Turin Sightseeing Tours
Top City Walks and Guided Experiences to Explore Piedmont’s Capital
Have you decided on a trip to Turin and don’t know how best to explore the city? Would you prefer a private and exclusive city walk or a bus tour through the capital of Piedmont?
There are various ways to discover Turin. From the classic 2-hour city tour past the most important Turin sights to the exclusive tour through the underground of Italy’s first capital, there is a wide variety of city tours and sightseeing tours on offer.
I have visited Turin both alone and with a guide and have to say that it makes perfect sense to join a guided tour due to the wealth of sights and information.
Here you will find all the possibilities and options for your perfect Turin city tour.
Why take a Turin city tour with a local guide?
Of course, you don’t necessarily need a guided tour to get to know Turin. Armed with a city map and a travel guide, you can easily explore this beautiful and interesting city on your own and for free.
However, a tour of Turin with a local guide offers several advantages:
- Turin is a big city: There are many things to see, and it has a rich history. It takes time to get to know it on your own. So if you take a tour of Turin with a local guide, you will save this preparation time.
- Local guides know their way around: No need to look at a map and decide whether the alley on the right or the street on the left is more interesting. A local guide knows the city like the back of his hand, and all you have to do is follow him. You can concentrate fully on the sights of Turin.
- You don’t have to worry about missing anything. A walking tour will take you to all the highlights of Turin.
- A Turin city tour with a local guide gives you the opportunity to ask and get answers to all your questions about this diverse city.
- There are places in Turin that can only be visited with a guided tour. Combine these places with other sights and highlights to get the most out of your Turin city tour.
- Depending on your taste, there are several ways to explore Turin with a local guide: On foot, by sightseeing bus, by bike, or on a Segway.
Turin city tour in small groups
An exploration tour and city tour through the historic city center of Turin in a small group offers many advantages. These tours usually last around 2-3 hours and give you a good initial overview.
You will receive initial information about the city and after this “introduction” you can decide which Turin sights you want to take a closer look at afterwards.
Classic guided tour of the sights of Turin
A classic Turin city tour on foot lasts around 2 hours. These tours are ideal for getting a first impression of the city and its sights while learning about its history.
These tours include the highlights of the city, which are located in the historic city center. It goes through the heart of the city, the Piazza Castello, with the Palazzo Madama, the Royal Palace, and the Church of San Lorenzo.
You will also get to know the main arteries: Via Po and Via Roma connect the popular and large squares of Turin, such as Piazza San Carlo and Piazza Carignano.
Sportive city tours in Turin
Guided bike tour through Turin
An active and more sportive way to explore the capital of Piedmont by bike with an English-speaking guide.
During your 3.5-hour tour on two wheels, you will pass highlights such as the Mole Antonelliana (the tallest museum building in the world), the impressive Gran Madre di Dio (a church famous for its connection with the legend of the Holy Grail), and the Egyptian Museum.
Guided E-bike Tour through Turin
Active, with the option of using the motor at any time, this e-bike tour takes you to the highlights of Turin.
The 3-hour e-bike tour, with a local English-speaking guide, not only takes you safely through the maze of streets in the historic city center, but also to the viewpoint on Cappuccini Hill and the idyllic Valentino Park.
Special discovery tours and special guided tours of Turin
The capital of Piedmont also offers some really special tours to get to know the city better and discover it on alternative routes.
Night tour of Turin
Turin in the evening or at night, when the lights are on everywhere, is something completely different. With a local guide, you will spend 2 hours walking through dark alleyways to the city’s famous sights, which look completely different at night.
This tour can be booked as a small group of up to 10 people or as a private tour.
Magical Turin – Bus tour
Turin has a magical and mysterious side. For example, Piazza Statuto, the starting point of this somewhat different city tour, is considered the place with the most negative energy.
The 3-hour bus tour shows you other dark and mystical places and tells other stories about Turin that you wouldn’t necessarily hear otherwise.
Underground tour
The 3-hour underground tour is a very special tour of Turin. It takes you into old underground cellars and secret passages beneath the historic center.
You can discover the secret tunnels of the citadel 15 meters below the city, the famous royal ice depots under the Porta Palazzo, and the air raid shelter that was used during the Second World War.
Chocolate and confectionery tour of Turin
You can also get to know a city through its food culture!
This walk through the historic alleys and streets of Turin includes a tasting of various chocolate specialties from Turin, including bicerin (espresso and chocolate drink), gelato, pastries, and chocolate bars.
Foodies tour through Turin
This delicious Foodies tour through Turin is a little more hearty in terms of food. Taste the prestigious Piedmontese cuisine, with delicacies ranging from truffles to chocolate.
On 4-5 rich stops during this food and wine tour through Turin, you will get to know the best culinary traditions of the city.
Turin Sightseeing Tours for individual attractions
There are two highlights in Turin for which I recommend a separate guided tour in addition to the city tour. These two must-see places are the Royal Palace and the Egyptian Museum.
These sights are so extensive, large and important that information about them can only be touched on in a Turin city tour.
However, the Royal Palace and the Egyptian Museum are so interesting that it is worth visiting them again separately afterwards, with a guided tour and from the inside.
Guided tour of the Royal Palace
There is a lot to discover in the impressive 17th-century Palazzo Reale. A guided tour takes you through the royal apartments, the richly decorated hall of mirrors and ballroom, one of the world’s largest collections of weapons, and the royal library with over 200,000 books and maps.
A 1.5 to 2-hour guided tour is ideal for exploring the royal palace and learning more about the fascinating history of the Savoy royal family.
⇨ Book here the small group tour of the Royal Palace including skip-the-line ticket (i.e. no queuing at the ticket office).
Guided tour of the Egyptian Museum
If there is one museum in Turin that I would definitely recommend a guided tour of, it is the Egyptian Museum.
I visited it without a guide and the massive and impressive collection of the Museo Egizio contains over 6,500 exhibited finds, totally overwhelmed me!
In total, the museum’s unique treasures include 32,500 artifacts, including mummies, papyri, statues, etc., making it one of the most important collections of ancient Egyptian art and culture outside of Cairo.
To fully appreciate this collection and better understand the intricate stories behind the pieces, 2-hour guided tours with an expert guide are ideal.
⇨ Book here your small group tour of the Egyptian Museum including skip-the-line ticket (i.e. no queuing at the ticket office) and a maximum of 6 people.
Savings Tip
Save some money and combine the guided tours of the Royal Palace and the Egyptian Museum. Ideal for a rainy day and for anyone who wants to see Turin’s two most important sights in one tour. ⇨ Book it here.
Conclusion and recommendation for city tours in Turin
As you have seen, Turin offers the right city tour and guided walks for everyone. There is a large selection of individual and interesting city walks and discovery tours.
My personal recommendation: For your first day in Turin, I recommend a 2-3 hour Turin city tour on foot, by E-Bike, or by bike to get an initial overview. Then let yourself drift and explore the historic alleyways on your own.
On the following day, I would then take the combined tour of the Royal Palace and the Egyptian Museum. Afterwards, you can claim to know the highlights of this beautiful and diverse city!
You don’t need a guided tour for all the other sights in the city; you can really explore them on your own without any problems.
Find out more about everything Turin has to offer and day trips from Turin, as there are many other Piedmont sights waiting to be discovered outside the capital of Piedmont.
