About Lugano

General Information

With some 100,000 inhabitants in the Greater Lugano area, Lugano, home of well-known stucco-workers, is the major city in the canton Ticino. Here art and culture are heavily inspired by Switzerland's close Southern neighbor. Italian influence also becomes evident in the official language of the region, which is Italian and spoken by 84% of the population. Principal attractions have always been the extremely mild climate, delightful scenery, luxuriant vegetation, the good bathing facilities and romantic walks and rides. The Lugano Lake region is quite exceptional in enabling visitors to combine professional activities with leisure time. In the last few years Lugano has developed rapidly, becoming an international financial and conference center and one of Switzerland's foremost cultural attractions.

Excursions

Boat trips are very recommended for a overall impression of the lake and its surrounding mountains as well as for daily excursions. There are so many picturesque lakeside villages, built at the steep mountain slopes offering delightful surprises round every corner.

Melide

South of Lugano, the resort of Melide is renowned as the site of Swissminiatur, a scale model reproduction of the most important sites in Switzerland.

Gandria

This unspoiled village at the foot of Monte Bre is a community of narrow streets, inaccessible to cars, with good restaurants and very close to the Italian border.

Campione

Campione is a typical Italian enclave situated on the Lugano lake, completely surrounded by Swiss territory. It is well-known for its casino and the "Madonna dei Ghirli" (swallows) built in the 9th century.

Monte San Salvatore

The funicular in Lugano-Paradiso takes you to this 2995 feet/ 912 m high mountain within 15 minutes. From the summit you can enjoy a lovely view over Lugano, the lake and many different mountains.

Museums

Galleria Baumgartner, Mendrisio

The aim of the Galleria Baumgartner is to preserve private collections of model railways, plus other types of models. They campaign to promote the building of model railways as an excellent hobby for both children and adults, and to encourage this, they also organise courses, seminars and auctions. The museum houses a permanent exhibition as well as new ideas and inventions by factories and engineers of model railways and accessories. Also housed in the museum are small model cars in various sizes, replicas of Märklin-models, the collection of Arnaldo Pocher, models of old sailing and steam boats as well as models of the modern motor boats of the Lake Lugano Shipping Company. Visitors are actively involved - they can bring their own trains with them and use the tracks (various gauges available) where compatible. The Galleria Baumgartner also exhibits loaned or donated old toys and works with model railway engineers, institutions, commercial and transportation companies and the Swiss Railway and Shipping Company, as well as with other exhibitors such as museums, etc.

Chocolate museum "Alprose", Caslano

The Alprose chocolate museum in Caslano presents the world of chocolate from the origins to this day.

Your visit at the museum ends in the "Nostalgia" shop, where you can taste the rich variety of Alprose products just as you like and certainly buy some of this delicious chocolate at attractive price.

Hotels in Lugano

Hotel LUGANODANTE star_white

Lugano

The LUGANODANTE is an elegant first class hotel with free Wi-fi Internet and situated in the heart of the historical old town, only 1 minute by rack railway from the railway station and 200 meters from the lake.

Frühstück inbegriffen

Kostenlos WLAN

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Acquarello Swiss Quality Hotel star_white

Lugano

Hotel Acquarello is situated in the very heart of Lugano, close to the lake and at the foot of the funicular which operates between the main square and the railway station.

Frühstück inbegriffen

Kostenlos WLAN

Hotel entdecken Jetzt buchen 360° panorama