Torino

Sharon, we are heading to Torino in May of next year and I did pick up some ideas from another poster on this site.
Planning on 3 days to see the Egyptian Museum, Royal Palace, Car Museum, Superga Basilia and others. If you google "Things to do in Torino" there are other ideas as well. There is also the HOHO bus as well to get a general feel of the historic area.

100% see the car museum even though it will take a bus or a taxi to get there. My husband and I loved it despite not being interested in cars. The other fantastic museum in Torino is the Egyptian museum.

Rick Steves would have to have to add volumes II and III to his Italy guidebook in order to include more of the wonderful places in Italy, like Puglia.

I have wanted to see the Fenestrelle Fortress near Torino ever since I first read about it in a Smithsonian magazine, but haven’t been able to make time for it yet.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/endangered-site-fenestrelle-fortress-italy-51548396/

https://mybestplace.com/en/article/fenestrelle-fort-the-great-piedmont-wall

Thank you all for your great suggestions! (Yes, I love the HOHOs).

We made the mistake of visiting Torino on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, so much of what we wanted to see was closed. We did enjoy the Palazzo Reale and the Palazzo Madama. We stumbled into the Duomo and saw the replica of The Shroud of Turin. Lovely church.

What food we could find was excellent. We stayed at the Hotel Dock Milano. It was fine in 2015, but I don't think I would stay there again.

The HOHO bus in Torino is very good.

About a five minute walk north of the car museum is Eataly if you looking for a place to have lunch nearby.

Will you have a car or are you relying on public transportation?

Hi Sharon, we were only in Torino for 1 1/2 days, but we enjoyed the city and would be happy to return there. Besides the sites, be sure to enjoy their special chocolate - enough to try some different types each day, including their famous chocolate drink!

https://www.italyfoodies.com/blog/chocolate-in-turin

We stayed near the palace and toured it. We especially enjoyed the armor colorfully decorated room that included the armor for horses. We also went up to see the Superga on a ground funicular. Otherwise, we were enjoying and participating in the MITO music event.

And to answer your first comment, Rick’s guidebook for Italy alone would be several volumes if he included all of the interesting cities to visit in Italy! I’ve stayed in 25 so far and sometimes there’s an advantage that they aren’t mentioned in his book - less crowded so a more local experience.

Have a great time!

The site of Turin's Tourism board lists many attractions, I particularly enjoyed this one: https://www.turismotorino.org/en/experiences/culture/sacra-di-san-michele

You can go from the city center to the Car Museum by metro line (there is only one), direction Lingotto. Get off at Spezia stop (where the original Eataly store is located) and walk towards the Po river for 15 minutes.

You can walk back from the Museum to the city center walking in the Park along the river. This way you'd walk past the (fake) medieval village and one of the many (real) Royal Palaces built by the Savoy Dynasty.

This Palace by the River is used as a College today, but the facade facing the city is lovely. If you are interested in visiting the best/biggest Royal Palace, you'd better take the bus and go to the King's House of Venaria

I know that French was THE language of Turin

It wasn't and I wouldn't dare to call Turin's dialect "French" anywhere close to a French-speaking French guy.

Several have affirmed the Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile, which is fantastic. I would add the Museum of Cinema at Mole Antonelliana -- extremely well executed; quirky; fun -- a great museum. The first Eatily is in Turin, and I think worth a visit to explore and nosh a bit at some of the stations scattered about. As others have mentioned, the car museum and Eatily pair well together because of proximity. I liked the Egyptian Museum, but didn't love it. Still worth seeing though. We are returning this spring and have plans to seek out some of Turin's Art Nouveau (Stile Liberty), particularly Palazzo della Vittoria, as well as the Galleria Subalpina.

As for daytrips, Umberto Ecco's The Name of the Rose was inspired by Sacra Di San Michele, an easy day trip.

If you haven't seen the Turin episode of Stanley Tucci's Searching for Italy (Piedmont, S2 E2), definitely watch it before you go. The chocolate drink already mentioned features in it, as well as other Turin highlights.

We were there this September. We enjoyed it, although we were there for a food-wine festival, and didn't do much touring.

We stayed in the Hotel Roma e Rocca Cavour, 1 block from the train station. Not expensive, old world hotel with a great breakfast.

The hotel is 2-3 blocks from the royal castle and other sites.

We also toured a chocolate factory and the Lavazza headquarters.

Take money for chocolate

https://guidogobino.com/en/

https://www.guidocastagna.it/en/

Chocolate! Right!
Thanks everyone for the great suggestions and information.

We were in Turin for four days in 2019. We used it as a starting point for the Piedmont area wineries. I found a chapter you can download for about $5 from the lonely planet of that region. And I also found the tourist board to be extremely helpful. If you’re riding by train the tourist bureau is exactly across the Square.

hey hey sharon
tripsavvy.com.com/ turin travel guide
aloha

If you do go to Lavazza, and have a coffee tasting, mention that the guy from Texas told you about cowboy coffee.

We went to the coffee tasting, and I asked them about cowboy coffee which is like Turkish coffee except they put an egg in it. I was actually wrong it turns out. You just put in the egg shells. Oh well.

My friends returned for another coffee tasting and they were all talking about the guy from Texas!! Me!! I am notorious at Lavazza Coffee.

A strange one if you go to the Superga Basilica. If you follow the path around the base of the basilica, there is a large shrine to the Torino football team who died when their plane crashed in bad weather in 1949. I believe fans of the club walk up to the site on the anniversary, but many other soccer fans will visit and add scarves, badges and other memorabilia. As a football fan, I found it quite moving.

As others have said, the Egyptian museum is impressive (I'd rate it in my top museums anywhere). Eataly is great fun, and it is right next to the old Lingotto Fiat factory with the test track running around the roof.

Torino is hidden Pearl. Museums like Cinema museum and Egypt museum and lavazza museum plus car museum are most known. But are more great places. Go to superga Hill with great view.. You can see high Alps from there. Nice monastery on too. You can go cappuccino Hill as well. Walking historical centre just go according your wish to penetrare. Both directions from Via Po are great. Plus torino catholic most important Shroud of Torino. Visit flea markets. Best are local one..enter great churches for masterpieces inside each one.
Around Torino are great small cities like Ivrea less than hour drive. If you go further you can go to Aosta or to Monte Bianco.. By cable train. Amazing. Try local icecreams. Great coffee eveeywhere. Find best pizzas on torino style. Try michelin restaurants close to station Porta Nueva. Walk around. You Fall in love in this great city

I will add to the list of Turin sites the Palazzo Madama for its magnificent staircase. Before you go, be sure to watch the original Italian Job, which was filmed in Turin. Watch in amazement as an entourage of mini coopers travel through various sites in Turin, including up and down the steep steps Chiesa di Gran Madre de Dio during a wedding. Italian cinema at its best.

I also highly recommend the Museo de Cinema in the Mole Antonella, which was originally built to be a synagogue.- It is good to go in the afternoon if you want to lie down and rest from touring while watching scenes from the Cannes Film Festival. on huge screens I enjoyed the Virtual Reality headsets of scenes from Cannes, in the room next to the big screens.

The Starhotel Majestic, a block from the main train station was easily accessible, and an easy walk to many of the attractions, including a small Eataly. Try the pistachio cream. Mamma Mia! Buonissimo!