I was recently watching the Travel Channel and I only caught part of the story - but they were showing a gorgeous region of Switzerland called the Ticino Region. They also mentioned Ascona and Bellazino - anyone know anything about this area ? I can't find anything.

If you do a search on Bellinzano, Ascona, or Locarno you'll find some information about this region. It's one of my favorite destinations. This Italian part of Switzerland is a little bit like Italy lite. It has all of the great things about Italy (food, language, wine, enthusiasm) but none of the inconveniences (train strikes, laundry hanging out windows). My favorite hotel is Albergo Navegna, on the Lake (Lago Maggiore) in Locarno.

Bellinzona is a beautiful town with three ancient Roman castles. You can visit all three. It's a popular region for hiking, bicycling, water sports and music festivals.

Thanks Catbert - can you also tell me where should we fly into ? and then a train ? Any info that you have I will greatly appreciate.

Hi Jersey - I loved Ticino!!! We stayed in Locarno and visited Ascona and Bellinzona - the fortresses or castles? at Bellinzona were so cool! I think it would be easy enough to fly into Zurich and take a train to Locarno. From there you can train or bus or ferry to many places if you don't want to drive. When you do a search here for Locarno, there are a couple of good trip reports, one from Grasshopper who took the Centrovalley train. I didn't get to do it but want to next time.

I stayed at Hotel du Lac and thought it was very nice. We walked to everything from here.

I agree, it is Italy lite! Have a great time!

I'm sure one of our Switzerland experts will give you train directions from Zurich.

Lago Maggiore straddles Italy and Switzerland. Stresa is only an hour by train from Milan but is on the Italian end of the lake. It would be possible to take a ferry from Stresa to Locarno. As I recall it took only a couple of hours (or less) for the fast boat.

I should have included the Swiss rail system URL:
http://www.sbb.ch/en/

There is a train station at the Zurich airport, which you would take to Zurich main station. From there you will switch trains. Depending on the time, you stay on the train to Locarno or have to change trains in Bellinzona. The ride is about 3 hours.

I drove there and it was a big highway most of the way, so pretty easy. You do drive through a long tunnel (St. Gottard, spelling?). If I were just arriving that day, I'd probably take the train. If you need a car, you can pick one up in Locarno.

I looks like the train from Milan is a bit shorter - just over 2 hours. And it looks like you have to change trains at least once. Getting from Malpensa to the central train station is not as easy as it is from the airport in Zurich to the main train station though, IMHO.

Good work Cl2paris! I agree... Zurich! The scenery along the way is so nice. Bellinzano to Locarno is only about 15 minutes.

Another fan of the Ticino checking in. Also stayed in Locarno, because I was training, but others are big fans of Ascona.

Milano is probably closest for the flight.

But I loved the way we traveled--flew into Geneva, spent a few days traveling around the lake, stayed above Montreux in a small town, Glion and visiting Vevey, Lausanne, Roches de Naye.

Then took the train from Montreux through the Rhone Valley - gorgeous - to Domodossola. From there, the train to Locarno travels through the Centovalli. I had read many enthusiastic descriptions of this train ride, and it lived up to my expectations.

Sorry to have missed the Travel Channel episode. Best wishes, SusanEva

Hi JerseySue,

Just to summarize your airport choices:

Milan will be closer, but more difficult (more changes): getting from the airport to the train station, etc.

Zurich will be about an hour or 90 minutes farther away, but it will be easier to get to the train station, which is just underneath the airport. There is at least one connection where you only make one change.

Use the site cls2paris gave you to investigate the route options --

Also consider that if you land in Milan, you'll need Euros at the airport & train station, but Swiss Francs in Switzerland; if you land in Zurich, all you need is Swiss Franks. This may be a small deal to you --

Best of luck!

s

You could fly into Paris or another major city and then catch a connecting flight into Lugano airport. It's a beautiful ride, the descent is steep, so not recommended for nervous flyers...
My husband's uncle lived in the Ticino for many years, so we got to know the area pretty well. We prefer Lugano to Locarno, but that's just a personal preference.
The three castles in Bellinzona are interesting. They do live opera in the summer at the largest (and lowest); the view from the smallest (and highest) castle is wonderful and you can do a pleasant hike down from the top back into town (take a taxi to the top and hike down).
The Lake Lugano 3 hour tourist cruise is very pleasant and we recommend it highly. To best enjoy it, sit inside, next to a window (the windows roll down). You get the same views as the people sitting outside, but without the sunburn.
Lugano itself has a lovely city park, a nice little art museum, some pretty walks among cobblestone streets, a good public beach for swimming and a couple of funiculars to the top of local montains (San Salvatore, Monte Bre). Among the most pleasant villages along the lake shore are Morcote and Gandria (we prefer Morcote).
If you fly into Zurich, check the sbb.ch web site frequently before you go. They occasionally run web specials with low fares from Zurich to the main Ticino cities.. as low as 14 Sfr.

http://www.burttravels.com/pdf/ticino.pdf

http://gambarognoturismo.ch/framewor...?newlang=en-US


Here are two places to begin exploring. The first, a pdf file from Burt Wolf's excellent intro to the different sections of Switzerland, and the second, a website for my own personal favorite -- the Swiss shore of Maggiore across from Ascona. Its villages are accessible by train, bus, and boat, but they do not have the elan of Ascona or Brissago. I base in Gerra-Gambarogno at the Albergo Panorama (two-star wonder).

Don't miss Lugano, however, along with its lovely lake villages of Morcote and Gandria. In fact, many folks visiting Ticino stay on Lugano's lake instead of Maggiore. You cannot go wrong.

It's fun to do a Google Image search for the towns: Try Bellinzona, Ascona, Brissago, Morcote, Gandria, Gerra-Gambarogno, Locarno, and Lugano to start.

May I agree that landing in Zurich and training from there is a delightful approach? Majestic scenery, village architecture that changes with each 100 miles or so.

Later, J.

Jmw44 is certainly correct in naming some wonderful Ticino towns. When we go to Ascona for our fall week vacation, we try to explore some of the valleys near Locarno. You'll see small stone villages hanging on to steep mountain slopes and looking as they did one hundred years ago. Breathtaking.

Also, we visited the island of Brissago last fall. It's a small island in Lago Maggiore with vegetation from all over the world. There's a legend that almost one hundred years ago, the owner requested his female visitors to unclothe during their stay on the island.

Next year, we would like to explore Centovalle with it's unending curves.