Locarno
The focus of Locarno is the famous Piazza Grande, a busy square surrounded by charming old houses and just off the palm lined lakefront. The Piazza Grande is frequented by locals, who enjoy coming here for a stroll or an espresso as well as for tourists, attracted by the shopping arcades, cafes and restaurants. The most important sight in Locarno is the ‘Santuario della Madonna del Sasso’, on a wooden crag above the resort in Orselina.

Tourist Office Locarno Ascona
Viale Papio 5, 6612 Ascona, Tel. 0848 091 091 http://www.ascona-locarno.com/en/

Ticino Discovery Card
This card entitles holders to free travel around Ticino for 3 days for CHF87.00. You can use it to travel with the public and tourist transportation (bus, train, railway, funicular, cable car or boat) within the Canton Ticino. But that's not all! To enrich the offer there are also several tourist attractions, all included in the price of this advantageous card!

Excursions

Cardada and Cimetta Mountains
From Locarno, you can either take the bus up to Orselina or the funicular from Locarno to Orselina (situated within walking distance of the train station). From Orselina you take the cable car (designed by Mario Botta) to Cardada. The cable car has windows from bottom to top, therefore also kids see a lot. At Cardada, there are various hiking paths, a small playground and two restaurants. There is also the possibility to take the chairlift up to Cimetta. From these two mountain tops, you have an excellent view and lots of walking trails. Ideal for everyone, including older travelers and/or kids.

Centovalli (100 valleys)
Centovalli is the name given to a valley that offers a variety of landscapes, which extends east from the Maggia river delta to the Italian border. A nostalgic and romantic trip not to be missed by rail buffs is the blue and white narrow gauge train that leads past breath-taking gorges with sparkling waterfalls, over spectacular bridges and through colorful fields, vineyards, chestnut groves and sleepy little villages. The Centovalli Railway runs from Locarno to Domodossola (Italy) through the picturesque Centovalli and the Valle Vigezzo in one and a half hour.  

Valle Maggia (Maggia valley)
This deep valley runs for 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Ascona up to Cevio. At the beginning, the valley is wide and covered with vineyards but becomes increasingly rugged with pine and larch forests. Visit the ‘Chiesa Santa Maria delle Grazie’ in Maggia. From outside, this church seems unremarkable but the interior is decorated with frescoes from the 16th and 17th century.
Follow the road and the river Maggia until you reach Fusio. In Mogno, a small hamlet in the Valley Maggia, the famous Ticinese architect Mario Botta designed the extraordinaire ‘Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista’. Seen from the outside, the building is elliptical in shape, with a slanting roof and black and white stripes. The interior has a dizzying checkerboard design in the same colours. The church has no windows, and the interior (which seats about 15 people) is only illuminated by natural light streaming in through the glass roof.

Valle Verzasca (Verzasca valley)
Hidden in the overlooked Italian-speaking canton of Ticino is  the Val Verzasca - the smallest of the valleys lying north of Locarno. Near Lavertezzo, the river is spanned by the Ponte dei Salti (Jumping Bridge), a medieval double-arched bridge. A modern art trail, running for 4 km (3 miles) between Lavertezzo and Brione, is lined with works by 34 Italian, Swiss and German sculptors. At the end of the valley, in Sonogno, you see the typical stone houses of Ticino. There is also a beautiful 18-mile-long trail that runs alongside the turquoise waters of the Verzasca River, accessible via the village of Sonogno. The crowd-free trail passes 13th-century churches and villages, like San Bartolomeo, before reaching the medieval, double-arched Ponte dei Salti in Lavertezzo - where locals plunge into the clear green water below.

Sopraceneri
The Sopraceneri region takes in the whole of the northern two-thirds of the canton of Ticino. Road and rail lines stream down from the Alpine tunnels, bypassing the Ticinese hinterland and funnelling into the cantonal capital Bellinzona, a quietly elegant city often passed over in favour of the lakeside resorts. The real beauty, however, of this rugged region lies in the very hinterland that most people see hurtling past at 110kph. Unspoilt Alto Ticino, comprising a network of wild, pre-Alpine valleys and mountain-top lakelets glittering in clear, crystalline sunshine, holds some of the best walking in the country.

Sottoceneri
The region south of Bellinzona and Locarno is much more developed than the Sopraceneri, with dozens of neat, prosperous towns crammed in between the narrowing international borders to east and west. The principal draw is the sophisticated and stylish city of Lugano, sited on a bay of the glorious Lago di Lugano, which twists out into Italy on both sides. Jutting out into the lake just a stone’s throw from the city is the sun-drenched Ceresio peninsula, dotted with idyllic Italianate country villages and crisscrossed by some of the loveliest easy walks in the canton.

Boat trips on Lake Maggiore
Visitors to Locarno can spend a pleasant afternoon relaxing on a boat and gliding along the water's surface. There are several boat trips available, ranging from a simple crossing ending at the pontoon on the opposite shore (Magadino), at Ascona or Brissago, to a proper excursion including a visit to Stresa and the Iles Borromes.

Art & Architecture in Locarno
The Piazza Grande is the heart of Locarno`s city centre. In the old town, patrician houses with concealed balconies bear witness to the supremacy of this once-wealthy trading metropolis. The Casa Rusca Gallery is one of Locarno`s most beautiful palaces: its huge collection includes works by celebrated Dadaists.

City excursions

Ascona
Ascona lies in a spectacularly sunny bay on Lake Maggiore. It is one of the most exclusive tourist destinations in Switzerland and boasts a beautiful lake promenade, boutiques, a welcoming Lido (public swimming pool), restaurants and magnificent walks in the surroundings. The Old Town of Ascona was built around the 16th century church of ‘Pietro e Paolo’ and exerts a special fascination: an intricate web of lanes containing every kind of shop leads to the piazza, which lies directly on the lake. The panorama opens out over the lake where you will find cafes and restaurants in the sunshine. It is easiest to take the bus from Locarno. Why not travel one way by bus and take the boat for the return trip?

Lugano
A meandering Lake of Lugano and uncountable hills and mountains are surrounding Lugano and the area around it. Lugano is the third financial place in Switzerland after Zurich and Geneva and a holiday destination for many Swiss since the end of 1800's. Along the lake you see lots of Venetian-type villages, showing of the closeness of its neighbor Italy. Words and pictures cannot describe its beauty.

Bellinzona
Everyone passes through Bellinzona, but few people bother to stop. Less than an half an hour from Locarno, this graceful and beautiful old town is the perfect place to draw breath and a mellow introduction to the easy pace of the Ticino. A fortress since Roman times, Bellinzona occupies a prime valley-floor position, holding the keys to the great Alpine passes of the Novena (Nufenen), Gottardo (Gotthard), Lucomagno (Lukmanier) and San Bernadino. Bellinzona lacks the hectic pace, the crowds and the touristic sheen of its bigger neighbors Locarno and Lugano. Gentle Bellinzona is blessed with medieval architecture and picturesque churches galore, and also serves as the main access point for excursions into the wild and little-known Alto Ticino (Soprageneri) region.

Shopping
Most of the shopping is done under the arcades of Piazza Grande or in the Old Town and in Ascona. There is a cluster of fashionable boutiques along Piazza Grande, the centerpiece of the town's shopping district, but overall, shoppers usually do best by wandering through the town's three department stores.

Museums

The Castle of Locarno
The ‘Castello Visconteo’ served as the seat of the Visconti Dukes of Milan from 1513 to 1798. It is now an archaeological museum, housing Locarnese artefacts from the late Bronze Age to the High Middle Ages. The show-piece is the collection of Roman glasses excavated in Ticino. The Castle is located near the large traffic roundabout.

Restaurants
Pizzeria Dell’Angelo – Pizza and other Italian specialties (at the end of Piazza Grande – Tel 091 751 8175)
Ristorante Sensi – International cuisine, specialty Spaghetti Carbonara (Viale Verbano 9 – Tel. 091 743 1717)