Grotto – INLUGANO

FOROGLIO – CALNEGIA

Foroglio waterfall is one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Ticino. We came to see it numerous times. It’s a perfect day trip with yours out of town guests. For a possible itinerary you can check my previous post: https://inlugano.com/2018/06/21/foroglio-waterfall-vallemaggia/

This time we wanted to have a look to the Val Calnegia so we chose a part of “Percorso della transumanza” from Foroglio to Gerra. (unfortunately we didn’t have time to reach Calnegia village)

After we fuelled our energy levels (we had a coffee and a fantastic home made chocolate cake in Grotto La Froda) we tackled the 30 min. climb to Puntid. (Just to remind you we hike with a 4 year old and a baby in the carrier.) You basically hike to the top of the waterfall.

It looks like much, but you can do it (have some chocolate cake before) and what’s more, it is soooo worth the climb.

How cute is the stone bridge? Shorty after Puntid we had fun exploring Spluia Bela

From there the path slightly climbs up to Gerra. This village was truly magical. On the way there we ate tuns of alpine strawberries, I took it as a sign that there are not that many tourist around here. That and the fact we met only 2 other hikers.

Gerra represents for me Ticino. Beautiful, ever so green, rocky and bit unappreciated.

Since this is not a circular walk, at this point, we had to start thinking of the way back, the time and the hunger. We leave Calnegia for another time.

Before going home we had a super late lunch in Grotto La Froda (thank God they serve hot meals all day long.) It’s really a must if you visit Foroglio. Not only the view (wow), the food (mmm) but the history of this place (whaaat???) that is worth stopping.

SENTIERO DEI GROTTI

Let’s situate ourselves. We are in beautiful Val Maggia, easy one hour drive from Lugano, in a village called Cevio. We left our car in the parking lot of a local school just in front of the Valmaggia Museum.

Sentiero dei grotti is a short (45min) hike. It’s not really a hike it’s an easy circular walk suitable for anyone who can climb some stairs. In reality it is an extension of the Valmaggia museum because it shows you how people of this region lived, coexist and took advantage of sometimes impossibly rocky terrain. Over 60 grottoes can be seen, which have been dug between boulders that had come from a huge landslide. “Grotto” meaning a cave or a cellar.

I would definitely recommend this plan for the whole family. We went with friends and the kids had blast discovering new caves on the way. We took torches and suddenly boring walk became an exciting expedition . For adults it is interesting too. You will be amazed how locals embrace the nature and what they have built on seemingly impossible land.

After the walk we ate in Grotto Franci located just 70 m. from the museum.

After the lunch we had to go check an amazing playground with a bike circuit which is not that easy to find situated just next to the parking lot.

We didn’t want to finish our day yet so we went to see small village called Boschetto only about 5 km from Cevio. We walked the circuit around the village we found in a tourist brochure. It’s an super easy 30 minutes walk around nice old village.

I’ve enjoyed it a lot but if you have only have time to see one thing before going home I would rather recommend our last stop of the day: “Cascata Grande” in Bignasco. 5 km from Cevio in opposite direction.

SENTIERO DELLE MERAVIGLIE

One of the hikes from brochures you can get in tourist info centers. This particular one is in Malcantone area. It’s circular and has around 7 km. [Some site i’ve seen before the hike stated that the total time of this hike is about 2 hours, which be aware, specially with younger children, is NOT. It took us almost double]

What I particularly like about this hike is that there are many points of interest on the way and my son couldn’t wait what else awaits us.

Specially “Miniere Baglioni e Franzi” impressed us.

Another stop we enjoyed was “Castello di Miglieglia”

There are couple of “serious” downhill uphill situations in the end of this circular hike so just be prepared for this. I can’t wait to come back in summer when you can enjoy more the rivers you cross, the grotto you pass and the longer days.