Lugano General Tips by call_me_rhia

Favorite Thing: it's a bit of a cliché but for once it's true... Lugano has a bit of both Italy and Switzerland. italian charm and swiss cleanliness and efficiency. Nothing too exciting ever happens, but it's quite pleasant to spend a few days here, or even a lifetime, and it's hassle-free. On the down-side you get to pay swiss prices here (ok so this is a form of criminality maybe) - but if you are wise you can get by on a budget too: after all it's much (much!) cheaper than London, and the air is clean and free... so if you can afford London, you can surely afford Lugano. It may not be as spectacular - or as fashionable - as the big L, but I can guarantee you'll have a good time anyway. A word of warning: not many people speak English: if you know italian, french or german, by all means use them.

Fondest Memory: In the summer the free music festivals - in the winter - the absolute quiet - the town goes to sleep.

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Favorite Thing: Lugano is a small town and the centre is very compact, so you can easily walk it. Start from Piazza Cioccaro where the funicular arrives. Walk into the old town passing by the little veggie market and then go right: you'll find yourself under the arcades of the fashionable via Nassa (highlight: the prices of the jewellery shops) - walk until the end - and you'll find a unassuming church: Chiesa degli Angeli. Ugly outside and decarated with amazing frescos inside: it's worth a long stop. As you leave the church go back in the same direction where you came from, but along the lake until you reach the town's park: Parco Ciani. Right outside the park there's a wooden structure - realy nice at night when lit up - it's to commemorate a local architect: Francesco Borromini, who built a lot of churches in Rome. The park is nice to stroll about and there's a villa in the middle with interesting art exhibits. leave the park from the entrance in front of the villa and cross over the road - and go across the modern (and tiny) Quartiere Maghetti. When you come out you should be in front of the Museum of Modern Art - they normally have really great exhibits too - and if you keep walking straight after a while you'll end up in a large square: piazza Riforma, the main square... there's several cafés there to sit down and relax. And behind piazza Riforma, there's the place where you started your walk from: Piazza Cioccaro


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