Below you will find a quick guide on the best way to reach Turin whether it is by car, train or airplane and how to get to the city-center. Before going into the details let me give you a quick summary on where exactly is Turin located geographically, which are the biggest cities nearby and how far are they.

Where is Turin located geographically and what cities are nearby?

As you can see from the picture below Turin is on the North-West of Italy. It is only 1h10 away by car from the best ski-resort in the Alps (90km from where the 2006 Winter Olympic games took place) and 1h30 car drive from the beach (140km from Savona).

On the east side of Turin you have Milan (140km and 1h30m away by car). If you drive north and cross the Alps you can easily reach Switzerland, Geneva is only 250 km away (2h 50 drive) and a bit further out to the North-West you have Lyon (315km and 3h25m car drive).

Now that we are clearer on where is Turin located geographically let’s have a look on what is the best way to get there.

What is the best way to get to Turin?

1. Reaching Turin by Plane

Turin has only one airport and it is called “Turin Caselle Sandro Pertini Airport”.  You have several companies who fly there such as: Ryan Air, Vueling, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa an Alitalia.

There is no Easy Jet flying to Turin, the closest Easy Jet flight would take you to Milan and from there you could take the Freccia Rossa train to get to Turin in 40 minutes (if you make the mistake of taking the “regional train” it could take you 1h 30 hours).

To get from Turin airport to the city-centre you have few options:

• Take the SADEM bus: it will take you 45 minutes, the cost of the ticket is 7€ and there is normally one bus leaving every 30 minutes.
• Hire a car: it will be a 20-25 minutes drive
• Hire a taxi: it will cost you 35-40€
• There is NO TRAIN STATION inside the airport

2. Reaching Turin by Train

Travelling by train is probably the smartest option, there are two train stations in Turin: Torino Porta Nuova and Torino Porta Susa. They are both in the city center so whichever of the two you get to it won’t really make a difference.

Torino Porta Nuova is the 3^rd largest station in Italy, it was built in 1861 and is a nice example of 1800 metal and glass architecture. Torino Porta Susa has a completely different feel as it is extremely modern.

Trains from France

• Paris– Turin: with the TGV it takes 5h 39m and there are approximately 9 trains per day. If you book in advance you can find tickets that cost only 30€
• Lyon-Turin: the fastest would be the TGV and it takes 3h 45m. It is a direct train (no changes need), there is only one train per day in the weekdays while over the weekend they are much more frequent.
• Nice- Turin: Take a train via Savona it will take 5h 30m and will cost 20-40€

Trains from Switzerland

• Geneva-Turin: unfortunately,Geneva is not well connected to Turin so you will be forced to change train in Milan. If you look at it on Google maps you will realise this makes no sense. By train it will take you 4h:30-5:30 while by car it take only 2h:50. Hence, my recommendation is to take Blablacar. I’ve done this for several years you will meet wonderful and well-educated people (CERN engineers or UN professionals) The cost of blablacar for this route is 20€ and it will take you 3h.
• Zurich-Turin: it will take 4h 50-5h30m with one change in Milan

Trains from Germany:

• Munich-Turin: The fastest route I found was 8h 27 and it costs 140€ with two changes, one in Bolzano and one in Milano.

3. Reaching Turin by Car:

You will see below that travelling by car will probably be the cheapest option, if you choose this means of transportation please make sure you book a hotel with a free parking space. Although Turin’s population is about one-million people, the city-centre itself is not that huge you can easily get around it by foot (see xxx). In addition to that looking for a parking spot can be a real nightmare. So, make sure you park your car and don’t touch it for the rest of the weekend.

• Lyon-Turin: the quickest way is a 3h 30m drive, you will pass from Chambery, Modane and the Frejus Tunnel. The total cost of the trip will be around 114€ per way (gas and tolls included) so if you are at least two it will be by far the cheapest option.
  • The reason why the price is relatively high is that the Frejus tunnel is expensive so make sure you check prices in advance so you won’t be surprised.
  • If you are planning to pass via this the route frequently to go skiing or to go to the Mediterranean sea make sure you buy the 7 passes option as it will give you a great discount..
  • A good alternative is to do car sharing and hire Blablacar passengers to split the cost of the ride.

• Geneva-Turin: it is a 2:50h drive, you will take the Route Blanche and pass through the Month-Blanc tunnel. The total cost of the trip will be around 100€ per way (gas and tolls included).
  • The reason why the price is relatively high is that the Mont Blanc tunnel (the highest mountain of Europe)
  • If you are planning to pass via this the route frequently to go skiing or to go to Italy make sure you buy the 20 passes option as it will give you a great discount (10€ per way vs 46€)
  • A good alternative is to do car sharing and hire Blablacar passengers to split the cost of the ride. In any case, this will still be the cheapest and quickest way to get to Turin.

• Zurich-Turin: it is a 4h:20m drive, you will pass by Luzern and Lugano and turn West before getting to Milan to avoid the traffic. The total cost of the trip will be around 86€ per way (gas and tolls included) so if you are at least two  people in the car it will be by far the cheapest option.

• Nice-Turin: it is a 3h:30m drive, you will pass by Monaco, Cuneo and head north to Turin. The total cost of the trip will be around 37€ per way (gas and tolls included) so if you are at least two people in the car it will be by far the cheapest option.

To learn more on how to reach Turin here is an interesting website: https://en.unito.it/living-turin/turin-and-surroundings/how-get-turin

Once in Turin, here is a link on the best way to visit the city : https://weekendinturin.com/one-day/