Getting around Parma

Walking times from OpenStreetMap routes at an ordinary pace:

Many central streets are pedestrian or nearly so, and the paving is flat. Watch for bikes: they share most of those streets and move fast. Across the torrent, the Oltretorrente and the Parco Ducale are 5 to 10 minutes from Piazza Garibaldi.

TEP runs the city and provincial buses. Urban fares:

• €2 single, valid 80 minutes, and usable on several buses and lines within that time.
• €14.50 for 8 rides.
• €6.30 for a day ticket.

Drivers no longer sell tickets. Tap a contactless bank card or phone on the green validator when you board (one ticket per card), or buy in the Teseo TEP app, at TEP ticket offices or at tobacconists. Tickets are QR codes, so keep the phone charged.

The lines a visitor actually uses:

• Line 6: station to Parma airport, about 15 minutes, every 30 minutes on weekdays; extra evening buses when flights land after 8 p.m.
• Line 12: extended to Torrechiara once an hour Monday to Saturday, 36 minutes from the station, €4.
• Line 23: on to Fontanellato for the Rocca Sanvitale, hourly Monday to Saturday, 40 minutes, €4.

Sundays and holidays are thin on the country lines: four buses each way to Torrechiara. In August TEP switches to a reduced summer timetable it calls estivissimo, normally about three weeks long, and line 6 drops to one bus an hour.

Parma is flat and cycles more than most Italian cities. Two ways to get a bike:

Cicletteria, the city-run rental beside the station (Piazzale Dalla Chiesa). Standard bike €1.50 an hour, €12 for 24 hours, €10 a day from two days, €50 a week. E-bike €8 an hour or €38 for 24 hours. Tandem or cargo bike €2.50 an hour. Open Monday to Friday 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.; weekends and holidays 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 3 to 7 p.m.

RideMovi, the app-based bike share run with Infomobility: 200 pedal bikes, 350 e-bikes and 500 scooters. Pedal bike €1.20 per 30 minutes. E-bike or scooter €1 to unlock plus €0.24 a minute; a 24-hour pass of unlimited 20-minute rides is €12.99. Riders must be 16 or over. In the historic centre you must leave the bike in a marked parking area.

For longer rides, the flat Food Valley Bike route runs about 70 km (43 miles) from Parma to Busseto via Colorno. See cycling Parma for routes.

Parma taxis run on a meter at the city's official tariff, published by Radio Taxi Parma (+39 0521 252562, 24 hours, 7 days). There are ranks at the station and the airport.

Large bags that do not fit inside cost €0.50 each. Under 20 km/h the meter counts time, not distance. Over-70s and disabled passengers do not pay the minimum fare. In practice, any ride across the centre, including station to Piazza Garibaldi, costs the minimum. The airport quotes €10–€13 from the airport to the station.

Radio Taxi Parma also publishes fixed indicative daytime fares to sights outside town: €30 to the Reggia di Colorno or Torrechiara, €35 to Fontanellato or the Labirinto della Masone, €45 to Fidenza Village and €55 to Busseto. Those are one way.

Regional train fares are fixed, so there is no reason to book ahead. From Parma: Colorno €2.70 (16 minutes), Fidenza €3.70 (11–15 minutes), Busseto and Salsomaggiore €4.50, Modena €6.30 (29 minutes on the fast regional), Bologna €8.50 (58 minutes). Buy on the Trenitalia app or at the machines, and choose the train at purchase. The station is 10 minutes' walk from the Pilotta.

The historic centre is a limited traffic zone (ZTL) from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. every day, holidays included, with camera gates. The pedestrian areas and the "isole ambientali" around the Duomo and Strada Farini are closed to unauthorized cars 24 hours a day. Several bus lanes have cameras that run all night. A satnav will happily route you through them.

If you arrive by car, park it in one of the covered car parks at the edge of the centre or one of the ten free park-and-ride car parks, and walk. The details are in our ZTL and parking guide.

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.

4 hours

5.0★★★★★★★★★★(237 reviews)

Reserve

Rating as shown on Viator

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.