A Weekend in Turin: Two Days of Museums and Walks

Turin’s Egyptian Museum and the Mole Antonelliana give this weekend two very different mornings: ancient tomb furnishings on Saturday, cinema and rooftop views on Sunday. Between them, you visit royal interiors, pause in the central squares and walk beside the Po. Arrive on Friday evening to keep both sightseeing days intact, with a return to your room before each evening out.

Arrival evening and where to stay

Stay

Friday evening arrival; two full days, Saturday–Sunday

First stop

Egyptian Museum

Walking base

Between Porta Nuova and Piazza Castello

Arrange entries

Egyptian Museum first; Cinema Museum and optional lift next

Stay near Piazza San Carlo or Via Roma for walking access to both Saturday museums. The Egyptian Museum is on the central stretch, while the Royal Museums lie farther north by Piazza Castello. Approach the first stop through the central squares to its entrance at Via Accademia delle Scienze 6.

Keep Friday for settling into your accommodation and dinner nearby. Largo Saluzzo, in San Salvario, suits an evening out but brings weekend bar noise, so a courtyard-facing room is a better choice for sleep.

Restaurant lunch service is usually around 12:30–14:30, so aim to sit down by about 14:00. If arriving by car, choose where to park in Turin before driving into the centre.

Museum tickets and reservations

Admission product	Adult price	Reservation charge	Entry arrangement
Egyptian Museum	€18	—	Online timed slot
Royal Museums	€15	None, up to 6	Reserve for 7+
Cinema Museum	€18	None, individual	Booking recommended
Panoramic lift	€9	None, individual	Booking recommended
Cinema Museum + lift	€23	None, individual	Combined online ticket
Cardholder lift only	€7	—	Reservation required
Two-day Torino+Piemonte Card	€39.90	—	First QR-code use

The Royal Museums require reservations for larger parties and schools. Tourist-group reservations cost €15 and school-group reservations €10, each for up to 25 people.

Book the Cinema Museum ahead during busy periods and public holidays. Show the digital ticket on your phone. Online dates can change subject to availability, but only for the same event and ticket type.

For ordinary admission with the lift, choose the combined product, while cardholders instead reserve the reduced lift-only ticket. Additional lift-only tickets appear online shortly before the visit date.

The card runs for 48 consecutive hours from activation. It includes admission to the Egyptian, Royal and Cinema museums, but discounts rather than includes the lift.

City pass or separate tickets

Admission totals per adult

Criterion	Separate tickets	Two-day card
Three museums	€51	€39.90Best
Three museums + lift	€56	€46.90Best
Without Royal Museums	€36Best	€39.90
Without Royal Museums, with lift	€41Best	€46.90
Planned museums	Three individual admissions	All three included
Validity	Selected visits	48 hours from first use

The card costs less if you visit all three museums, but separate tickets cost less if you omit the Royal Museums. The lift baskets use the combined Cinema Museum ticket for ordinary admission and the reduced lift-only product for cardholders. First use on Saturday covers Sunday’s museum visit, without replacing its reservation.

Saturday: Egyptian Museum and Royal Museums

Kha and Merit’s tomb furnishings, Piazza Carignano’s brick curves and Guarini’s Shroud Chapel dome make Saturday a collection-rich day, ending with Piedmontese dinner in Quadrilatero Romano. Set off from your central base for the Egyptian Museum. Supportive footwear helps during the long indoor visits.

The Egyptian Museum rewards close attention to the remarkably intact furnishings of Kha and Merit’s tomb. Continue to the monumental Gallery of the Kings, with statues of pharaohs and gods, and the painted linen funerary cloth from Gebelein.

Piazza Carignano’s optional stop is for Palazzo Carignano’s undulating red-brick façade and monumental pilasters. Piazza San Carlo then brings Emmanuel Philibert’s equestrian statue and the paired churches of Santa Cristina and San Carlo Borromeo. Try bicerin, a drink of coffee, chocolate and cream, before lunch around Via Lagrange.

At the Royal Museums, prioritise the lavish Royal Palace state rooms, the Royal Armoury’s historic arms and armour, and the Shroud Chapel’s restored dome rather than trying to see everything. The ticket also includes the Medal Room, Sabauda Gallery’s first floor, a second-floor exhibition with a rotating Gualino or Flemish collection, and a Museum of Antiquities sector with the Roman Theatre. Weekend opening is 09:00–19:00.

Turin Cathedral’s optional visit adds its three-naved Renaissance interior, separate from the museum chapel. Return to your accommodation to rest, then head to Piazza della Consolata for a pause beside its sanctuary.

Quadrilatero Romano is the adjoining old-quarter dining district. Look for agnolotti, usually meat-filled pasta, or vitello tonnato, thin slices of veal with tuna sauce.

Sunday: the Mole and the riverside

The Cinema Museum’s Temple Hall, Via Po’s porticoes and Valentino Park’s riverside paths turn Sunday into a museum morning followed by a longer outdoor afternoon, with aperitivo and dinner in lively squares. Set off again from your central accommodation for the Mole Antonelliana after Saturday’s royal interiors. If you move this day to Tuesday, when the museum and lift normally close, take the riverside walk instead and move the museum to another day.

The National Cinema Museum’s Temple Hall combines cinema-themed installations with a giant screen. Explore the Archeology of Cinema and Cinema Machine displays to follow how moving pictures developed. The optional glass lift rises through the Mole’s interior to a terrace above Turin’s rooftops, and the Alps appear on clear days. Morning light suits the rooftop visit before the outdoor afternoon.

Wheelchair users can take the lift, one wheelchair at a time, with priority access and one companion. Prams stay outside the cabin, so carry non-walking children or use a baby carrier. The lift opens at 09:00.

Via Po’s optional stroll offers continuous porticoes and views towards Piazza Castello and the Mole. Lunch in Vanchiglia brings local trattorias and cafés away from the main monument squares. Across the river, Gran Madre’s optional exterior stop adds its neoclassical portico, broad steps and dome.

Valentino Park offers broad Po-side promenades, lawns, flower gardens and tree-lined avenues. Wear shoes that cope with uneven ground and mud after rain: paved paths alternate with gravel or dirt tracks, and some stretches have steps.

In rain, shorten the park walk, and in summer, favour shade, water and the room break. In winter, keep the outdoor afternoon ahead of the rest while daylight remains.

After returning to your accommodation, head to Piazza Vittorio Veneto for aperitivo, a drink before dinner, overlooking the Po and hills. Finish around Largo Saluzzo, San Salvario’s bar-and-restaurant square.

Late starts and early departure

1. Remove optional Piazza Carignano, Turin Cathedral, Via Po and Gran Madre stops first.
2. Drop the panoramic lift if its reservation does not fit the museum morning.
3. For a late Saturday start, keep the Egyptian Museum and omit the Royal Museums rather than rush both.
4. For a Sunday afternoon departure, keep the Cinema Museum and lunch, but remove the park, aperitivo and dinner as departure requires.

Two full days are enough for this central first visit, with time for the main museums and a riverside afternoon. A Sunday afternoon departure is a shorter stay, not the same weekend squeezed tighter. If you have only one full sightseeing day, follow one day in Turin for a complete route rather than compressing both days.

Allow separate time to collect bags at your accommodation and reach your departure station, whether Porta Nuova or Porta Susa. A walk from a museum is not the whole departure journey. More distant royal residences and hill excursions belong to a longer stay.

Sources & fact-checking

Checks against the sources below cover: opening hours, services, fares and charges, and closures. Route times and distances were calculated from geolocated stops.

• Museo Nazionale del Cinema — Fondazione Maria Adriana Prolo — opening hours
• Museo Nazionale del Cinema – Fondazione Maria Adriana Prolo — service
• Fondazione delle Antichità Egizie di Torino — fares and charges
• FAQs — Museo Egizio
• Musei Reali Torino — fares and charges
• Musei Reali di Torino — service
• Museo Nazionale del Cinema – Fondazione Maria Adriana Prolo — fares and charges
• Museo Nazionale del Cinema – Fondazione Maria Adriana Prolo — service
• Turismo Torino e Provincia — fares and charges
• Torino+Piemonte Card: FAQ | Turismo Torino e Provincia
• Free admission to the Museo Egizio with the Torino+Piemonte Card
• Musei Reali Torino | Royal Residence | Turismo Torino e Provincia
• Museo Nazionale del Cinema — service
• Fondazione Museo delle Antichità Egizie di Torino — opening hours
• Museo Egizio — closures