What to do:
- Lugano city tour (free, on Saturdays; until the 26th October 2019; ask in the tourist office for details)
- Take the tourist train (8 euro / 9 francs – 40 minutes)
- Go to the top of the mountain peak Monte Bré by funicular (25 francs – return ticket)
- Visit the village Bré
- Go to the top of mountain peak Monte San Salvatore by funicular (30 francs – return ticket)
- Enjoy a walk by the lake, swim or sunbathe
- Visit the chocolate factory Alprose in the village of Caslano (30 min train journey from Lugano)
- If staying in Lugano, claim your free public transportation ticket – Ticino ticket – from your accommodation provider
Up until recently, I had never been to Switzerland. So, when someone suggested I could visit the country from my base in Como, Italy, I thought: why not?
The city of Lugano in the canton of Ticino seemed to be the most straightforward place to get to, which was a major advantage in the heatwave both countries experienced a few weeks ago. There are frequent trains to Lugano from the train station Como San Giovanni. They depart hourly and cost 20 euro (one-way). There are also a couple of early morning Flix bus services, which depart just outside the same station. The cost of a coach journey varies: you can travel from as little as 5 euro (one-way way). The duration of the journey, whether by bus or train, is similar: 40 – 45 minutes.
Having missed the buses, I decided to take the train. I thought the 20-minute delay was quite funny, given the fact that Switzerland is famous for the precision of its watches. There is even a saying in Bulgarian: Precise like a Swiss watch, which is used to describe a reliable person, who always arrives on time.
There wasn’t much in terms of border control. Two young men in uniforms got on the train at Chiasso, but no checks were made.
The tourist office in Lugano is located on the ground floor of the main train station. Remarkably well organised, it has a foreign currency exchange point, an instant reminder that Switzerland is not a member of the European Union. Endearing, but not practical. I am not sure what the exchange rates were, but it seems to me using the exchange office is a good idea. Later, I tried, in vain, to find ATMs that would dispense notes of 20 francs. The minimum one could withdraw was 50 francs. I thought I could get away with just paying by card in most places, but many had a minimum spend, which made that option unattractive.
(N.B. That evening, I was walking behind a well-dressed couple. The young man pointed to a group of people sunbathing by the lake and said, in Italian, to the young woman he was clearly trying to impress: These tourists…They come here, spend a hundred francs and that’s it! )
The Lugano tourist office had many booklets with all sorts of idea on how to best use your time in the area, in four languages: English, Italian, French and German. There was a board with the some suggestions, too, which I found very useful:
The staff were very helpful, too. All in all, I strongly recommend stopping by the tourist office, especially if you don’t have many ideas as to what to see and do.
Next, I went over to the hostel where I was staying, which I believe provided the only reasonably priced accommodation, available at short notice. This was Montarina hotel and hostel, conveniently located within 5 minutes walking distance from the train station. 29 francs for a bed for the night, plus 2 francs for a towel. Note: many Swiss businesses wouldn’t accept euro coins, only notes; and they’d convert Swiss francs into euros using a 1:1 exchange rate, even though the franc is worth a little less than a euro.
A rather nice surprise was the fact that I was offered a free public transportation ticket when checking in. This is the canton of Ticino’s way of thanking you for your visit. Great! The ticket comes with a handy map that also lists attractions and discounts you can get for other means of transportation, e.g. the local trains.
I am a fan of funiculars – trams that go up or down hills, so I took the funicular from the train station down to the town centre. Lugano’s town centre was very pretty and clean, but the extreme heat made it difficult to explore on foot that day. I jumped on the tourist train (8 euro, departures hourly, just in front of the pier). Even the seat was hot! The ride was pleasant and it lasted around 40 minutes. You can enjoy great views of the lake and the mountains – the Alps, raising from the lake in a spectacular manner. The tourist train stops frequently and gives you an opportunity to get off at the funicular stations for Monte San Salvatore and Monte Bré.
Monte San Salvatore and Monte Bré are the names of two of the mountain peaks rising above Lugano. Monte Bré had caught my eye and my ear back in the tourist office, and I wanted to go there. You can get all the way to the top of both with zero effort, if you use the funicular.
At the top of the hill, you will see signs to several places. I chose to follow the one that said Bella vista (beautiful view) – 10 minuti. In 10 minutes, a marvelous view appeared from behind the trees:
There is a restaurant at the top of the hill, where one can stop for refreshments or just to take a few photos. The views are well worth it and the heat was a lot more bearable at 933 meters above sea level. Somehow, they reminded me of Rio’s Sugar Loaf mountain, although I have never been there. As it turned out, the locals do call Monte San Salavatore Panettone – sugar loaf.
I happened to cross paths with the organised tour that was taking place that day, as advertised in the tourist office. We followed a decent, but unpaved road that lead down the hill towards the village Bré. The landscapes were amazing, as if taken from a Swiss chocolate ad:
Bré was a typical Swiss village, tiny, but with beautiful buildings and various works of art dotted around.
There was a house in the village with a fence decorated in the following romantic manner:
It was getting a little late. Having left Bré, I walked towards the funcular station, a 15 minutes’ walk on a paved road. The funicular took me down to the town, which now seemed a lot more lively than in the mid-day heat. There were quite a few bars by the lakeside, where tourists and locals were enjoying a refreshing evening drink. Many people were sunbathing by the lake:
There was a Latin music festival that evening in Lugano, where the city really came alive. It felt like a very welcoming, lovely, safe place to be.
I was planning to visit the chocolate factory and museum Alprose on the following day, but didn’t in the end. I thought that would be fun – apparently there are many free chocolate samples provided during the tour! Maybe next time. Apparently, one can take a boat, as well as a train to Caslano and the factory is within walking distance from where the trains / boats stop.
I thought Switzerland was beautiful and certainly felt an air of ‘well-off’-ness about it. It was an interesting mix of (mostly) Italian speakers, German matter-of-fact-liness and Swiss precision. When I was leaving, the city bus that took me to the the coach stop arrived at precisely 10.09 and left at exactly 10.10, as scheduled. Dip your toes into Switzerland if you get the chance – you won’t regret it.
Purple Travel Path 