Lugano is the pearl of the Canton of Ticino: the language is Italian, you pay in francs and the old centre is pedestrian, closed in between the gulf of the lake and the two mountains that frame it, San Salvatore and Brè. For anyone arriving by motorhome the choice is clear cut: the only motorhome area in town sits next to the station, with a handful of bays that fill up early, or you stop at the campsites on the Gulf of Agno, a few kilometres away, and go into the city by train.
Sleeping
Stops and overnight stays
One motorhome area in the city, next to the station, and two campsites on the Gulf of Agno a few kilometres from the centre.
Area Sosta Camper Lugano Centro
Via Montarina / Via Tassino, Lugano
the only official area for motorhomes almost in the centre, next to the railway station: ten or fifteen minutes on foot from the lakefront, and the trains for the rest of the canton leave from there. Maximum stay 48 hours, payment at the automatic machine with coins in francs or euros, or by card. There are few places and they go early at weekends and in high season, so it is worth arriving in the morning. Being close to the tracks, it can be noisy.
8 to 12 bays
WaterGrey waterChemical toiletElectricityWi-Fi
20 to 24 CHF for 24 hours, with hourly rates for short stops
a four star site on the Gulf of Agno, with a swimming pool, a private beach, a restaurant serving Ticinese cooking and entertainment for children. The pitches run from 60 to 84 square metres, on grass, all with a 10 amp socket; emptying grey and black water is included in the pitch price, and the wifi is free. There is a swimming pool, with a paddling pool for children. The gate is open from 8 to 22 and pitches are taken between 13:30 and 21:00. The bus stop and the Cappella-Agnuzzo station are a kilometre away, and from there fifteen minutes by train to the centre of Lugano; by bicycle it is twenty minutes. You come off the A2 motorway at the Lugano Nord exit, then follow Agno and the airport: at Agno turn left towards the airport and after a hundred metres right, following the signs. The Ticino Ticket is included in the stay.
a family run campsite of fifty years standing, right on the lake near the Lugano-Agno airport, with level pitches in the shade of old trees and a large private beach. There is a service point for motorhomes, electricity reaches every pitch but is charged for, and so is the washing machine; the wifi on the other hand is free, and the showers and sinks have hot water. The supermarkets are on the other side of the road. The train stop is five minutes on foot and the centre of Lugano a quarter of an hour away; the Italian border is close. You come off the A2 motorway at the Lugano Nord exit, following the Agno airport. The Ticino Ticket is included in the stay.
The Ticino Ticket comes with an overnight stay at a campsite in the canton and lasts the whole stay: town and country buses, regional trains and lake boats free, plus discounts on cable cars and museums
The old centre is pedestrian and is walked in twenty or thirty minutes: from the lakefront to Piazza della Riforma is five minutes on foot, from the station to the lakefront ten
Town buses every 10 to 15 minutes: single ticket 2.80 CHF, day ticket from 4.60 CHF
By train: Bellinzona 25 minutes, Locarno 40 minutes, Chiasso and the Italian border 20 minutes
The Monte San Salvatore funicular from Paradiso: 12 minutes, every half hour from 9 to 18, in summer until 23, return ticket 30 CHF
The Monte Brè funicular from Cassarate: 14 minutes in two sections, every half hour from 9 to 19, return ticket 25 CHF
Boats from April to October for Gandria, Morcote, Melide and Ponte Tresa; the full tour of the lake takes about three hours
Cycle paths along the lake: the Lugano-Agno-Ponte Tresa route is 15 km and flat, hire costs 25 to 35 CHF a day
Parking in the centre costs 3 to 4 CHF an hour: with a motorhome it is better to leave it parked up and travel on public transport
Seeing
Sights
The first two are the mountains that close the gulf, reached by the funiculars; the other three stand in the pedestrian centre, a few minutes from one another. Tap a marker on the map to open its entry below.
1
Monte San Salvatore
Viewpoint · paid entry · 45.97696, 8.94726
912 metres, the mountain that stands for Lugano, called the Balcony of Italy for its full circle of horizon over the lake, the Alps and the Po Valley. On clear days you see Monte Rosa, the Matterhorn, Lake Maggiore, Lake Como and Milan. The funicular leaves from Paradiso and climbs in twelve minutes; Paradiso is ten minutes from the centre on the number 2 bus, or twenty on foot along the lakefront. At the top there are a small museum on the geology and the history of the mountain, a panoramic restaurant and a little church, and the paths start there for walking down to Carona, Pazzallo or Paradiso in an hour and a half. There is a via ferrata as well. The summit is cool even in summer, so dress in layers.
Opening hours funicular from Paradiso, one every 30 minutes, 09:00-18:00; in summer until 23:00 · 30 CHF return for adults, reduced with the Ticino Ticket or the Swiss Half-Fare Card · +41 91 985 28 28 · montesansalvatore.ch
925 metres, held to be the sunniest mountain in Switzerland, with a view further east than San Salvatore, over the lake and the Lombard Prealps. The funicular leaves from Lugano-Cassarate and climbs in fourteen minutes over two sections; Cassarate is reached on the number 1 bus from the centre or on foot along the lakefront in a quarter of an hour. At the top stands the village of Brè, an old artists' village closed to traffic, with cobbled lanes, coloured stone houses and some twenty contemporary artworks along the Sentiero degli Artisti. You can walk up and down as well, on marked paths, in about an hour and a half.
Opening hours funicular from Lugano-Cassarate, one every 30 minutes, 09:00-19:00 · 25 CHF return for adults, reduced with the Ticino Ticket · +41 91 971 31 71
it stands in Salita della Cattedrale, five minutes on foot from the station, and holds Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and baroque together: the facade is considered a masterpiece of the Lombard Renaissance. Founded in the eleventh century and enlarged between the fifteenth and the sixteenth, it has a Romanesque bell tower reworked in the seventeenth century which now carries nine bells. Inside you see the marble high altar, the wooden choir, an octagonal baptismal font of 1430 and the Cappella della Madonna delle Grazie, with columns, frescoes and a marble altar. From its raised position you look out over the city and the lake.
the main square of the old centre, ringed by pastel coloured neoclassical palaces and by porticos, with the tables of the cafes outside. It was called Piazza Grande and took its present name in memory of the 1830 reform of the cantonal constitution. On one side stands the Palazzo Civico, the neoclassical town hall of the mid nineteenth century, with its ochre yellow facade. The Christmas market and the 1 August celebrations are held here; on Tuesday and Friday mornings there is the market of flowers, fruit and vegetables. The Gran Caffè al Porto has been open since 1803, and from the square run Via Nassa, with the luxury shops, and Via Pessina.
the cultural centre of the Canton of Ticino, contemporary architecture, with halls for concerts, theatre and dance and the MASI, the art museum of Italian Switzerland. The collections and the exhibitions run from the Renaissance to contemporary art, with an eye on Swiss and Ticinese artists. The building has panoramic terraces over the lake and a cafe with a view, and the library is open to the public free of charge. The programme of concerts and performances is online.
To be checked on the official website · +41 58 866 42 22 · luganolac.ch
Next: Mercatino di Natale, the Christmas market · 26 Nov - 6 Jan
26 Nov › 6Jan
Mercatino di Natale, the Christmas market
late November to late December
Piazza della Riforma fills with wooden huts of craftwork, decorations and Ticinese produce, and with stalls of mulled wine, hot chocolate, roast chestnuts and raclette. A giant tree, lights all over the centre and live music. Free to enter, roughly 10:00 to 20:00, very crowded at weekends.
1Aug
Festa nazionale svizzera, Swiss National Day
1 August
in the evening the procession from Via Nassa to Piazza della Riforma, the official speeches and the grottini, the food stalls, in the square, then the fireworks over the bay, the "Sinfonia di luce", seen from the lakefront. In bad weather the fireworks move to the next day.
This year's dates are not out yet
LongLake Festival
July
for two and a half weeks the city becomes an open air stage: music, jazz and blues included, theatre, urban art, the street performers of the Buskers festival in the centre and a family village between the Palazzo dei Congressi and Parco Ciani. More than 250 events, most of them free. Programme at longlake.ch and luganoeventi.ch.
Remember
Useful tips
The climate is mild all year: in spring it is 15 to 20 degrees, in summer it is hot and weekends are crowded, autumn is warm and quieter, winter stays between 5 and 10 degrees but it rains more often
Switzerland is expensive: do the shopping at Migros, Coop or Denner, the self service canteens at Manor and Migros are 15 to 20 CHF, and the grotti outside the centre cost less than the tourist restaurants. The tap water is good, and churches, parks and the lakefront cost nothing
The currency is the Swiss franc, worth roughly 1.05 to 1.10 euros. Many shops take euros but give change in francs at a poor rate, and cards are used everywhere
The A2 motorway needs the annual Swiss vignette, 40 CHF, and it is compulsory
To taste besides the risotto: polenta with braised beef or mortadella, alpine cheeses such as zincarlin, busecca, lake fish in carpione, the local cured meats and the traditional sweets, bread cake, amaretti and tortelli. In the grotti ask for the Ticinese platter with a glass of Merlot
Day trips by train: Bellinzona and its three UNESCO castles 25 minutes away, Locarno and the Brissago Islands 40, Monte Generoso with the rack railway up to 1704 metres, Swissminiatur at Melide and the Alprose chocolate museum at Caslano, twenty minutes and 19.90 CHF. Gandria and Morcote are reached by boat
The Italian border is twenty minutes away, at Chiasso, and for EU citizens an identity card is enough. Coming back into Switzerland with shopping done in Italy the limits are 1 kg of meat, 5 litres of wine and 1 litre of spirits, and customs checks are frequent
With children the two funiculars work well, and so do Swissminiatur, the playground in Parco Ciani and a swim in the lake at the Lido di Lugano or from the campsite beaches
80 g of butter, 50 for the soffritto and 30 for the finishing
100 g of Ticinese alpine cheese in small dice, or grated Sbrinz or Parmigiano Reggiano
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 sprig of fresh rosemary, optional
2 fresh robiolini to garnish, optional
Method
take the casing off the luganighetta and crumble it coarsely with your hands or a fork, leaving the pieces clearly visible
keep the meat broth simmering in a separate pan: it has to stay hot all through the cooking of the risotto
in a wide, shallow pan with a heavy base melt 50 g of butter with two tablespoons of oil, then soften the chopped onion over a medium low heat for two or three minutes, until it turns clear without colouring
add the crumbled luganighetta, raise the heat to medium and brown it for five or six minutes, stirring often; if you are using the rosemary, put it in now
tip in the rice and toast it for two or three minutes, until the grains are translucent at the edges and still white in the middle
deglaze with half the Merlot, 1 dl, and stir until the wine has evaporated completely, about two minutes
add the boiling broth a ladle at a time, waiting until it is nearly absorbed before the next one, and stir often for sixteen or eighteen minutes, never covering the pan
after a quarter of an hour taste it, and two minutes before the end pour in the rest of the Merlot and stir
turn off the heat, take out the rosemary, add the 30 g of cold butter and the cheese, cover and let it rest for a minute, then beat it with brisk circular movements for half a minute, until the risotto flows in a wave
season with salt and pepper carefully, because sausage and cheese are savoury already, and serve at once on hot plates, with a few slices of robiolino if you like
the big ciao Lugano sign in red and white letters on the shore, with the lake and the mountains behindthe lit Christmas tree in Piazza della Riforma at sunset, among the palaces and the peoplethe portico in the centre with trees in pots and the tables of the cafesthe flight of steps going down to the lake between the roofs, with a stone bell tower and the gulf behinda wrought iron gate open onto the lake, with cobbled paving and the mountains in the hazethe arch of branches and red bows at the entrance to the Christmas market, with the wooden huts and the lake
