Torino Piemonte Card 3-Day City Pass Turin

The Egyptian Museum of Turin

For many travellers the Egyptian Museum is reason enough to buy the card. Founded in 1824 in a 17th-century palace on Via Accademia delle Scienze, it is the oldest museum in the world devoted entirely to ancient Egypt, and its galleries cover four thousand years, from prehistoric pottery to Roman-era mummy portraits. Do not miss the dim Statuary Gallery with its granite pharaohs and lion-headed goddesses, the intact tomb furnishings of the architect Kha and his wife Merit, and the small rock-cut Temple of Ellesiya, rebuilt stone by stone inside the museum.

Allow at least three hours, and book your time slot online before you go: Egyptian Museum Turin tickets sell out on weekends and holidays, and the card does not include skip-the-line entry. Mornings on weekdays are quietest. The museum is a five-minute walk from Piazza Castello, so it pairs well with the Royal Museums on the same day.

Royal Museums and Palazzo Madama

Piazza Castello is the royal heart of Turin. The Royal Museums gather the Royal Palace, the seat of the Savoy court for over two centuries, with its gilded state apartments, the Royal Armoury with knights in full armour, the Sabauda Gallery of Italian and Flemish paintings, the Archaeology Museum and the Chapel of the Holy Shroud with its dizzying stepped dome. Plan half a day to see them without rushing.

Across the square stands Palazzo Madama, a building that tells Turin's whole story in one place: a Roman gate turned medieval castle, then given a Baroque façade and a grand white staircase in the 18th century. Inside, the Civic Museum of Ancient Art displays medieval sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, ceramics and glass, and the tower terrace offers views over the piazza and the Alps on clear days.

Mole Antonelliana and the National Cinema Museum

The Mole Antonelliana is the symbol of Turin, a tall brick dome and spire that rises about 167 metres above the city. It was begun in 1863 as a synagogue and finished in 1889 as a civic monument, and for years it was the tallest brick building in Europe. Today it houses the National Cinema Museum, laid out on spiralling ramps around the vast central hall, where you can lie on red lounge chairs and watch projections on giant screens.

The card includes museum entry and a reduced ticket for the panoramic lift, a glass cabin that climbs through the open interior to a terrace at about 85 metres, with a 360-degree view over the roofs, the Po and the snowy Alps. Lift queues can be long at sunset, so book a slot or go early. Allow two hours for both.

La Venaria Reale and Stupinigi Hunting Lodge

Outside the city, two of the Savoy royal residences listed by UNESCO are included. La Venaria Reale, about 10 km north-west of the centre, is a 17th-century hunting palace on a scale to rival the great courts of Europe. Its Great Gallery, a long white hall flooded with light, is the highlight, followed by the Chapel of Saint Hubert and the vast restored gardens with fountains and long avenues. Many visitors ask whether La Venaria Reale is worth the trip: with the card, a half-day there is one of the best uses of your three days.

The Stupinigi hunting lodge, south-west of the city, was designed in the 18th century as a star-shaped palace for royal hunts, crowned by a bronze stag on its central dome. Its oval ballroom and painted apartments are elegant and rarely crowded. Both sites are reached by local bus or train; transport is not part of the card.

Superga, Valentino Park and More Museums

On a hill at about 670 metres east of the Po stands the Basilica of Superga, an 18th-century church with a great dome, the royal tombs of the House of Savoy in its crypt and one of the finest views of Turin and the Alpine arc. The card gives a reduced ticket on the historic Sassi–Superga rack railway, which climbs the hill in about 20 minutes, and entry to the royal apartments and tombs.

Back in town, Valentino Park on the river hides the Borgo Medievale, a medieval village and castle rebuilt for the 1884 exhibition, while the National Automobile Museum a little further south traces the history of the car through elegant galleries. The card also covers modern art at the GAM and Rivoli Castle, the Museum of Oriental Art and the National Mountain Museum, plus discounts on sightseeing tours, concerts and opera.