village – INLUGANO

Mendrisiotto / seseglio

This was a spur of the moment decision. It finally stopped raining after 2 days and we wouldn’t or better yet couldn’t stay at home any more.

This hike is part of Mendrisiotto vineyards itineraries. They are 3 in total. We have chosen the one that starts in Seseglio. We knew right away we will not be able to finish it [10,5 km]. We started our journey at 3 o’clock and don’t forget we have a 4 year old and a baby in the carrier.

Anyway, in the end we hiked 8 km and miss only a bit of the official itinerary.

I would definitely recommend to do this hike NOW. It’s just gorgeous. Still sunny and warm and green everywhere you look. I’m sure there are poems about the perfection of strolling through the vineyards.

We started in Seseglio and followed the trail. We did the suggested shortcut after point 5 through Pedrinate where we connected with the original path again.

The first half of the hike is a mix of going uphill through the woods until you reach beautiful vineyard, because of which you forget about the sweaty part only to start climbing up again to see new one

From Pedrinate is basically only going down back to Seseglio where everything began.

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.

PRADA VILLAGE

This circular hike was a really nice surprise for us. I didn’t find much information about this village beforehand nor did i know we could connect it with one of the Bellinzona’s castles.

We started in Bellinzona’s acquedotto comunale. From there we followed the red towards the forest. This first part of the hike is all uphill but it’s doable. The surroundings are changing and it’s only about 30 min. After this there is no more uphill. Promise

Soon enough you’re going to see a church through the trees . Could it be? Yes, it’s Prada village. My son had fun exploring the remaining parts of the houses. Check http://www.fondazione-prada.ch/ and you can help to preserve this medieval village.