To say this apartment in the Solari neighbourhood of Milan just nails the basics would do a disservice to the subtly stylish design on display. Take the living room, for example, which mixes together handsome wood furnishings and eye-catching lighting with a popping lime accent wall. The pair of French doors at the end of the space means that there's no shortage of natural light and these also open out to a balcony. Admittedly, the roundabout outside isn't the Italian city's finest landmark, but that still doesn't make an alfresco coffee any less pleasant. This eye for design continues in the other rooms, including the sleek monochrome kitchen with a decent amount of surface space for whipping up Milanese cuisine, as well as an electric blue bedroom with a table repurposed from an old sewing machine. The surrounding area is less touristy than the centre and there are offbeat art galleries to discover, including Mudec just over ten minutes' walk away. However, if you want to see the city's greatest hits, the Duomo and Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II take only forty minutes to reach on foot — or half that on public transport.

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Additional fees

• Your host can help arrange breakfast deliveries, daily cleaning, laundry and dry cleaning, coffee capsule refills, city tours, private chefs, pocket wi-fi, airport transfers, toiletries and romantic room set-ups for an additional fee

Additional fees subject to a 3.5% handling charge.