Our week on Lake Lugano

The lakes region had been on my list for a long time: Lago di Lugano, Lago di Como, Lago Maggiore, Lago di Garda and the others… An area I didn’t yet know. At the end of August, we spent a week on the shores of Lake Lugano with the children and the grandparents. Lake Lugano lies on the border between Switzerland and Italy. Our house was on the Swiss side, 6 km from the Italian border, right on the lake. Staying on the border is quite fun because you cross it several times a day depending on the visits you have planned. In the end, we must have spent 50% of the time in Switzerland and 50% in Italy: an Italo-Swiss holiday!

Ticoeur’s age: almost 6
Titpuce’s age: 3 and a half

During this week on Lake Lugano, we organised a day trip to Milan to visit the World Expo, and we spent another day on the shores of Lake Como. Today, I’m presenting the shores of Lake Lugano, as it’s the area we explored the most.

Things to see/do on the shores of Lake Lugano:

the village of Porto Ceresio (Italy): romantic, full of charm, small but very lively. A lovely family atmosphere and a playground that’s ideal for children.

the village of Gandria (Switzerland): a picturesque village with its little lanes and old stone buildings

Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland): a UNESCO-listed site and it really is superb! We first parked by the Brusino Arsizio cable car. A return cable-car ticket costs CHF 20 per adult and CHF 12 for children (prices updated in 2025). Once at the top, we did an easy 1 hr 40 min hike to the Serpiano viewpoint. The children walked well. As usual, they prefer hiking to a stroll around town. The panorama on arrival is breathtaking!

a walk in the Breggia Gorge (Italy): a surprising place, I must say: you come across strange geological formations but also an old disused cement works.

the town of Lugano: a very airy, very clean, very orderly and very wealthy town. I especially liked the lakeside and the park.

the church and the baptistery in Riva San Vitale. The latter is the oldest building in Switzerland!

The Santa Croce church

the train museum in Mendrisio (Switzerland): it’s crazy how many model trains there are in this museum! A huge collection! On the other hand, the rooms are a bit boring… They should make this museum more lively because it has real potential. Ticoeur liked it and, as it was raining, it was handy to take shelter there.

the market in Ponte Tresa (Italy): very lively; it takes place every Thursday. You’ll find very good local products but also lots of uninteresting clothing stalls.
swimming in the lake: nice for adults but not suitable for young children. When you know that Lake Lugano is very deep (almost 300 metres in some places!), it’s intimidating – you think about it… Even with floats or armbands, we weren’t very reassured, so we filled a small inflatable paddling pool by the lake for Ticoeur and Titpuce. For adults, swimming is pleasant because the lake is huge and the view is superb. For my darling, the water is too cold (22°C when we were there). In the villages, there are small beaches, but the water remains deep.

Our jetty

Beach in Porto Ceresio

Apart from our walks around Lake Lugano, we never tired of our terrace, whose view was magical from morning to night…

Practical information:

Time of year: end of August. We had 28°C and, apart from one big day of rain, the weather was good every day. The lake was 22 degrees.
Length of the trip: one week
Flight: 1 hr 20 min flight from Paris to Milan. We flew EasyJet because the fares were very attractive (€100 return). I booked the tickets in December.
Child equipment: we only took the car seats and a pushchair for Titpuce (pushchair essential for the Expo in Milan)
Luggage: 2 cabin suitcases for 4. Here are the details of what we pack in our luggage.
Health: nothing to plan for except mosquito repellent.
Car hire: We hired a car at Milan airport for €160 for the week (with Europcar because it was the best offer at the time). Note: if, like us, you want to go into Switzerland, make sure the quoted price allows it (there were cheaper rental companies but you weren’t allowed to leave Italy). Petrol is slightly cheaper on the Swiss side.
Accommodation: we stayed with family friends.
Meals: the sensitive point! How to put it? I have no doubt that Swiss restaurants offer excellent cuisine, but I have to admit we always crossed the border to have dinner on the Italian side. The reason? It’s two or three times cheaper in Italy! So I was a bit sad for the Swiss, but for the budget, especially with six of us, we didn’t hesitate…

Our good addresses (on the Italian side, then!) :

Il Golosone: excellent ice cream parlour (Porto Ceresio, Italy).
Restaurant del Cervo: unpretentious family cooking, but the staff are very welcoming, the portions are generous, children are more than welcome and above all the location is ideal because the restaurant has a large terrace by the lake (Porto Ceresio, Italy).
La Piazzetta: a small place to order delicious takeaway pizzas (Porto Ceresio, Italy).
Il Molino del Torchio a gourmet restaurant in the bucolic setting of an old mill (€25/person including drinks). (Cuasso, Italy)