Trip Planning for Turin

Turin's centre is compact, flat and easy to explore on foot – which makes it easier to plan than most Italian cities. The main decision to make first is how many days to spend here, and after that whether the museum pass is worth it for your itinerary.

How many days for Turin?

Two days are enough for the city-centre highlights. In that time you can comfortably combine the Musei Reali with the Royal Palace, the Cathedral with its Shroud display case, the world-famous Egyptian Museum, the landmark Mole Antonelliana with the Cinema Museum, and Piazza San Carlo and Piazza Castello. With three days, add a day trip to the royal residence of Venaria Reale and the Basilica di Superga with its Alpine panorama. Two ready-made routes are available as a 2-day plan and a 3-day plan.

Allow 20 to 60 minutes each for squares and churches, 2 to 3.5 hours for the major museums (the Egyptian Museum is at the upper end), and half a day to a full day each for the Venaria and Superga day trips.

Tickets, the Card, and what's free

Nine of the central sights are free at their core: San Lorenzo (including a life-size copy of the Shroud), the Cathedral with the display case for the original Shroud, the Gran Madre di Dio, the Santuario della Consolata, access to the Mercato di Porta Palazzo, Piazza San Carlo, Piazza Castello, the Parco del Valentino (the park and the Borgo lanes are free; the interiors of the Rocca and Borgo Medievale are under renovation, with no reopening date yet), and the Basilica di Superga (basilica and Cappella del Voto are free; the dome, crypt and apartment cost an optional fee).

Seven sights charge admission: the Egyptian Museum (€18, online time slot required), the Mole Antonelliana with the Cinema Museum (museum €18, combined with the panoramic lift €23, lift only €9), the National Automobile Museum MAUTO (€18), the GAM (permanent collection €10, temporary exhibitions cost extra), Palazzo Madama (€10, the former free Wednesday is currently suspended), the Musei Reali (€15, including the Chapel of the Holy Shroud) and the Reggia at Venaria Reale (€18, full ticket €25, gardens only €6). The Egyptian Museum is the only one you need to book ahead.

The Torino+Piemonte Card covers free admission to the permanent collections at these sights – with one important exception: the Mole's panoramic lift is only discounted (€7 instead of €9), and only the Cinema Museum is free there. Temporary exhibitions, the Superga rack railway and the Venaria Express weekend ticket are also discounted only. Each Card covers one adult plus one child under 12.

As a rule of thumb, the Card pays off from two to three paid museums: the Egyptian Museum plus the Cinema Museum cost €36 individually, against €29.90 for the 24-hour Card. Two cheaper sights like GAM and Palazzo Madama (€20 combined), however, don't justify it, and for the 48- or 72-hour Card you should plan on three museums – for example Egizio, the Cinema Museum and the Musei Reali (€51 individually).

Timing your day trips: Venaria and Superga

Both major day-trip destinations have their own closing days, worth knowing when planning your schedule. The Reggia di Venaria Reale is closed on Mondays; the GTT shuttle Venaria Express runs accordingly from Tuesday to Sunday plus public holidays (Tuesday to Friday normal GTT tickets, weekends a hop-on-hop-off day ticket for €7, €4 with the Card; timetables at gtt.to.it). The Reggia's temporary exhibitions are included in the standard ticket.

The historic rack railway from the Sassi valley station takes you up to the Basilica di Superga; its day off is Wednesday – the basilica itself still stays open and free to enter that day. If you want to combine both destinations, the day-trip day in the 3-day plan works well: Venaria in the morning, Superga in the afternoon light with views over the city and the Alps.