Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Around Lake Lugano
The Lugano tourist office has guides to some of the best lakeside walks.
Gandria
Gandria is a compact village almost dipping into the water. They say the glacier that
formed this part of the lake dug so deep that the lake waters here actually reach below sea
level! A popular trip is to take the boat from Lugano and walk back along the shore to
Castagnola (around 40 minutes) - ask at Lugano's tourist office for its
The Olive Tree
Path
brochure.
Across the lake from Gandria is the
Museo delle Dogane Svizzere
(Swiss Customs Museum; 091
923 98 43; admission free; 1.30-5.30pm Apr
-
mid-Oct)
, at Cantine di Gandria, and accessible by
boat. It tells the history of customs (and, more interestingly, smuggling) in this border
area. On display are confiscated smugglers' boats that once operated on the lake.
There's a small
information booth
(
10am-8pm Mar-Nov)
in town.
079 331 30 65; Gandria;
Monte Generosa
The fine panorama provided by this summit (1704m) includes lakes, the Alps and the
Apennines - the clearer the conditions, the further you can see. It's possible to make out
Milan and key points in the Swiss Alps, such as Monte Rosa, the Matterhorn and the
Jungfrau. Indeed, it is a 360-degree sweeping view and it is easily the most spectacular
viewpoint in all of the Canton of Ticino.
To get here, take a boat (except in winter), train (Sfr6.50, 17 minutes) or car to Capo-
lago. From there, jump on the rack-and-pinion
train
(
091 630 51 11;
www.montegeneroso.ch
;
re-
up to 9 a day mid-Mar
-
mid-Oct)
.
turn adult/reduced Sfr42/21;
Montagnola
German novelist Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) chose to live in this small town in 1919
after the horrors of WWI had separated him from his family. As crisis followed crisis in
Germany, topped by the rise of the Nazis, he saw little reason to return home. He wrote
some of his greatest works here, at first in an apartment in Casa Camuzzi. Nearby, in
Torre Camuzzi, is the
Museo Hermann Hesse
(
091 993 37 70;
www.hessemontagnola.ch
;
Torre Camuzzi;
