r/ali_on_switzerland•4 yr. ago

[Trip] A long Easter weekend in Locarno (April 2022).

Plan: Enjoy a change of scenery. Ideally getting out to the valleys, but no deadset plans.
Imgur album. Note some of the photos are from previous trips when I didn’t bother taking duplicates this time round.

--- When ---

Wednesday 13th to Monday 18th April 2022. So the Easter holiday plus a few days.
It was very warm and sunny. Positively roasting for April with temperatures up to 27C, especially considering less than a week previously I had been walking through falling snowflakes in the Jura at 800m.
There hadn’t been much/any rainfall for a month in Ticino. Higher up it felt almost autumn it was so dry.
Easter is always a popular getaway time (it is usually the first time each year that the +10km of traffic jams at the Gotthard make the news). In this case the fact that almost everywhere in Ticino was sold out made the Swiss news. There were certainly other visitors there, but the only time. Walking around in the evening it didn’t feel especially busy.

--- Where ---

Locarno

A small city sat on Lago Maggiore.

A beautiful little old town (with quite a bit of sprawl beyond it). Mostly consisting of a big square with a few back streets (and an impressive castle wall). You have seen everything in an hour.
The waterfront is nicely done. You 'only' get a relatively tiny corner of the big lake, but it is a pretty corner with some impressive mountains as the backdrop. In some ways there is a very Mediterranean feeling, even down to the chunky blocks of hotels looking over the water.
It is a bit touristy, but low key. Mostly just other Swiss (especially Swiss-German), the towns on the cheaper Italian part of the lake are probably more mixed. There are no shops aimed purely at selling tack to tourists, but there are a months worth of Gelato shops. It is probably somewhat busier and more international in August during the film festival.
Italian speaking. German being the most useful language otherwise (almost every non local car plate was Swiss-German or German).
There are plenty of transport options. Direct buses from Locarno run up to Valle Verzasca, Valle Maggia, and Valle Onsernone. Cable car and boats. Even direct (if slow) trains to Milan and Zürich.
I was sad to see the video game shop with the creepy Peach in the old town has gone and been painted over. But on the plus side the law-suite-in-waiting of a seemingly drugged Homer Simpson coming out of the end of an all night bender at the Taxi Pizza shop is still somehow there (keep an eye out on buses going west out of Locarno to Ascona of the valleys).
Going away from the lake it gets vertical very fast. If you book something here check how much climb is required (though buses do run up to the higher parts).
Stayed with at Airbnb ID 49788090. 1282 CHF for 3 of us for 5 nights (86 CHF per person per night). A fairly reasonable price for the size and location. Maybe a bit on the pricey side, but given that it was over Easter and booking a bit late this isn’t a big surprise. Only problem was it didn’t provide a Ticino Ticket, but most of the transport costs were quite low anyway. Very Italian (in a slightly tacky mirrors and shoe cupboards sort of way). I had never seen a folding shoe cupboard in my life, here we had room for about 50 shoes across numerous cupboards. A short walk to the station, lake, oldtown and shops. It was big, and roomy. The sort of place you would say was fine but you wouldn't recommend it as a must when staying in the area. Easy key-box check in/out so no need to go two towns over to the agency as can sometimes be the case.

Other ideas of where to stay

Bellinzona. A good central location for transport connections in Ticino (including some Postbuses into lonely valleys), it has a nice little old town and the famous castles, but not that much to it otherwise. The castles don't make up for having a lake to take a stroll along in the evening.
Ascona. The old town area is possibly a bit nicer than the one in Locarno and there is certainly a much better view down the lake, but it is less well connected requiring a bus back towards Locarno to reach anywhere else.
Lugano. The biggest and most famous city in Ticino. It has a handsome old town area and one of the nicest parks in Switzerland on the lakefront. Being the biggest city by far it lacks some of the charm and is a bit limited in direct mountain options in comparison to Locarno and Bellinzona.

--- Ideas of what to do ---

Explore the local valleys:

Valle Verzasca.
Valle Maggia and the various side valleys like the Val Bavona.
Valle Onsernone.
The Centrovalli region.

Go higher up. Snow was still present above 2000m, but getting higher than that around Locarno is a bit hard anyway.

Cadadra cable car.
Monte Tomaro cable car.

Lakeside

Ascona.
Brissago Island.
Along the lake into Italy. Trains/buses run along both sides.

Cities

Bellinzona.
Lugano.

--- Diary ---

Day 1: Arrival.

Train from Solothurn to Locarno. Rode in 1st class because it was cheaper to get a 1st class supersaver than a 2nd class standard ticket or supersaver - 3 hours of first class travel for 25 CHF thanks to the supersaver combined with a half-fare card. Pretty quiet ride being a Wednesday afternoon ahead of the weekend rush.
An easy 10 minutes to the accomodation from the station, and then 4 minutes up to the Migros/COOP to get some supplies in.
Lakeside walk and to the old town for dinner. I think I have ended up at the same restaurant on the square every time I have been in Locarno.
Lakeside walk with ice cream. This became a fixture of each evening, something that might not always be appealing in April but worked perfectly with the little heat-wave.

Day 2: Valle Verzasca.

See this post for more details.
Despite having raved about the valley before I hadn't actually been back up in over 5 years. I think I came 5 times in my first year or so and felt done for a while, then with exploring other areas I just got distracted and never made it back.
It was expected to be a bit cloudy and Thursday was going to be the quietest full day before the weekend got into full swing, so this seemed the best time to head up into the popular valley.
The Contra dam has been undergoing restoration/cleaning work, so it was strange seeing the lake empty. It was interesting to see the hidden contours of the valley and remains of the old road and some terraces.
The trees were starting to turn green on the valley floor, but it was mostly still brown. I have done this at various times of year and think it is at it’s best in late May green and lush (or possibly October for the golden autumn).

Day 3: Foroglio and Val Bavona.

Bus starting from Locarno station. Bus 315 to Bignasco then change to the smaller 333 bus (1 hour 11 mins). There are only up to 5 connections (sometimes just 3) a day from Bignasco to the Foroglio.
Foroglio is a very picturesque but very small cluster of stone Rustico houses. There is a restaurant (or was, it either hadn’t opened for the summer season yet or was closed down), a little gift shop, and a collection of houses (half of which are tourist rentals). It will take all of 5 minutes to see it from every angle.
From the village there is a marked (and slightly scrambly) path up to the base of the waterfall which also provides a nice view down the valley.
I have always been intrigued by the valley that goes up behind the waterfall (Valle Valnegia). But it isn’t really something you can make an easy day trip out of (especially with the bus times) the valley carries on for 9km with 1600m of climb to reach some lakes. Maybe wild camp at the top and loop around to come back down via another side valley.
We followed the footpath along the valley to the main bus line at Cavergno (7km, +230, -460m). This starts very easy along the flattest part of the valley floor, then veers off to the side and does quite a bit of up and down in the forest. Worth it. There is a bit of a fairy tale feel to the valley with giant boulders, stone Rusticos, walls, old gnarled trees. Especially where the former residents dug out storage spaces under the boulders like some sort of mountain hobbits.
Called into the Grotto Baloi at about the halfway point for a snack. Other than restaurants at the start, middle, and end there are not many options for finding food or supplies in the area (the closest shop seems to be in Cevio).
I had been thinking of calling into Ascona for a look around on the way back (it would just require a quick change of bus on the outskirts of Locarno). But the trip had taken longer than expected and with the heat there wasn’t much enthusiasm.

Day 4: Up to Cimetta, then hiking Madone and down to Mergoscia.

See this post for more details.
This was the hottest day, hitting 28C in Locarno during the afternoon.

Day 5: Valle Onsernone

This was a bit of a reccy. I hadn’t been up the valley before so I decided to take the bus all the way to the end point and have a look around. I had also worn my poor legs out a bit the previous day so wanted something at least a little bit gentler.
The Valle Onsernone and the region around it is apparently one of the wildest in Switzerland (there certainly isn’t much in there). The area was considered to be the location of a 2nd Swiss National Park, but the locals voted against it. There is a Guardian travel article, so it isn’t that secret but it certainly is a bit below the radar and very quiet compared to the other valleys in the area. There is supposedly a bit of hippy/counter-culture there, I didn't see anything that stood out really (not compared to places like Nimbin anyway).
Locarno to Spruga by Postbus takes 1 hour 14 minutes and usually runs every 2 hours. Sit on the left hand side for the best views. Certainly it was a quieter bus than in the other valleys (starting at 8:20am probably helped). We slowly picked up a few hardcore looking outdoor types on the route, but the bus was still half full at the end.
The journey up was stunning and has become one of my favourite bus rides in Switzerland. The view of little villages clinging to a steep mountainside covered in trees took me back to Corsica. I can't remember the last time I took so many photos on a bus ride here.
Watching the road itself and the driving was as much an experience as the views. The road is very narrow and windy; the driver often had to awkwardly swing the bus around to thread the needle over a narrow bridge or through a village with very little clearance. There were numerous times in villages and tight bends where oncoming cars were forced to reverse back to give way to the bus. I lost count of how many times there seemed to only be 30cm of road and a little barrier between my seat and a very deep ravine. Being Switzerland it all felt very safe, but there must have been some hairy moments in the winter. Anyone who is easily car-sick might want to avoid this route. And Christ knows how they resurface any of it without cutting the whole place off.
Spruga itself is a little collection of houses with a cafe and a shop (which is closed more often than not). Has a fantastic view down the valley.
This is not a destination for relaxed hiking. Normally a valley at least has an easy footpath near the road among other options. This place is the exact opposite, if you want to get between 2 villages you are going to be doing some climbing. The road is very narrow so I wouldn't want to have to walk very far along it. Half the visitors seemed to be cycling up rather than hiking.
What piqued my interest most at first was simply carrying on up the valley beyond the end of the road to the Bagni di Varveggia - the ruins of a bathhouse about 10 metres across the border in Italy. The direct route was easy going along a paved road for the most part (2.6km, +10m, -150m). At the bath ruins it took a little bit of care to cross the river by stone hopping (no easy crossing as the map would suggest). I had been hoping for a clear view up the valley, but it was too heavily forested for that.
I had thought of going back to Spruga along the more rugged footpath to the south side of the river. This probably would have been a beautiful walk deeper in the gorge near the stream, but I decided that with the clear weather I wanted to get higher up for the views and doubled back to Spruga on the road.
Looking at the map Al Pesced looked to be a promising destination above the treeline with an intriguing scattering of ruins (2.6km, +667m). This path started steep and stayed steep - the valley is really not the place to go for a relaxed walk. But it was worth it, I took a relaxed lunch on the grass above the farmhouse and enjoyed the view. Piz Ruggia over in Italy looked especially interesting; a perfect stone pyramid with an Alp farm sat right at the base.
Coming back to Spruga it was all still very quiet considering it was a beautiful easter Sunday. There were maybe 20 tourists in the whole place. There was no fight to get on the bus here (though by the time it picked everyone up on the way back to Locarno it was rather full).
Having thought about it a good place to have aimed for from the start would have been Pilone (11km, +/-1000m) a peak on the border, and/or over the ridge to Valascia (which has a cable car). Most other people who got off the bus started in that direction.

Day 6: Departure and Centovalli train.

Cleared out of the flat and had a last coffee by the lake.
Rather than going back up via the standard quick Gotthard route we decided to take the scenic route via the Centovalli Railway. This adds 1-2 hours onto the route, but is beautiful. I rode this almost 7 years ago when going from Zermatt to Locarno on my first visit to the area, so was curious to refresh my (now rather vague) memory.
This line is really obscure. Possibly the only time I have seen this referenced by anyone else is in ‘Neither here nor there’ by Bill Bryson, and he seems to have just taken it by chance. There are just 21 total reviews on TripAdvisor, and none in English since 2019. I saw leaflets around Locarno advertising it as being on Lonely Planet’s top 10 train rides in Europe for 2022 and it has apparently been on that list before, but it still doesn’t seem to have attracted much interest.
The normal regional train is a tiny little thing. The panoramic is tiny and looks like it would have been considered stylish by a sci-fi artist in the 1970s. No need to reserve.
Easter Monday is usually a busy travel day (it certainly was on the Gotthard route from what I heard), but the Centovalli train was only half full at most (and almost empty to start with).
There is a 1.5 Euro/CHF extra charge for the panoramic train which you pay on the train itself. Why it isn’t just included in the ticket price is anyone’s guess.
Initially the line passes through a narrow forested gorge (sit on the left to start), then enters a more open area with meadows and villages (sit on either side), and finally descends down another valley that isn’t as dramatic but has very expansive views off to high peaks (change to the right side around Santa Maria Maggiore if possible).
At some point in the initial gorge you enter Italy (you can see the border sign on the road if you are looking carefully). There was a warning to have proper vaccine/test information for covid reasons, but nobody ever checked.
Domodossola sits in a stunning location surrounded by various valleys. It must be a good base or start/end point for some tours. I have never ventured beyond the station but it looks like there is a nice little old town hidden away in the centre too.
Figuring that the Milan-Basel train would be rammed we decided to upgrade to first class. The train was delayed (as is often the case on that line), however in this case a technical problem kept us sitting on the track outside Domodossola for over an hour. It was a scenic spot to be stuck at least. Very friendly and apologetic staff. Due to the delay we could claim 25% back on the ticket and were given 24 CHF worth of SBB vouchers. 55 CHF tickets were reduced by about 25% - essentially getting the first class upgrade for free.

Posted May 4, 2022, 6:42 PM UTC · edited