Need trip suggestions for 2 days and 3 nights in Lugano in early Oct with 3 adults and 2 kids. Not too much of hiking group. Interested in scenic areas.

I am planning to spend some time just walking around the town an evening/night. Is a day trip to San Salvatore or Mt Bre worth it, considering I have already spent a week in BO/Jungfrau etc and hiked up Pilatus?

Is a journey via either Bernina route (train) or Maloja pass (post bus) worth it? I don't think the entire route to St Moritz is possible as day trip however is part of the journey worth it? I have a swiss pass already?

Any other ideas?

We took a 1/2 day trip up Mount Bre which was lovely. No mountain hiking but easy paths/trails to walk around. You should definitely look into a lake cruise. We did cruises in both directions and enjoyed both. the one to Gandria is shorter. The one to Ponte Tresa is a lot longer but very scenic. http://www.lakelugano.ch/en/49/morning_cruises.aspx

In Ponte Tresa, there are 2 separate stops for the boat. The first is the Italian section of Ponte Tresa; the second is the Swiss section of Ponte Tresa. We got off in the first stop (Italian), then proceeded to walk across the bridge to re-enter Swizterland. Your kids may find that interesting (my brother, age 40, thought that was really fun). We then took the train from Ponte Tresa back to Lugano.

Or, you could get off at Swissminatur if you think your kids will enjoy that. http://www.lakelugano.ch/en/62/swissminiatur.aspx It's served by the same ferry that goes to Ponte Tresa.

Boat cruises are covered by Swiss Pass.

Here is my LUGANO section from my trip report from last year:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...omment-6723684

I would go to Menaggio on Lago Como--only an hour to the east.

Thanks for your replies. We stayed in Ponte Tresa (20 mins train ride to Lugano)

On day 1 we ended up doing the cruise from Ponte Tresa to Lugano with stops at Morcote and Lugano. Morcote was really beautiful and then spent the rest of the day in Lugano people watching, park and then just strolling round the town). Very enjoyable day.

Day 2 - we took a day trip to Valle verzasca (Sonogno). Very scenic, had a nice hike to the top of the hill for the waterfalls. Very different from rest of the things done in BO. All in all a very enjoyable two days.

I have done the Bernina Pass railway as a day trip from Lugano - taking Majola Pass bus there and hopping Bernina to Tirano and then bus back but I would not recommend it - all day on buses or trains.

But the Bernina Railway is IMO Europe's most fantastically scenic railway and personally have found Lugano too antiseptic to be really romantic with a paucity IME of interesting things to do other than boat rides on the lake which may not be running at full steam when you are there. I would suggest take the bus to St Moritz and doing the Bernina Pass rail route as a day trip from there and then going on to wherever you wish and ditching Lugano to one day - that is my opinion only of course.

Check out these sources for loads of goodies on Swiss trains - www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.ricksteves.com; www.seat61.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - the latter has a good rundown of the Bernina Pass rail route.

If you want to taste a bit of Italy you can go by train to Ponte Tresa as pbindigo says and walk over the bridge into Italy or you can take a boat on Lake Lugano to an Italian enclave completely surrrounded by Switzerland.