Country Regions Month Stay duration
Switzerland Lugano, Morcote, Gandria June 2019 3 days

Halfway through my year challenge I treated myself to a visit to the Alps, the most popular mountain range of Europe and quite rightfully so.

The iconic upper-class mountain lifestyle of Switzerland is one of the most coveted and sought out way of life in the whole of Europe and in June 2019 I was able to taste it to some extent.

Lugano

Lugano is a beautiful lake town surrounded by beautiful mountains which make for a great hiking day if that’s your thing. Alternatively one can take the funicular/cable-car up most of the mountains.

A decorative boat on a gate and Lugano lake in the background

Sails away!

As soon as one arrives to Lugano one is engulfed by the beauty of the lake and mountains, it’s a truly picturesque city with a lovely promenade along the Lugano lake which proved very useful to cool down as on my first day I was dealing with a cozy 35°C, coincidentally so were a quite a few other European countries dealing with high record-breaking temperatures as there was a heat wave around then.

Villages by the lake

There’re a few villages by the Lugano lake shore that are worth visiting for a few hours. There’s not much to see or do but the little that there is can be quite beautiful, specially if the weather is right as you can get amazing photos of the lake and surroundings.

In order to make the most of my time and money I chose to visit these villages in the same day. This way I could make use of the daily boat travelling pass once and just once during my stay. The boat ride on the lake itself provides outstanding views of the shore villages and villas as well as dazzling views of the many mountains surrounding the lake.

My favorite village to visit was Morcote as it felt very picturesque and had a gorgeous chapel overlooking the village and the lake. Secondarily I also visited Grandia but was not as impressed by it, though it made for a lovely walk through its compact streets and alleys.

There’re restaurants in these villages, but in Grandia the options were limited so I wouldn’t recommend visiting the village with the intent of having food as you may not find your fancy of cuisine. Morcote on the other hand had a lovely promenade with plenty of restaurants and cafes.

Monte Brè

One of the near by mountains that one can hike or take the funicular up to the summit. I chose to do the latter. In general I wasn’t impressed by what I found on the top, there were 2 venues selling food and drinks up there, where one of them had a massive terrace that boasted a 360 degree view from the top of the mountain, but in my opinion I would rather have the 360 degree view by default as oppose to having to enter a commercial establishment to get it… it was a letdown from that perspective.

In retrospect I would not have taken a funicular up there as I felt the price was not justifiable for what I found at the top. Unlikely that I would want to visit this mountain again and if I was to do so I’d hike up there instead.

The summit for me was the letdown, but I’ve heard from other people that the hike from Monte Brè to Gandria is very beautiful and provides a great view of the lake and Gandria. This post describes that trail nicely.

Monte San Salvatore

After being disappointed with Monte Brè my hopes were not very high for Monte San Salvatore but time and altitude proved me wrong!

I’ve chosen to hike up there and along the way, as I rose in altitude more and more, the surrounding beauty was revealed, nature slowly but surely overwhelmed the city of Lugano as houses and buildings diminish to the size of ants, the lake stretched and reached out beyond the mountains that gradually become fully observable.

I started off from Paradiso and it took me about 3 hours to get to the top of the mountain. This is roughly the route I took:

Along the way there were a decent amount of public fountains one can use to top up their water containers which do come in handy going uphill. There was at least another hiking route to the summit which seemed to be quicker from what I could gather but it involved rock climbing and they recommended proper hiking kit so I opted with the long but quite walk-able route.

Closer to the summit the views start to become very panoramic and it only gets better and better all way the to the top.

From my experience I’d recommend Monte San Salvatore over Monte Brè as the views on the top were ‘free’ and not nearly as obstructed.

Hope you enjoyed the post. Cheers!