Let's explore... Ticino!

Hi Bestie!

 

During the pandemic I didn’t really get to travel much outside of Switzerland, so I kept all my trips within the borders. But this doesn’t mean that I didn’t explore new things. Today I want to introduce a new series to you: “Let’s explore…”
 
Today I want to tell you a bit more about Ticino, the Italian speaking canton of Switzerland. To be more precise, I will tell you about the Verzasca valley and Monte Bré in Lugano. 
 

I was staying in Lugano and we started off to the Verzasca valley at about 9 am. Because we had a car, it would have taken us about one and a half hours to get to our final destination but we made a few stops in between, so it actually took longer. One of those stops was the “Diga della Verzasca” a giant dam. You may know this, if you have seen the James Bond movie “golden eye”, where James Bond himself jumped off it on a bungee cord. (You can do this yourself from easter to October by the way.) 

 

Our next “stop” was Vogorno a tiny village that we sadly only got to see from the car, because we couldn’t find a place to park the car, but even only seen from the car, it was stunning!

 

From this short stop we continued our way to Lavertezzo, probably the most well-known village in the Verzasca valley. If you do this trip by car, make sure to come here earlyish, because there aren’t too many parking spots in this rather tiny village. Also, there won’t be as many people there as later in the day. Especially after 12pm the people start pouring in. From there you have to walk for only about three minutes until you reach the “Ponte dei Salti”, a beautiful old bridge from roman times. On the other side of the Verzasca river, there are two cute benches, where you can rest for a minute or two and enjoy the view over the bridge and onto the picturesque village. Obviously, there are a ton of routes you can walk from here and I would most definitely recommend you to do so, but sadly I actually didn’t get to do so. In summer you could even dip into the water, but keep in mind, that it is a mountain river, so it will be cold. Because I was there at the end of march, I only dipped in my feet and let me tell you: it was more than refreshing.

I think in summer it would also be amazing to do a picknick on one of the stones in the river, it could be a bit tricky to get there though. When we got back to the car, it was a lot harder to get through the people, because in the meantime loads of people got there, and there were other cars cueing up, to get the next free parking spot.

Back in Lugano, we headed to Monte Bré straight away because I saw on Pinterest, that the view supposedly was really beautiful. And of course, Pinterest didn’t disappoint. But the way up was pretty spectacular as well, I had to take two different funiculars to get to the top of the mountain. The bottom one was free, for the second one you have to pay. At the top of the funicular, you have to turn right and walk for about five minutes until you get to a platform right next to a restaurant that sadly was closed when I was there due to Covid. From the platform you could see across the lake to Italy, which was pretty cool. And when I was there, there were a lot of paragliders in the air. Afterwards we went back to the funicular and followed the yellow sign to the “Scalinata alla Toretta” and follow it to a second platform where you have a different view over the lake. The name “Scalinata alla Toretta” translates to steps to the tower but when I first read it, I mistranslated it as steps of torture. My Italian obviously isn’t the best, but I think my translation would have been fitting as well, because let me tell you, it is a torture to walk up all those steps, but of course the view is worth it. In summer it would be beautiful to have a picknick closer to the station of the funicular and according to my research you can get the train down up until 11.30 pm, so you could definitely enjoy a beautiful sunset over the lake from the top of the mountain. But make sure to check the timetable first before you get stuck on the mountain!

 

For me, this was the perfect day and when I go back to Ticino I would consider both of these things again, and maybe even take a dip in the cold river and don’t only dip my feet. 

 

That’s it for now, let me know, if you have ever visited any of these places and if not, if you plan on doing so!   

 

If you care, you share, with your bestie, and the whole world anyway.