Turin gets left off most people’s Italy itineraries, and I don’t understand why.
I’ve now been twice, most recently as a stop on a longer rail trip through France, Italy and Switzerland, and both times I left wondering why this city isn’t as busy as it should be. It has grand architecture on every corner, some of the best chocolate and coffee in the country, and an interesting history as the first capital of unified Italy.
This is my complete guide to the best things to do in Turin, based on what I did, ate and learned across two trips.
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Why Turin Is Worth Visiting
Turin was the first capital of Italy after unification in 1861, and the House of Savoy left their mark everywhere you look, from grand royal residences to wide baroque piazzas lined with porticoes. It has a Roman past too, with a surviving city gate that predates most of what you’ll see elsewhere in northern Italy.
Add to that a museum scene that punches well above its weight (Egyptian antiquities, cinema history, the Shroud), a food and drink culture built around chocolate, coffee and Piedmont wine, and an easy rail connection to the Alps and the rest of Piedmont, and you have a city that warrants a slot in any Italy itinerary, not just a day trip from Milan.
The Best Things to Do in Turin
Egyptian Museum
I’ll admit I overlooked this one on my first trip, which in hindsight is ridiculous. Museo Egizio is one of the best Egyptian collections anywhere outside Cairo, and arguably the best in Europe.
It’s the oldest museum dedicated entirely to Egyptian art and archaeology in the world, and the collection runs to tens of thousands of pieces across statues, sarcophagi, papyri and an entire reconstructed tomb. If you only have time for one museum in the city, this is the one I’d point you towards.
Practical information: Open Monday, 9 am – 2 pm; Tuesday – Friday & Sunday, 9 am – 6.30 pm; Saturday, 9 am – 9 pm. Give this at least half a day if you can, and go early if you want a fighting chance of beating the tour groups. This is the one sight in Turin that pulls the crowds.
If you prefer a guided experience, other travellers highly rate this small-group tour with skip-the-line entry.
Royal Museums and the Sabauda Gallery
The Musei Reali (Royal Museums) complex brings together Palazzo Reale, the Royal Armoury, the archaeological museum and the Sabauda Gallery under one ticket. It’s a solid morning of art and history.
My highlights were the Capella della Sidone (where the Shroud of Turin was originally housed), the throne room and the Daniel Gallery, a dazzling hall of mirrors with an elaborately frescoed ceiling. The Sabauda Gallery holds the House of Savoy’s art collection, with works by Italian and Flemish masters, and I found it far less crowded than the equivalent collections in Florence or Rome.
Practical information: Open Thursday to Tuesday, 9 am – 7 pm (closed Wednesday). Check times and ticket price on the official website. Give yourself a good two to three hours here if you want to do it justice.
Palazzo Madama
A short walk from the Royal Museums across Piazza Castello, Palazzo Madama has one of the odder architectural stories in Italy. It’s a medieval castle on the inside, with a baroque facade grafted onto the front by Filippo Juvarra in the 18th century, and Roman archaeological remains below.
Inside is the Turin City Museum of Ancient Art, with a collection that runs from medieval sculpture – the carved wooden choir stalls are exquisite – to paintings and decorative art.
Practical information: Open Wednesday to Monday, 10 am – 6 pm (closed Tuesday). Check times and ticket price on the official website. Allow two hours here if this type of art is your thing.
Turin Cathedral
Turin Cathedral (Duomo di San Giovanni Battista) is the city’s only Renaissance-era building in a centre otherwise dominated by Baroque architecture, and it’s home to the Chapel of the Holy Shroud. The Shroud of Turin itself – the piece of linen said by some to have wrapped the body of Christ – is only on public display on rare occasions, but the cathedral and chapel are open year-round.
It is free to visit.
Museum of the Shroud
If the cathedral leaves you curious, the Museum of the Shroud (Museo del Sidone) goes into the science, history and controversy around the relic, including the carbon dating disputes. It’s a wonderfully old-fashioned treat.
You’re assigned a volunteer guide at the ticket desk, who takes you to watch a short film on the shroud and into the small but perfectly formed Holy Shroud Church (only open to visitors for Mass once a month). Then it’s down to the small museum, which I found surprisingly thought-provoking.
The museum is open daily, 3 pm – 6 pm.
Roman Turin: Porta Palatina and the Quadrilatero
Turin was founded as the Roman settlement of Augusta Taurinorum and Porta Palatina, a pair of surviving Roman gate towers, is one of the best examples of Roman city gates left in Italy. It borders the Quadrilatero Romano, the old Roman grid of streets that’s now Turin’s nightlife and aperitivo district, all narrow lanes, bars and independent shops.
I’d visit the gate in daylight for the history, then come back to the same streets in the evening for a drink.
Mole Antonelliana and the National Cinema Museum
Mole Antonelliana is Turin’s tallest and most recognisable landmark, originally built as a synagogue in the 19th century and now home to the National Cinema Museum.
Taking the glass-sided panoramic lift up through the centre of the building to the viewing platform is one of the best things I did on either trip. The ride itself is dizzying, but the views from the top take in the whole city with the Alps behind it.
The museum traces the history of cinema from early experiments – there are lots of magic lanterns – to how modern movies are made in an eccentric, immersive, though sometimes confusing, layout.
Practical information: Open Wednesday to Monday, 9 am – 7 pm (closed Tuesday). Check times and ticket price here.
It’s essential to book your panoramic lift ticket in advance as the cabin only holds six to eight passengers per trip, and time slots sell out rapidly. A joint panoramic lift / museum ticket is the cheapest option of you plan to do both.
Allow 2-3 hours here to do it all justice, factoring in time queueing to enter the lift.
Try a bicerin in a historic café
I love coffee in Italy and bicerin is Turin’s signature drink. Espresso, drinking chocolate and whipped cream are layered in a small glass, traditionally unstirred so you get different flavours in each sip.
I tried mine at Caffé Baratti & Milano, one of the city’s old-world cafés, all marble tables, gilt mirrors and waistcoated waiters. It wasn’t ridiculously expensive – only a euro or two more than traditional stand-up bars – and is one of the things that makes Turin’s café culture distinct from the rest of Italy.
Funicular to Superga Basilica
Set on a hill above the city, Superga Basilica is reached by a small rack railway, the Sassi-Superga funicular, that’s been running since 1884. Old wooden carriages climb steeply through woodland, and the basilica itself holds the royal tombs of the House of Savoy along with views back over Turin.
Sadly, I visited on a wet day and these views weren’t great, but it’s an easy trip from the centre and an outing I’d put near the top of any Turin itinerary.
Practical information: Tram 15 runs every fifteen minutes from the city centre to the funicular station. The journey takes around 20 minutes.
Time the tram carefully with the funicular as this only runs every hour on the hour. The Sassi-Superga rack railway doesn’t run on Wednesdays (timetable here).
Visit the Superga Basilica website for more information about opening times and ticket prices.
Day trip to La Venaria Reale
The Reggia di Venaria Reale, a Savoy royal residence, is a short train or bus ride from Turin. In my view, this UNESCO World Heritage site gives Versailles a run for its money with a fraction of the French palace’s crowds.
The gardens alone need a couple of hours, and the palace interiors, particularly the Great Gallery, are some of the grandest I’ve seen anywhere in Europe.
Practical information: Bus 11 runs between the city centre and Venaria train station, a ten-minute walk from the palace, every fifteen minutes. The journey time is 40 – 50 minutes.
La Venaria Reale is open from Tuesday to Sunday, operating seasonal hours. Allow at least half a day here.
Museum of the Risorgimento
I went to the Museum of the Risorgimento to take a look at another Savoy palace but stayed for the history.
It’s housed in Palazzo Carignano, the birthplace of Italy’s first king Victor Emmanuel II, and tells the story of Italian unification, the movement Turin was at the political centre of. It’s a dense museum with a lot of text, so may not suit every traveller, but it filled in a lot of context for me on why Turin looks and feels the way it does.
The Museum of the Risorgimento is closed on Mondays.
Museum of Oriental Art
MAO, the Museum of Oriental Art, is a change of pace from the Savoy palaces and Roman history that dominate this list.
Set across four floors of an 18th-century palazzo, it has collections from South Asia, China, Japan, the Himalayas and Southeast Asia, arranged by region. It’s less busy than almost anywhere else on this list, which made it a good stop to slow down for an hour.
This museum is closed on Mondays.
Taste Piedmont Wine
Well it would be rude not to. Piedmont is one of Italy’s great wine regions, home to Barolo, Barbaresco and Barbera, and Turin is the obvious base for tasting your way through them without leaving the city.
I did this wine tasting during my stay, which comprised four generous pours (one sparkling, one white and two red) along with enough cheese and charcuterie to force me to cancel my dinner arrangements that evening. I recommend seeking out at least one of these experiences, whether that’s a dedicated tasting room in the centre or, as I found at dinner one night, a restaurant pouring from its own cantina (more on that below).
Shop for chocolate
Turin is Italy’s chocolate capital and the birthplace of gianduja, the hazelnut and cocoa paste that gives the city’s signature gianduiotti their name. Between the historic cafés and the small chocolatiers scattered around the centre and the Quadrilatero, this is an easy city to spend more than you planned on chocolate.
On the advice of a local, I sampled the three types of gianduiotti at Caffetteria da Mario at Via Milano 7, washed down with a bicerin coffee (just in case I didn’t get enough of a chocolate fix).
If you prefer a more in-depth chocolatey experience, this 1.5-hour chocolate class and tasting has garnered excellent reviews. It also includes bicerin.
Getting to Turin
Turin’s airport, Torino-Caselle (also called Sandro Pertini Airport), is around ten miles north of the city centre and has a direct bus link into town. It’s a small airport with fewer routes than Milan, so many travellers fly into Milan Malpensa or Milan Linate and then take the train.
The high-speed rail link between Milan and Turin takes under an hour, and Turin’s main station, Porta Nuova, is right in the centre of the city, so you can walk to most of the sights listed below straight off the train. If you’re combining Turin with a wider Italy, France or Switzerland trip, as I did on my last visit, the rail connections make it an easy addition rather than a detour.
Getting Around Turin
Turin’s historic centre is flat and easy to cover on foot, and walking is the best way to see most of what’s on this list. For anything further out, the city has a metro line, trams and buses that all run on the same ticket system (you can use contactless payment on board).
Where to Stay in Turin
On my most recent trip I stayed at Apartments BeMate Torino, a serviced apartment set-up rather than a traditional hotel. Having my own space with a kitchen and that all-important washing machine was welcome on a longer trip, and the location made it simple to reach the main sights on foot.
If this doesn’t meet your needs, NH Collection Torino Piazza Carlina and Principi di Piemonte | UNA Esperienze are highly-rated hotels in the historic centre
Where to Eat in Turin
I ate well on both trips, but two places from my most recent visit stand out enough to name individually.
Ristorante Solferino does a breaded veal chop (cotoletta) that was roughly the size of my hand, crisp outside and tender inside. I’d go back for that alone.
Osteria Rabezzana was the standout meal of the trip. I had agnolotti del plin al sugo d’arrosto (a Turin classic) followed by bunet, the local chocolate and amaretti pudding, with wine from their own cantina.
I’d recommend both without hesitation if you want a real sense of Piedmontese cooking rather than a generic Italian menu.
Practical Tips for Visiting Turin
- Best time to visit: spring and autumn keep the crowds down and the temperatures comfortable. Summer in Turin can be hot and sticky.
- How long to stay: two to three days covers the main sights in this guide comfortably, with the third day if you want to add Venaria Reale without rushing it. Hit the ground running with my 2-day Turin itinerary.
- Money-saving tip: I bought the Torino+Piemonte Card, which bundles entry to most of the museums on this list. It works out considerably cheaper than paying individually if you’re planning to visit more than three or four sights.
- Check opening hours carefully: Many attractions are closed on Mondays, with a few others shut on Tuesday or Wednesday.
- Language: English is spoken at the main sights and in most central restaurants, but as Turin sees far fewer international tourists than Florence, Venice or Rome, a few basic Italian phrases go a long way.
- Day trips: beyond Venaria Reale and Superga, Turin makes a good base for the Piedmont wine region and the wider Alps if you have more time.
Turin doesn’t try particularly hard to sell itself to tourists, and I think that’s part of the appeal. It’s a city I’d send most travellers to Italy towards, especially anyone who has already ticked off the obvious names and wants somewhere with fewer crowds and just as much history, not to mention excellent regional food and wine.
About Bridget
Bridget Coleman has been a passionate traveller for more than 30 years. She has visited 70+ countries, most as a solo traveller.
Articles on this site reflect her first-hand experiences.
To get in touch, email her at hello@theflashpacker.net or follow her on social media.