sourced materials and locally-made furnishings were the heart and soul of the renovation. In all but the signature rooms, the furniture was custom-designed by Uno Contract in Venice, and most of it FSC-certified, which ensures sourcing from responsibly managed forests. I was particularly awed by the rainbow of marble used throughout the property, from black-and-white Breccia Medicea to emerald Verde Alpi, all of it sourced from Italian quarries. The five new signature suites look like a collaborative showroom at Milano Design Week: armchairs by Caccia Dominioni and Gio Ponti, tables by Enzo Mari, bookcases by Albini, marble consoles by Mangiarotti— the list goes on. Less visible are the renovated foundations of the building, including updated water pipes and air conditioning systems that lessen the impact on the environment.

Accessibility

Though the spa has a few stairs to get to the jacuzzi, elevators grant step-less access to all six floors (seven, counting the spa level underground), and there are designated accessible rooms, which you can book easily online.

Anything left to mention?

Pre- and post-refresh, the Park Hyatt Milano has always been something of a pleasant surprise. It has all the hallmarks of a big-name and big-chain property (not that convention rooms or a loyalty points program put a hotel lower on anyone’s ranking), but there’s a sense of boutique-ness to it – if not necessarily in practice then in scale and design. It feels distinctly of Milan: stylish and sleek, creative and confident, proudly Italian.