TURIN HIKING GUIDE: DISCOVER THE BEST ROUTE FOR YOU
In this short post you will quickly learn what are the best hiking spots near Turin: mountains, hills or parks. I will firstly show a quick overview of the best mountains near Turin and then share my favorite hiking itinerary as well as the best places where local people go hiking.
SUMMARY
- Is Turin good for hiking?
- What mountains are near Turin?
- What mountain-towns are near Turin?
- Top 4 places where to hike in Turin
1. Is Turin good for Hiking?
Yes, Turin is a great place for hiking thanks to its strategic location.
It is surrounded by the Alps, the beauty of which you can easily admire from anywhere in the city. In addition to that there are many hills just nearby the city center.
Last but not least, there are many huge parks in Turin such as the Parco del Valentino and the Parco La Mandria which offer many hectares of shaded green walks.
Specifically, the Parco del Valentino is right in the city center while the Parco La Mandria is just a 20 minute drive.
2. What mountains are near Turin?
The biggest mountains near Turin are of course the Alps.
As you can see from the picture in this post, Turin is surrounded by the alps on its North, West and South. Only on the East side of Turin there are no mountains.
The closes mountains near Turin are the ones on the west of Turin, the Alpi Cozie which surround the towns of Oulx/Bardonecchia that are part of the Via Lattea ski resort. These are roughly a 1 hour drive from Turin.
The next mountains close to Turin are the ones south of Turin, these are the Alpi Marittime which include the town of Limone Piemonte (in the province of Cuneo). This is roughly a 1:30 drive.
A bit further out, on the north of Turin we have the famous Alpi del Monte Bianco which include ski location of Courmayeur (which is part of the province of Aosta) and Mont Blanc which is the highest mountain in Europe. This is a 1 hour and 45 minutes drive.
3. What mountain-towns are near Turin?
The following are the most famous mountain-towns nearby Turin.
Starting from the closest ones, on the west side of Turin the the most famous and nicest mountain-towns ones of the Via Lattea ski resorts in the Alpi Cozie are: Sauze d’Oulx, Claviere, Sestriere, San Sicario, Pragelato and Bardonecchia which are located in Italy and Montgenevre which is located in France.
On the south side of Turin, we have the ski resort of Limone Piemonte in the Alpi Marittime which includes the mountain-towns Fantino, Limonetto, Panice Soprana and others.
On the north side of Turin, we have the famous mountain-town of Courmayeur with its views on the Monte Rosa and Monte Bianco but also the towns of Morgex and Verres are worth a visit. And further out you have other amazing ski resorts which are less famous but I would say even better for skiing such as Pila and La Thuile.
And of course, last but not least, we have the mountain town of Cervinia with the famous Cervino mountain also known as Matterhorn.
4. Top 4 best hiking spots in Turin?
Are you wondering where to hike in Turin? In this section we will cover in depth this populare question.
Turin offers many hiking opportunities: there are “national parks” right next to the Alps, nice hikes on the Alps, nice hike paths on the hills next to the city center and plenty of parks right in the city center.
4.1 HIKING IN GRAN PARADISO NATIONAL PARK
If you want to visit a national park, I strongly suggest to go to the “Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso”. This is a 1 hour and 20 minutes drive from Turin and totally deserves a visit!
The views on the Alps from here are spectacular, in addition to that you will see a lot of protected wild animals species just wondering around in the wilderness. You can read more about this parc at the following link from Trip advisor: https://it.tripadvisor.ch/Attraction_Review-g187863-d669170-Reviews-Parco_Nazionale_Gran_Paradiso-Aosta_Valle_d_Aosta.html
4.2 HIKING IN THE ALPS NEAR TURIN
If you want to hike in the Alps I strongly suggest to go to Sauze D’oulx as it is the one of the closest mountains (1 hour drive) and on top of that the mountain-town is really gorgeous, historical and authentic. If you want to learn more about hiking in Sauze you can visit my post on Sauze D’Oulx .
4.3 HIKING IN THE HILLS NEARBY TURIN
In terms of hills nearby you have a wide variety of choices.
My recommendation would be to go to Colle della Maddalena which is a quick 20 minutes drive from Turin city center. From there, you can see a nice view of Turin city from the top and admire the beautiful Alps on its background.
At the following link you can find a nice 1h 30 minutes hike with from Komoot: https://www.komoot.com/guide/206442/hiking-around-bosco-del-colle-della-maddalena
Other than that, you can drive up to “Sassi” and hike all the way up to the famous Basilica of Superga which is an incredible baroque architectural masterpiece. The hike from there is easy, it is roughly 5 kms and it will take you 1 h 30minutes walk to get there.
4.4 HIKING IN PARCO DEL VALENTINO
If you want to stay closer to the city the best place to walk is the Parco del Valentino, this park is in really stunning and huge, it reminds me of Central Park in New York.
In the picture below you will find my recommended 30 minutes-walk itineray throughout Parco del Valentino.
If you follow this path you will see all the key attractions in the park.
I suggest to enter the park from the beautful “Arco monumentale all’Arma di Artiglieria” in Corso Vittorio Emanuele, and then walk to the Castello del Valentino, pass by the famous Giardino Roccioso and end up at the marvellous Fontana dei Dodici mesi.
If you want to walk more, from the Fontana dei Dodici Mesi you can continue walking on a pedestrian only green route which will take you all the way to Parco Le Vallere.
You can read more about Parco Le Vallere at the following link: https://www.tripadvisor.it/Attraction_Review-g227669-d12708974-Reviews-Riserva_Naturale_Le_Vallere-Moncalieri_Province_of_Turin_Piedmont.html
Let me point out that you can also bike inside the Parco del Valentino, as the road is closed to traffic and it for pedestrians and bicycles only.
4.5 HIKING IN PARCO LA MANDRIA
If you visited the Parco del Valentino already, there is another incredibly beautiful parc in the city of Turin which is worth a visit: this is the Parco La Mandria.
Parco La Mandria is about 30 mins drive from Turin City center. This park is immense so you can easily spend the full day here. This is the largest fenced natural parc in the whole of Europe!
The park was one of the private lands where the King of Italy used to go hunting, even today you can easily spot some wild animals passing by such as wild boards, foxes and deers as well as a wide variety of birds.
This park is located in the town of Venaria which is where you can find also the beautiful Reggia di Venaria, one of the palaces where the King of Italy was living. You will see that the Reggia resembles Versailles a lot. The Reggia is definitely worth a visit.
Inside the Parco La Mandria you will see some areas from grilling where families hang out on sunny days. You can walk around in pedestrian only paths. You also can rent bikes and bike around with ease.
There are several refreshment areas and bars to buy something to eat or drink.
If you want to learn more about Parco La Mandria you can read my post on exploring Turin with Kids.
