Like my time in nearby Aosta, I hadn’t actually planned to spend 2 days in Turin, Italy. In fact, I’d never even heard of Turin until the day before I set out in its direction.
And the reason I ended up here? Because the font size for “Torino” was bigger than all the surrounding others on the map. So, there must be something to see and do there, right?
Turns out, Turin (aka Torino in Italian) has a population of 2.2 million, used to be the capital of Italy, and is the country’s third richest city behind Rome and Milan. Who knew?
Now, I’m more than a little familiar with Turin so I’ve written this post to share all the neat things you can see and do (and eat) here in a quick visit. Enjoy!
Why visit Turin, Italy?
Well, my friend and I visited Turin after blowing off a completely separate trip that left us wandering aimlessly around the Alps and northern Italy. But you should visit Turin because it’s a massive and interesting city that’s still somehow a total secret. Oh, and because it’s the city that brought us Nutella. We’re not worthy!
What is Turin famous for?
So yes, Turin is the home of something called gianduja. This chocolate/hazelnut spread invented in the early 1800s has evolved over time into the Nutella we all know and love.
Besides that, Turin is also the home of such auto makers as Alfa Romeo and Fiat. It also hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Is Turin worth visiting?
Turin is absolutely worth visiting. Now, while Turin is not one of my favorite cities in Italy (I still haven’t decided exactly how I feel about it), I can’t deny that it’s one of the most interesting.
Torino is unlike any other city I’ve visited in Italy. It feels a lot like several other Italian cities rolled into one, but also like its very own country in many ways.
There’s plenty to do here with 2 days in Turin, but a visit would also be great for a long weekend or even just a day trip from Milan. And if you’re a chocolate lover, have fun picking out a new apartment.
Is Turin expensive to visit?
As far as Italian metropolises go, I didn’t feel Turin was all especially expensive. Bicerin aside, everything else–hotel room, sightseeing, food–seemed to be reasonably priced. (A glass of bicerin will run you around 8 euros but the cappuccino I got to wash it all down was €1.40.)
Also read: How to Spend 1 Day in Aosta, Italy
Where is Turin, Italy?
Turin is up in the northwest corner of Italy, just over the Alps from both France and Switzerland. Turin is also the capital of the Piedmont region which you’ve probably heard of if you’re a wine drinker. (I am a beer drink. So when you’re ready to discuss Germany’s Hallertau region, let me know.)
Turin is just a couple hours’ drive from the Alps in one direction and Milan in the other. But, with a top speed of 214mph, the Alfa Romeo C38 Quadrifoglio can get you here in under the time it takes to eat one Nutella & Go.
How to get to Turin
Even though you maybe have never even heard of Turin, it’s actually one of the biggest cities in Italy. As such, it’s super easy to get to from just about anywhere.
Flying into Turin
Turin has its own international airport (TRN) but is also close enough to Milan (MXP) if you find better deals to fly there.
Driving to Turin
If you’ll have your own rental car, you can drive to Turin from cities like Milan (under 2 hours), Genoa (2 hours), Geneva (3.5 hours), Florence (4.5 hours), Bologna (4.5 hours). Rent a car here if you need one.
Taking the train to Turin
Turin is going to be one place where taking the train is going to be much faster than driving if you’re traveling within Italy. You can take the train to Turin from Milan (1 hour), Genoa (2.5 hours), Florence (just over 3 hours), Bologna (2 hours 15 minutes). Check TrenItalia for schedules and rates.
Taking the bus to Turin
One of the easiest ways to get to Turin however is going to be the Flixbus. This is how I personally arrived to Turin from Aosta (and to Aosta from Courmayeur). Flixbus trips are typically direct and always super cheap (though from some cities they take much longer). Check out Flixbus schedules and rates here.
Also read: How to Spend a Day in Courmayeur, Italy
2 days in Turin, Italy
Even though this is a huge city, 2 days in Turin is still enough to see and do the most popular things and get a good feel for it here. You’ll be able to walk just about everywhere.
Torino+Piemonte Card
To get the most out of your 2 days in Turin, I highly recommend picking up a Torino+Piemonte Card. This is a money-saving sightseeing pass that gets you free admission into all the top things to do in Turin + some other perks. It comes in 1, 2, 3, and 5-day versions.
2 days in Turin: Map
This map contains all the places I mention in this post (including tourist sites, restaurants, hotels, and logistical concerns). To save this map: Click on the star ⭑ next to the map’s title to save in your Google Maps. To use this map: When you get here, open Google Maps on your phone, click “Saved” at the bottom, then click “Maps.”
2 days in Turin: Day One
On this first of 2 days in Turin, you’ll get oriented with the city, see some of its most stunning views, visit one of Italy’s most visited attractions, and otherwise marvel at its beauty.
I always like to start my time in new cities by popping into the local tourism office. The Turin tourist information center is located in Piazza Castello (Turin’s main square). You can pick up a map of the city, get your questions answered, and more.
Piazza Castello
After the tourism office, spend some time wandering around Turin’s main square. Gorgeous architecture and important buildings line this huge plaza on all sides. One of these is the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Royal Palaces. Others include another former palace turned fancy art museum, shops, restaurants, churches, a park, monuments, and more.
Monte dei Capuuccini
From Piazza Castello, Monte dei Cappuccini is a pleasant 30-minute walk through beautiful piazzas, along the Po River, and up a winding hill road.
At the top, you’ll find the Church of Santa Maria al Monte dei Cappuccini and the Convent of the Capuchin Friars–completed in 1656. While the church is beautiful and all, you’re really up here for the panoramic views of Turin.
From the church’s front porch (if you will), you can see the entirety of this expansive city and all the way to the Alps. (On a clear day that is; not on the steaming hot day in August when I visited.) This awesome view is free and very easy to get to.
National Cinema Museum
From Monte dei Cappuccini, Turin’s National Museum of Cinema is an easy breezy 20-minute walk (downhill this time!). The Museo Nazionale del Cinema is Italy’s 13th most-visited museum, so that’s something.
This museum is dedicated to all things cinema-related (though it does focus on Italian cinema). You can see:
All of this is found inside the Mole Antonelliana Tower–a beautiful and historic building once intended to be a synagogue.
Mole Antonelliana Observation Deck
Inside the National Museum of Cinema, you can take the completely glass-enclosed panoramic lift up to the rooftop observation deck.
This elevator travels from the floor of the museum, through the completely open space, and to the top in under a minute, completely supported by wires. It’s cool, but super freaky. And why they didn’t call this the Wonkavator in a nod to classic cinema is beyond me.
At the top you can enjoy more great views of Turin, while actually being surrounded by Turin. Unfortunately, visiting the observation deck is a separate cost from visiting the museum.
Turin walking tour
After visiting the Cinema Museum and the observation deck, take some time to just wander around the city. Turin’s architecture is a mix of that from many other Italian cities, but still uniquely its own.
Turin offers a mix of Renaissance, Art Nouveau, Rococo, Baroque, and Neo-Classical architecture that seemingly stretches into infinity. It has over 11 miles of porticos–the product of a king who wanted to take his daily stroll around the city without having to carry an umbrella. If you visit Turin in the summer, chances are you’ll get trapped in a multitude of torrential downpours yourself. So, I get it.
If you’d prefer a guided walking tour, check out these popular options:
Bike & bus tours
Turin also offers the chance to see its architecture on bike tours and even sightseeing bus tours. See if any of these interest you:
2 days in Turin: Day Two
The second of your 2 days in Turin will feature more of this city’s most famous sites and some truly unforgettable local delicacies.
Turin’s historic cafés
Start your second day in Turin at one of the city’s historic cafés. Café culture here in Torino is serious business. You’ll find over-the-top fancy cafés serving over-the-top drinks all over the place. It’s a land of chandeliers, tuxedo-ed baristos, and lap dogs with your lattes.
Unless you’ve donned a mink stole for breakfast, you will feel underdressed. Having just come from hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc, I literally showed up wearing outdoor gear. So that was fun. Regardless of what you’re wearing, definitely make it a point to have a drink at one of Turin’s most famous cafés:
Try a Bicerin
And in these cafés, you must try a Bicerin. Bicerin is a morning drink native to Turin that’s part espresso, part milk, and part thick hot chocolate. This drink has been around since the 18th century and 300 years is about how long it took me to drink mine.
If you’re a chocolate lover, you will totally dig the Bicerin. Not really being a fan of chocolate myself, this was way too much for me. Needless to say, my friend drank two Bicerins that day.
Bicerin is pronounced bee-cher-een and is the Piedmontese word for “small glass.” It’s typically served with a palate-cleansing shot of sparkling water.
Now that you’re all hopped up on sugar and caffeine, it’s time to balance that out with some time spent at a museum. Is this what they mean by mixing uppers and downers?
As famous as they are, you can find Bicerin at any of Turin’s fancy cafés. Be prepared for prices that coincide with how large and excessive the chandelier is at your chosen café. The most famous spot to grab one is the aptly named Caffé al Bicerin.
And if this does sound like something you’d like, you’d probably love this Turin Chocolate and Wine Tasting Tour.
Egyptian Museum
Turin’s Museo Egizio is the world’s oldest museum entirely dedicated to Egyptian culture. It houses one of the largest collections of Egyptian antiquities in the world (the second largest in fact, just behind the museum in Cairo).
This museum is the crown jewel of Turin tourism and will take up a good chunk of your 2 days in Turin if you let it. It showcases an awesome collection of artifacts and is indeed huge. Some of the museum’s highlights include:
Turin Cathedral
The Turin Cathedral was built during the last years of the 1400s and is located just off Piazza Castello next to the Royal Palaces. While it is a large and beautiful cathedral, the real reason for stopping in here is to…
View the famous Shroud of Turin
Located in a small chapel inside the cathedral is the Shroud of Turin–a piece of cloth bearing the image of a man. Some believe this man to be Jesus Christ and the piece of cloth to be his burial shroud. This cloth and its significance are the cause of both extreme celebration and much controversy. (Science has determined that it’s actually a few hundred years old, but whatever.)
Royal Palace of Turin
Directly beside the Turin Cathedral is the city’s Royal Palace–a historic palace of the House of Savoy. It was originally built in the 1500s and is now a cultural UNESCO World Heritage Site.
You can tour a relatively large number of rooms here including numerous apartments and ballrooms, the grand staircase, dining halls, the throne room, the Royal Gardens, the Royal Library, an art gallery and antiquity museum, the Royal Armory (my favorite), and the Chapel of the Holy Shroud. (Yes, that one again.)
Before arriving, I had pretty low expectations for this place. If you’ve seen one European royal palace, you’ve seen them all, no? Well, no! This place blows them all away. The number of rooms you can visit here far exceed any other palace I’ve visited. Plus, the sheer opulence here is shocking.
Chapel of the Holy Shroud
So, they keep the Shroud of Turin in a small chapel inside the Turin Cathedral, yes. But between the years of 1611-1694, they built a massive and stunning chapel into the Royal Palace specifically to hold this famous relic.
The Shroud was kept here from 1694 until April 1997 when a devastating fire struck the chapel. The Shroud has been in the cathedral ever since, awaiting its return to the Chapel of the Holy Shroud. Any day now?
Regardless of the fact that the Shroud isn’t even kept here anymore, you should still see this place. The design and architecture is beautiful and so unique as far as Italian chapels go.
Climb the bell tower
Back over near the cathedral’s entrance you’ll see the cathedral’s bell tower. While most people talk about the views from Monte dei Cappuccini or the observation deck at the Mole, I favor the views from here the most.
From here, you can see some of the surrounding buildings up close including the ancient Roman ruins and the rooftop of the Chapel of the Holy Shroud. This bell tower was built between 1468 and 1470 and sure as hell looks like it inside. You can climb the 210 steps up to the observation deck for great views and ever greater air flow. (It was hot AF when I visited Turin, and by that I mean hot as a fever because it was indeed 101°F.) You also get to see the bells up close.
What else to see & do in Turin
Besides the things I mentioned above, there’s still plenty more to see and do in Turin if you’d prefer to switch out some of the sites. These things may also interest you:
Where to eat in Turin
Being part of Italy, Torino obviously has an abundance of great places to eat and drink (wine). Visiting in August when the city is all but a ghost town, I had a bit of a hard time finding places that were even open, so I know I missed out on a lot. Regardless, here are some great places to check out while you’re here:
Delicious Turin tours
If you’d prefer to eat your way around the city during your 2 days in Turin (or however long you’re visiting), there are some very cool options for that. Check out these popular Turin food-centered tours:
OK there are actually so many available food/wine/chocolate tours here in Turin so if you’d like to see more, check out all your options here on Viator and Get Your Guide.
Where to stay during your 2 days in Turin
Though a day trip to Turin is perfectly doable from Milan, I highly recommend spending at least a couple nights here so you can fully enjoy this interesting city. Here are a few great places to stay in Turin:
Check out all available Turin hotels here.
More info for your trip to Italy
Like this post? Have questions about your 2 days in Turin? Let me know in the comments below. Have fun in Italy!
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