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Lake Lugano trip planner
A vacation guide to Lake Lugano, the lake split between Italy and Switzerland
Lake Lugano. (Photo by Aconcagua)
Lake Lugano is one of those wonderful natural formations that underscores the arbitrariness of political boundaries, snaking from Italy through Switzerland and back into Italy again.
Though, geographically, it is located smack in between Lake Maggiore and Lake Como in Italy, politically speaking most of the lake is actually Swiss.
Switzerland in miniature
(Photos by Andreas Passwirth) The lake's (Swiss) capital city of Lugano is thoroughly missable, but to its south—outside Melide, at the west end of the bridge crossing the tight southerly bend of the lake—is the delightfully kitsch Swiss Miniatur (www.swissminiatur.ch).
This is the European version of a roadside attraction, one of those contrived holiday-spot sights that nonetheless manages somehow to be intriguing.
It is a vaguely accurate 3-D "map" of Switzerland, laid out as a small park, with all of the nation's major monuments (cathedrals, castles, lakes, airports) reproduced at 1/25 size.
Campione d'Italia: A slice of Italy in Switzerland
Lake Lugano's main attraction is the resort town of Campione d'Italia, one of those quriks of the geopolitical map: It's an Italian enclave set firmly within Switzerland's boundaries.
Though surrounded on all sides by Switzerland, Campione clings proudly to its Italian identity as a slightly more raucous, more Mediterranean-style cultural island of pizza restaurants and gambling casinos marooned amid the otherwise more staid, more "Swiss" shoreline.
Planning your trip to Lake Lugano
- Hotels in Lugano
• Lugano Dante Center Swiss Quality Hotel [€€€€]
• Hotel Splendide Royal [€€€€]
• Continental Parkhotel [€€€€]
• Grand Hotel Villa Castagnola au Lac [€€€€€]
• Hotel & Hostel Montarina [€]
» More hotels in Lugano (Venere, Booking) Lake Lugano tourist office: The official tourism site is www.luganoturismo.ch. - How to get to Lake Lugano: It really is best to drive around these parts, but you can also catch a train to Lugano from Como (25–40 min.) or Milan (1 hr.).
Getting to Campione (53–87 min. from Como; 2 hr. from Milan) is a bit trickier, involving a train change in Chiasso to a local line, then getting off the train in Melide, Switzerland to grab a bus.
[Note: not all connections are listed on Italy's www.trenitalia.com site; you should probably instead use Switzerand's www.sbb.ch to research train times and fares.] - How to get around Lake Lugano: If you don't have a rental car, the easiest way is by train and bus (www.sbb.ch covers both) or by boat (www.lakelugano.ch), with both scheduled ferries and lake cruises available.
Related pages
- Major Italian lakes: Como, Garda, Maggiore
- Middlin' Italian lakes: Iseo, Orta
- Minor Italian lakes: Lugano, Idro, Varese
- The Lazio lake district (just north of Rome)
- Other destinations in Lombardy
- Switzerland [at ReidsGuides.com]
www.luganoturismo.ch
Hotels in Lugano
• Lugano Dante Center Swiss Quality Hotel [€€€€]
• Hotel Splendide Royal [€€€€]
• Continental Parkhotel [€€€€]
• Grand Hotel Villa Castagnola au Lac [€€€€€]
• Hotel & Hostel Montarina [€]
» More hotels in Lugano (Venere, Booking)
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This material was last updated January 2012. All information was accurate at the time.
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Copyright © 2008–2012 by Reid Bramblett. Author: Reid Bramblett
Hotels On Lake Lugano
• Da Candida - Elegant, Michelin-starred restaurant in Campione d'Italia mixing French and Italian cuisine, famed for its homemade fois gras and the polenta slow-cooked over the dining room's open fireplace. (Via Marco 4; tel. +41-(0)91-649-7541; www.dacandida.net; Closed Mon and lunch Tues )
