Palazzo Reale and Combined Turin Museum Tickets

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The Musei Reali is the best-value major museum ticket in Italy, and almost nobody outside Turin knows it exists.

€15 buys you a three-kilometre route through six connected sites: the Royal Palace of the House of Savoy, one of the world’s great armouries, a Baroque chapel that took twenty years to restore after a fire, the Savoy painting collection, an archaeological museum with a Roman theatre attached, and seven hectares of gardens that are free anyway.

For comparison, the Uffizi alone costs €25 in high season.

This page covers what’s actually included, how it pairs with the Egyptian Museum, and the ticket arithmetic that decides whether you should buy a city card instead.

Check the closing day before you go. The Musei Reali is closed on Wednesday, not Monday — the assumption most visitors arrive with. Confirm on museireali.beniculturali.it before planning, since getting this wrong costs you a day.

Prices, hours and combination discounts all move, so confirm the current position before you pay. If the Egyptian Museum is also on your list, live availability for the guided option we think is worth the money is here:

What the €15 ticket covers

One ticket, one continuous route, six sites:

Palazzo Reale — the first royal palace in Italy, permanently inhabited by the House of Savoy until 1865. Interiors by Filippo Juvarra and Benedetto Alfieri, decoration by Beaumont and De Mura. The set pieces are the Throne Room, the Ballroom, the Mirror Room and Juvarra’s Scala delle Forbici — the “scissors staircase,” a piece of structural showing-off that architects still travel to see.

Armeria Reale (Royal Armoury) — one of the richest historic arms and armour collections in the world, staged theatrically in the Galleria Beaumont with mounted knights on barded wooden horses. Consistently the surprise favourite for visitors who assumed they weren’t interested in armour.

Cappella della Sindone (Chapel of the Holy Shroud) — see below. Guarino Guarini’s Baroque masterpiece, and the single most extraordinary interior in Turin.

Galleria Sabauda — the Savoy painting collection: van Eyck, Mantegna, Botticelli’s Venus, three monumental Veroneses, Orazio Gentileschi’s Annunciation, Rubens, and van Dyck court portraits.

Museo di Antichità — one of Europe’s richer archaeological collections, including the Marengo Treasure and the remains of the Roman theatre of Augusta Taurinorum.

Giardini Reali (Royal Gardens) — over seven hectares, and free to enter separately whether or not you buy a ticket.

Not included: temporary exhibitions in Palazzo Chiablese are ticketed separately, and Palazzo Madama, across the same square, is a completely different museum with its own ticket — a common and expensive assumption. What else is on Piazza Castello →

The Royal Library and the Leonardo problem

The Biblioteca Reale, founded by Carlo Alberto in the 1830s, holds thirteen autograph Leonardo da Vinci drawings, including the famous red-chalk Self-Portrait and the Codex on the Flight of Birds.

You will probably not see the originals. They’re too light-sensitive for continuous display. Since March 2025 the museum has run a permanent multimedia installation, Spazio Leonardo, in the Galleria Sabauda: all thirteen drawings browsable on touchscreen, including the full Codex, plus a climate-controlled case in the centre where one original is rotated into view periodically.

There’s also a nice piece of trivia in the display: a microchip carrying images of the Self-Portrait and the Codex travelled to Mars aboard NASA’s Curiosity rover.

The Library itself is a separate visit, open to scholars by reservation with at least 24 hours’ notice, entered at Piazza Castello 191.

Set your expectations around the multimedia space, and treat seeing an original as a bonus rather than the plan.

The Chapel of the Holy Shroud

Guarini began work in 1667; the chapel was complete by around 1690. Its black-marble dome — six levels of stacked, staggered arches spiralling toward a point of light — is one of the summits of European Baroque architecture.

On the night of 11–12 April 1997 a fire during restoration works gutted it. After a restoration lasting more than two decades, it reopened on 27 September 2018 and is now part of the Musei Reali route.

What’s newly open

• December 2025: the Armoury’s Galleria Beaumont, the Medagliere (over 31,000 coins and medals) and Juvarra’s lacquered Gabinetto Cinese reopened after energy-efficiency restoration works.
• 2026: the Rotonda, designed by Pelagio Palagi, is due to reopen and complete the Armoury route — check current status before you go.
• Some areas — the apartments of Victor Emmanuel III and Queen Elena, the royal kitchens — open only for occasional special tours with separate tickets.

The Shroud: what you can and can’t see

This needs saying plainly, because it’s the most common disappointment in Turin.

The Shroud is not on display, and you cannot see it.

The relic hasn’t been kept in the Chapel since 1993. It now rests in Turin Cathedral, next door, in a sealed case in the left transept — and even there, the cloth is not unrolled or visible.

Public showings, called ostensioni, are rare and require papal authorisation. The last was 19 April to 24 June 2015, when more than two million people came and Pope Francis viewed it in June. There was no physical display in 2025 despite the Jubilee — only a multimedia “virtual pilgrimage.” No future ostension is currently scheduled.

What you can actually do:

1. Visit the Chapel in the Musei Reali — extraordinary architecture, on your €15 ticket
2. Enter the Cathedral free and see where the relic rests
3. Visit the Museo della Sindone, a separate small museum about a mile away, with a full-size replica, the historic photographic equipment and the scientific record including the carbon dating. Around €8, audio guide included, and covered by the Torino+Piemonte Card

Small and slightly dated, but genuinely interesting if the Shroud is why you came.

Turin rewards pairing this ticket with what else sits within a few minutes’ walk — the Egyptian Museum, Palazzo Madama, and the Mole Antonelliana among them:

Prices and practicalities

About that €18. You’ll see it quoted as “the price” on plenty of sites. It isn’t. The €18 ticket is a flexible open-date voucher — a gift ticket redeemable once within 365 days. The €3 premium buys date flexibility. The standard admission is €15.

Free entry for under-18s, visitors with disabilities plus a companion, teachers with school groups, working guides, ICOM members, and holders of the Torino+Piemonte Card, Royal Pass and Abbonamento Musei. Free and reduced tickets cannot be issued online — collect them in person at the ticket office with documentation.

Groups: €15 per person. Booking becomes mandatory at seven or more people; formal group visits run from fifteen to twenty-five.

Hours: 09:00–19:00, ticket office closing at 18:00. Closed Wednesday — verify before you go. The Royal Gardens run roughly 08:30–17:00, seasonally later, also closed Wednesday.

Free first Sunday of the month: yes, the Musei Reali participate in the national scheme. Tickets are issued at the ticket office only — no online booking. Same for the other national free days like 25 April and 2 June. How Italian museum ticketing works →

Two entrances: the main one on Piazzetta Reale off Piazza Castello, and a side entrance on Piazza San Giovanni next to the Cathedral. Both reach the ticket office, the Royal Café and the Gardens.

Accessibility: the main floor is reachable by lift (75 cm door width) — ask at the ticket desk. Garden access via the Court of Honour is step-free, and wheelchairs can be requested.

Practicalities: free lockers for small items beside the ticket office; large bags must be stored. There’s a café — the Royal Café — accessible from both entrances.

How long: the museum’s own estimate is about three hours. If you’re short, prioritise the Royal Palace, the Chapel dome and the Armoury.

When to go: weekday mornings at opening. Free first Sundays and holiday weekends are heavy — the museum issued over 16,000 tickets across the 1 May 2026 weekend alone.

Combining with the Egyptian Museum: the arithmetic

The two headline museums are a five-minute walk apart, and this is the calculation most visitors need.

There is no combined ticket. They’re separate institutions, and Turin has no cumulative museum ticket. Buying both separately:

• Museo Egizio: €18
• Musei Reali: €15
• Total: €33

The Torino+Piemonte Card, 24-hour version: €29.90 — and it includes both, plus a third free entry, plus about sixty other sites.

So the card is the cheaper route to both, even before you add anything else. Longer versions run roughly €39.90 for 48 hours, €45.90 for 72 and €52.90 for 120, with a junior card for under-18s.

Two caveats: public transport isn’t included (discounted GTT tickets are sold separately, in person), and the card isn’t a skip-the-line product — you still book timed slots where required, which at the Egyptian Museum is mandatory.

What about the Royal Pass?

From around €30 for four days, covering the Savoy residences — Musei Reali, Palazzo Madama, Palazzo Carignano, Villa della Regina, plus Venaria Reale, Stupinigi, Racconigi and Superga.

But it only gives a reduced ticket at the Egyptian Museum, not free entry. So for an Egizio-priority visitor the maths is bad: Royal Pass (€30) plus reduced Egizio (€15) is about €45, against €29.90 for the Torino+Piemonte Card that includes both.

The Royal Pass wins only for a palace-focused trip — several Savoy residences across a few days, with the Egyptian Museum secondary or skipped. Day trips to the palaces →

Abbonamento Musei

Annual, covering both museums and 200+ sites: around €58 full, €50 senior, €33 for 15–26s, €19.50 junior. Digital-only from January 2026. Only sensible for residents or genuinely frequent visitors.

A same-day itinerary

Both sit on or beside Piazza Castello, so this works comfortably:

• Morning: Museo Egizio on an early timed slot — 2.5 to 3 hours, when your concentration is best. How to plan that visit →
• Lunch: Piazza Castello, or the Royal Café
• Afternoon: Musei Reali — about 3 hours, finishing in the free Royal Gardens

A full day, but a genuinely good one. Pre-book both.

Guided tours

The Musei Reali is a large, historically dense site with relatively light on-site interpretation. Visitors regularly note thin room labelling and the absence of traditional audio-guide handsets. That makes this one of the places where a guide genuinely earns their fee.

The museum’s own tour runs as a €7 supplement on the €15 ticket, lasts 90 minutes and is in Italian only, capped at 25 people. Small-group tours for up to seven are available in Italian, English and French.

Third-party tours on GetYourGuide carry strong ratings across high review volumes:

Those first two review counts are the quality signal worth trusting — high scores across hundreds of reviews, not a perfect five across three. How to read tour listings →

The free alternative: the official MRT app by CoopCulture, with audio guides in Italian, English and French. Free preview content, paid premium tracks. Download it before you arrive rather than fighting museum wifi.

Specialist tours exist linking the Chapel, Cathedral and Shroud Museum into a single Shroud itinerary, plus the museum’s own occasional behind-the-scenes apartment and garden tours.

If you’re pairing this with a guide at the Egyptian Museum too, the Small Group Skip-the-Line Guided Tour caps at nine guests with a certified archaeologist for €49, rated 4.8★ from 1,544 reviews. The Guided Egyptian Museum Tour runs €35 with the largest review base of any Turin museum product, 4.8★ across 1,714 reviews. Both include skip-the-line entry, so on a two-museum day the guide’s fee is the only thing standing between you and a legible visit at either site.

Where it sits in the Savoy story

The Musei Reali is the heart of the UNESCO Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, inscribed in 1997 and extended in 2010. The central “command zone” covers Palazzo Reale, Palazzo Madama and Palazzo Carignano; the wider listing adds the country residences — Venaria Reale, Stupinigi, Racconigi, Rivoli, Moncalieri, Agliè and others.

Turin was the first capital of the Kingdom of Italy, from 1861 to 1865, and this palace was the seat of the dynasty that unified the country. That’s the frame a good guide gives you, and the thing the labels won’t.

A logical order if you’re doing several: start here in the centre to understand the seat of power, add Palazzo Madama and Palazzo Carignano on foot, then take half a day each for Venaria Reale and Stupinigi. Racconigi and the further residences need a car and a longer trip.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much are Musei Reali tickets?

€15 standard, €2 reduced for EU citizens aged 18–25, free for under-18s. A separate €18 open-date voucher exists for flexible dating, but €15 is the standard price. Free with the Torino+Piemonte Card, Royal Pass and Abbonamento Musei.

What’s included in the Musei Reali ticket?

Six sites on one route: Palazzo Reale, the Royal Armoury, the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, the Galleria Sabauda, the Museum of Antiquities with the Roman theatre, and the Royal Gardens. Temporary exhibitions in Palazzo Chiablese cost extra, and Palazzo Madama is a separate museum.

Which day is the Royal Palace in Turin closed?

Wednesday. Many third-party sites say Monday, which is the assumption most visitors arrive with — verify on museireali.beniculturali.it before planning your visit, since this discrepancy catches people out.

Is there a combined ticket for the Egyptian Museum and the Royal Palace?

No. They’re separate institutions with no cumulative ticket. Buying both costs €33, whereas the 24-hour Torino+Piemonte Card costs €29.90 and includes both plus a third free entry, so the card is better value for anyone doing both.

Can you see the Shroud of Turin at the Royal Palace?

No. You see Guarini’s Chapel of the Holy Shroud — the architecture — but the relic itself rests in the neighbouring Cathedral, sealed and not visible. The last public showing was in 2015 and none is currently scheduled. For a replica and the scientific history, visit the separate Museo della Sindone.

Can you see Leonardo’s Self-Portrait in Turin?

Rarely. The thirteen original Leonardo drawings are too light-sensitive for permanent display. Since 2025 a permanent multimedia space in the Galleria Sabauda presents all thirteen digitally, with a single original rotated into a climate-controlled case periodically. Don’t plan a visit around seeing the original.

How long do you need at the Musei Reali?

About three hours for the full route. If you’re short on time, prioritise the Royal Palace, the Chapel dome and the Armoury, and use the free Royal Gardens as an outdoor break.

Is the Musei Reali free on the first Sunday of the month?

Yes, it participates in Italy’s national scheme. Tickets are issued at the ticket office only on those days — you cannot book online — so arrive early, as free Sundays are the busiest days of the month.

Pairing the Royal Palace with the Egyptian Museum? Check live availability and current prices for skip-the-line and small-group guided tours at /#availability. Free cancellation on all bookings.