Parma Ham Factory Tour 2026: Prices, What You See, Tips

Booking choice: The Parma ham maker tour, from $99 per person. Check dates Compare the options below

The ham makers of Parma, the prosciuttifici, are working factories in the hills around Langhirano, about 20 km south of the city. You cannot simply knock on the door: you visit with a tour, or with a booking a producer accepts.

Below: which tours go inside, what they cost, what you see from the salting rooms to the crown brand, where they start, what to wear, accessibility, and the museum you can walk into without a tour.

The quick answer

Yes, but only with a tour or a booking: the ham makers are working factories. The ham maker tour costs $99 for 2 hours 30 minutes, with a van from Parma station and a tasting; cheese and ham tours cost $147 to $240, and a one-hour tasting in a curing room costs $25. Without a tour, the walk-in option is the Museo del Prosciutto in Langhirano: EUR 5, at weekends from March to early December.

Rows of cured hams hanging close together in a hall, their lean faces sealed with a pale grey paste — A curing hall: thousands of hams, each waiting at least 14 months.

Can you visit a Parma ham factory?

Yes, with a tour or a booking. The prosciuttifici are working factories, so there is no walk-in visit; the tours drive you from Parma to a maker in the hills and back.

About 127 producers are authorised to make Prosciutto di Parma, and most of them sit in the hills around Langhirano. The ones you visit on a tour are usually small or family-run makers that welcome groups at set times. Every September, during the Festival del Prosciutto di Parma, some makers also open their doors to the public; the rest of the year, a tour is the way in.

A hand scattering coarse sea salt over a fresh pork leg on a white table — Salting by hand: the first step you see on a tour.

Which Parma ham factory tours can you book?

Eight options, from a $25 tasting to a $240 private day. Only one is about the ham alone: the $99 ham maker tour; the others pair the ham maker with a Parmigiano dairy, a castle or a balsamic maker.

From-prices per person in USD, as shown on GetYourGuide and Viator. Every option here cancels free up to 24 hours before.

Tour	What you see	Length	From	Getting there
Ham maker tour	A Prosciutto di Parma maker, cold and warm phases, tasting	2h 30m	$99	Van from Parma station
Parmigiano and Parma ham tour	A dairy and a family ham maker in the hills	4 hours	$154	Pickup points in Parma
Cheese and ham factory tour	A cheese factory and a ham maker, with wine	5 hours	$147	Pickup by Parma station
Private cheese and ham tour	A dairy and a ham plant with your own guide	5h 30m	$185	Pickup or self-drive
Private Food Valley tour	A dairy, a ham maker, a stop below Torrechiara	4 hours	$220	Driver or self-drive
Cheese, ham and balsamic tour	A dairy, a ham maker, a balsamic maker	6h 30m	$208	Meeting points in Parma
Private Torrechiara day	A dairy, a ham plant and the castle	6h 30m	$240	Pickup or self-drive
Three-ham tasting	A curing room, prosciutto, culatello and culatta	1 hour	$25	Your own way to Sanguinaro

What do you see on a ham factory tour?

The ham's year in order: the cold phase with fresh legs, salting machinery and refrigeration cells, then the warm phase in the maturing rooms, the needle test and the crown brand, and finally a tasting.

The cold phase: where fresh legs arrive and are chosen, the salting machines and the chilled cells where they rest.
The warm phase: the maturing rooms, heavy with the sweet smell of curing ham.
The needle: how an inspector pierces each ham with a sliver of horse bone and smells it.
The crown: the five-pointed ducal crown burned into every ham that passes.
The tasting: on the ham maker tour, Parma ham with homemade bread and wine from the hills of Parma.

A thin bone needle pushed into the rind of a cured ham, next to the fire-branded crown and the word PARMA — The needle test: a sliver of horse bone and an expert nose.

See the salting rooms, the curing halls and the crown up close, with a van from Parma station and a tasting at the end.

Check dates for the Parma ham maker tour

How long is a Parma ham tour, and how much does it cost?

The ham maker tour takes 2 hours 30 minutes and costs $99, van included. Cheese and ham tours last 4 to 6 hours 30 minutes and cost $147 to $240.

On the ham maker tour ($99, rated 4.6 from 64 reviews), part of the time is the drive into the hills; Langhirano is about 30 minutes from Parma by road. Guests report a small, family-run maker, an air-conditioned van and a guide who explains every stage, and some met the owner at the tasting. The tour is not suitable for vegans and vegetarians, for obvious reasons.

The one tour that is all about the ham: a working maker, the salting rooms to the curing halls, then a tasting with bread and local wine.

★ 4.6 64 reviews · 2h 30m · from $99

Explore the Parma ham maker tour

Where do Parma ham tours start?

Most start near Parma station. The ham maker tour and the cheese and ham factory tour meet at Viale Paolo Borsellino 31, by the NH hotel at the station's north exit; ParmaLook tours use pickup points in Parma.

The private tours pick you up in central Parma, or let you follow the guide in your own car. Whichever you book, be early: on the van tours, arriving late, even because of a delayed train, counts as a no-show and cannot be refunded or moved. Large bags and luggage are not allowed on the vans, so leave them at your hotel.

The crown and PARMA marked on a post in a curing room.

What should you wear on a ham factory tour?

Closed shoes and a warm layer. The salting rooms are cold, floors can be slippery, and sandals and open-toed shoes are not allowed on most tours.

Closed shoes: required on the ParmaLook and NH hotel tours.
A layer: the salting rooms are kept at 1 to 4 C; the curing halls are milder.
No strollers or large bags: they are not allowed on the vans or inside.
Expect the smell: the maturing rooms smell strongly of ham, and that is the point.
Some cash: guests report makers with a shop, and card machines do not always work.

Cheese and ham in one morning, with pickup in Parma, rated 4.9 from 955 reviews.

Check dates for the Parmigiano and Parma ham tour

Are ham factory tours accessible, and can children go?

Most are not wheelchair accessible: the listings say so. Children can usually join, but strollers and baby carriers are not allowed on the van tours.

The factories are working spaces with steps, machinery and wet floors, so check each listing before you book. Families with small children often find the three-ham tasting easier: one hour in a curing room, and children up to 4 join free. Guests with limited mobility can see the ham's story at the museum in Langhirano instead: the Langhirano guide.

A ham maker in a black cap and blue apron trimming a cured ham on a table, with hams hanging on racks behind him — Trimming a ham by hand: the tours meet the people who make it.

Can you see Parma ham being made without a tour?

Not in a factory. The walk-in option is the Museo del Prosciutto di Parma in Langhirano: EUR 5, on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, 10:00 to 18:00, from 1 March to 8 December, with a ham tasting for EUR 3 more.

The museum explains the history, the tools and the making of the ham in the town's former cattle market, but you do not see a working curing hall. The whole process, step by step, is in how Parma ham is made. If you only want to taste and understand the differences, a curing room on the Via Emilia west of Parma pours a glass of wine with three hams from one leg; you make your own way there.