Parma in 2 days
Covers hotels, areas, day trips and planning: rates for real dates, train and bus fares, and the traffic zone.
UpdatedThis page carries dated prices or seasonal dates checked on the date above, and that window has now passed. Re-check the sources at the foot of the page before you book anything.
A second day is what turns Parma from a city of paintings into the capital of the Food Valley. Day one covers the center: the Duomo, the Baptistery and the Pilotta, exactly as in Parma in 1 day. Day two starts early at a working Parmigiano Reggiano dairy inside the city limits and ends at Torrechiara, the best-preserved castle near Parma, reached by an hourly bus.
You do not need a car. You do need the right days: Torrechiara is closed on Mondays and shuts at 3 p.m. on weekdays, the dairy makes cheese only in the early morning, and the Sunday bus timetable does not work. Put day two on a Tuesday to Saturday. The pair of days costs about €425 for two before your hotel.
At a glance
- Works on
- Day 1 any day except Monday (best Wednesday to Saturday). Day 2 Tuesday to Saturday: Torrechiara closes Mondays and Sunday buses are thin.
- Day 2 in one line
- Caseificio Ugolotti at 9 a.m. (€23), the 11:21 a.m. bus to Torrechiara (€4), the castle (€8), a late lunch at Trattoria dei Corrieri.
- Tickets for two
- Day 1 €52; day 2 €94 (dairy €46, castle €16, Casa del Suono €8, bus fares €24).
- Meals for two
- Day 1 about €129 with an aperitivo; day 2 about €150 with an aperitivo, before wine at meals.
- Total for two
- About €425 before hotel. A double at Hotel Button was €78-€118 on the dates we checked.
- Book ahead
- The Ugolotti dairy tour (through the Consortium's booking page), dinner at Brisla and Trattoria del Tribunale.
- December
- Ugolotti suspends visits in December; book San Pier Damiani or another dairy instead.
In this guide
Day 1: the center, 9 a.m. to dinner
Follow Parma in 1 day. In short:
- 9 a.m. Duomo (free), then San Giovanni Evangelista (free, open until noon).
- 10:20 a.m. Baptistery and Diocesan Museum, €12 each.
- 12:30 p.m. Lunch at Osteria dei Mascalzoni: tortelli €12, mains €10, cover €1.
- 2 p.m. Across the Ponte di Mezzo to Toscanini's birthplace (€4, Wednesday to Sunday) and the Parco Ducale.
- 4:05 p.m. The Steccata, free, reopened after lunch.
- 5 p.m. The Pilotta on the €10 evening ticket, Teatro Farnese first.
- 7 p.m. A glass on Strada Farini, then dinner at Brisla (Wednesday to Sunday).
Day one costs about €181 for two, tickets and meals included. Do not put it on a Monday, when the Pilotta is closed.
Day 2, 8:40 a.m.: a Parmigiano dairy at 9 a.m.
Parmigiano is made in the early morning. Several dairies show live production only on visits between 7:30 and 9 a.m., and a tour at 3 p.m. shows you shelves, not cheesemakers. Caseificio Ugolotti, Via Emilio Lepido 72, is inside Parma's city limits, 4.8 km (3 miles) and 8 minutes by car from Piazza Garibaldi. Its 9 a.m. English tour costs €23 through the Consortium's booking page and, the dairy says, catches the first stages: heating the milk, breaking the curd, cooking it. It lasts about 1.5 hours and ends with a tasting of three ages.
- Getting there: a taxi is simplest: the 4.8 km comes to about €12 on Radio Taxi Parma's day meter (€4 plus €1.60 per km), about €14 if you phone for it. The dairy lists city bus 23, stop "Park est"; check times in the Teseo TEP app, because drivers no longer sell tickets. A city ticket is €2 for 80 minutes.
- Shop: 24-month Parmigiano was €22.90 per kg in 1 kg pieces. Americans may fly it home; Britons may not. Our buying guide has the customs rules.
- Rules: closed shoes, a hair cap is provided, full refund if you cancel 7 days ahead, and no visits in December.
Day 2, 11:21 a.m.: the bus to Torrechiara
Be back at Parma station by 11:10 a.m. From Monday to Saturday, city line 12 continues to Torrechiara once an hour, leaving the station's urban stops (level -2) at 21 minutes past and reaching piazza Leoni at 57 past: 36 minutes, €4 a ride.
- 11:21 a.m. Bus from Parma station; arrive 11:57 a.m.
- 12:10 p.m. Walk about 700 m uphill to the gate.
- 12:20 p.m. The castle, €8. The Camera d'Oro, the Golden Room frescoed for Pier Maria Rossi, is the room to see; the grotesques by Cesare Baglione fill the rest. Allow an hour. On weekdays last entry is 2:30 p.m. and the castle shuts at 3 p.m.; on Saturday it opens 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- 1:30 p.m. Bus back from piazza Leoni (it leaves at 30 past); Parma station at 2:10 p.m.
On a Saturday, stay on the bus eight more minutes to Langhirano: the Prosciutto Museum is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at weekends and costs €4 instead of €5 with your castle ticket. Take a later bus back and eat later.
Day 2, 2:30 p.m.: late lunch and a quieter afternoon
By 2:30 p.m. most kitchens in Parma have closed. Trattoria dei Corrieri, Strada del Conservatorio 1, serves from noon to midnight every day with no break, which is why it is in this plan. Order torta fritta with salumi and a tris of tortelli. It publishes no prices; TheFork gives an average of about €30 a head.
- 4:30 p.m. San Francesco del Prato. Free, open again from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday: the Gothic church that spent nearly two centuries as a prison. Twenty minutes.
- 4:55 p.m. Casa del Suono. Next door, €4, Wednesday to Sunday until 6 p.m., last entry 5:30 p.m. Gramophones, radios and a sound chandelier. Forty-five minutes. On a Tuesday it is closed; walk the parks instead.
- 7 p.m. A cheap glass at Enoteca Fontana (reported at €2 to €3) or a board at Ombre Rosse (tris of salumi €12).
- 8 p.m. Dinner at Trattoria del Tribunale, Vicolo Politi 5. Our page puts a pasta, a cured-meat plate and a secondo each at about €80 for two before wine. It publishes no hours, so phone on +39 0521 285527. If it is shut, Osteria del 36 (Monday to Saturday, about €30 a head on TheFork) is 10 minutes away.
Which days to use
| Pair of days | Works? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday + Thursday, Thursday + Friday, Friday + Saturday | Yes | Everything open; the dairy and the hourly bus both run. |
| Tuesday + Wednesday | With swaps | Day 1 on a Tuesday loses Toscanini's birthplace and Brisla; see the 1-day swaps. |
| Saturday + Sunday | Swap the order | Do the dairy and castle on Saturday and the center on Sunday. |
| Sunday + Monday | No | Monday closes the Pilotta and Torrechiara. |
If Sunday is your only day for Torrechiara, there are only four buses from Parma station (10:35 a.m., 12:05 p.m., 1:45 p.m. and 7 p.m.), and the only workable return is 6:26 p.m. That is why this plan avoids it.
What two days cost for two
| Item | For two |
|---|---|
| Day 1: tickets, lunch, aperitivo and dinner (see Parma in 1 day) | €181 |
| Day 2: Caseificio Ugolotti tour, €23 each | €46 |
| City bus to and from the dairy, €2 a ride (or a taxi, about €12–€14 each way on the meter) | €8 |
| Line 12 to Torrechiara and back, €4 a ride | €16 |
| Torrechiara castle, €8 each | €16 |
| Late lunch, Trattoria dei Corrieri (TheFork average) | about €60 |
| Casa del Suono, €4 each; San Francesco del Prato free | €8 |
| Aperitivo, four glasses at Enoteca Fontana (reported €2-€3) | about €10 |
| Dinner, Trattoria del Tribunale, before wine | about €80 |
| Total, two days | about €425 |
Add one night. On the dates our hotel pages checked, Hotel Button, 2 minutes from Piazza Garibaldi, was €118 (October 14) and €78 (November 11, 2026) for a double, plus €2.50 per adult per night in city tax. The best hotels guide has the alternatives. Cheese you buy at the dairy is extra.
Tickets and tours you can book
Parma: Parmigiano Production and Parma Ham Tour & Tasting
Meets at the NH Parma hotel by the station (or Reggio Emilia AV). Late arrivals count as no-shows. No open-toed shoes; not wheelchair accessible.
Rating as shown on GetYourGuide
Tasting and Biking Parma
Max 8. Bike and helmet included; e-bikes are offered. Price varies by group size. Runs from the Bike Food Stories shop courtyard.
Rating as shown on Viator
From Milk to Wheels: Parmesan Tour & Tasting in Parma
No transport: about 15 minutes by taxi; buses run only three times a day. Only the 9 a.m. slot shows the cheese being made.
Rating as shown on GetYourGuide
Booking through these links supports this site at no cost to you. Prices move by date, so we do not print them here; the official prices we checked are in the page above.
Frequently asked questions
Is two days enough for Parma?
Two days covers the center and one Food Valley morning. It does not cover the Labirinto, Busseto or the culatello country of the Bassa; for one of those, see Parma in 3 days, and for the whole Food Valley by car, the Food Valley in 2 days.
Can I visit a Parmigiano dairy without a car?
Yes. Caseificio Ugolotti is 4.8 km from Piazza Garibaldi, inside the city limits. The dairy lists a stop on city bus 23 nearby, and a taxi covers the distance in about 8 minutes. Its 9 a.m. tour in English costs €23.
How do I get to Torrechiara from Parma by bus?
Monday to Saturday, city line 12 runs on to Torrechiara once an hour, leaving Parma station at 21 minutes past and arriving at 57 past. A single is €4. Buses come back at 30 minutes past the hour and take 40 minutes.
Can I do the dairy and Torrechiara on the same morning?
Yes, in that order. The dairy's 9 a.m. tour ends around 10:30 a.m., the 11:21 a.m. bus reaches Torrechiara at 11:57 a.m., and on weekdays you have until the 2:30 p.m. last entry. The other way round does not work, because cheesemaking is over by late morning.
Is a €135 dairy-and-ham tour better than this plan?
Only if you want a ham house too and have no car. The van tour adds a prosciutto maker in the hills. This plan sees a dairy and a castle for €43 a head in tickets and bus fares. Our Food Valley tour page does the comparison.
Further reading
Official sources
- Radio Taxi Parma - municipal tariffs (official) – Day tariff €4 flag fall, €1.60 per km, €1.90 call-out, minimum €6.80; Ugolotti fare computed on OSRM's 4.8 km; checked September 29, 2026
- Consorzio Parmigiano Reggiano booking - Caseificio Ugolotti guided tour (official) – From €23, English, 1.5 hours, 9 a.m. first stage, suspended in December; checked September 29, 2026
- TEP - line 2670 Langhirano-Torrechiara-Parma timetable (official PDF) – Line 12 extension hourly Monday to Saturday, xx:21 from Parma station, 36 minutes; Sunday runs
- TEP - extra-urban fare calculator (official) – €4.00 single, Parma station to Torrechiara
- Complesso della Pilotta - opening hours incl. Torrechiara (official) – Torrechiara Tuesday to Friday 9 a.m.-3 p.m. (last entry 2:30), weekends 11 a.m.-5 p.m., closed Monday
- Complesso della Pilotta - tickets (official) – Torrechiara €8, €2 ages 18-24, free under 18
- La Casa della Musica - six-museum ticket and Casa del Suono (official) – Casa del Suono €4, Wednesday to Sunday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
- San Francesco del Prato - visiting hours (official) – Free; Monday to Saturday 9 a.m.-12:15 p.m. and 3-6:30 p.m.
- Trattoria dei Corrieri (official) and TheFork listing – Open daily noon to midnight; TheFork average about €30
