A different Switzerland, three hours south
Locarno and Ascona sit on the Swiss shore of Lake Maggiore, in the canton of Ticino, and they don’t feel much like the rest of the country. Palm trees line the lakefront, church towers are topped with the tiled roofs and campanile shapes of northern Italy, and Italian is the language you’ll hear at the next table. The climate is milder too: springs arrive earlier here and summers run hotter and more humid than in Zurich.
The trade-off is distance and cost. It’s a real journey from Zurich, not a quick excursion, and Ticino’s hotels and restaurants are priced closer to Lugano than to a budget alpine village. Treat this as an overnight destination or a very long day out, not a casual add-on.
Piazza Grande and the Locarno Film Festival
Piazza Grande is Locarno’s main square, a long stretch of pale paving lined with arcaded, painted buildings that has been the town’s social centre since the medieval period. For most of the year it’s an unhurried spot for an espresso or an aperitivo, ringed by cafés with tables spilling out under the arcades.
For eleven days in early August it becomes one of the largest open-air cinema screens in the world, hosting the Locarno Film Festival. A giant screen goes up at one end of the square and thousands of people sit on plastic chairs (or bring their own) to watch premieres after dark, once the heat of the day has faded. Evening screenings need a ticket, typically around CHF 25–35 for a standard seat, booked through the festival directly rather than any general ticketing site. Daytime festival passes and industry accreditation are separate and considerably more expensive.
If you’re not coming for the festival itself, avoid the first two weeks of August unless you enjoy crowds: hotel prices in Locarno and Ascona spike hard, restaurants are booked out, and the square itself is fenced off for rigging well before the opening night. Outside the festival, Piazza Grande is simply a pleasant, low-key place to sit.
Madonna del Sasso
Above Locarno, on a rocky outcrop overlooking the town and the lake, sits the pilgrimage church of Madonna del Sasso. It was founded in 1480 after a reported vision by a local friar, and the complex has grown since into a cluster of chapels, a museum of religious art and paintings, and a genuinely good viewpoint over Locarno, the lake and the mountains beyond.
You can walk up via a steep cobbled path lined with chapels depicting the Stations of the Cross, which takes about 20–25 minutes from the old town and is free. Most visitors instead take the funicular from Piazza Stazione, a short, frequent ride that costs roughly CHF 14 return and takes the climbing out of the equation. Either way, the church itself is free to enter; the small museum has a modest separate admission fee.
Cardada and Cimetta: the view above the view
From Orselina, just above Madonna del Sasso, a cable car climbs further to Cardada, a plateau at around 1,340 metres with a striking modern steel viewing platform designed by architect Mario Botta. On a clear day the view takes in Locarno, the full sweep of Lake Maggiore into Italy, and the peaks of the Ticino Alps. There’s a playground and easy walking paths at the top, making it one of the better family stops in the region.
A chairlift continues from Cardada up to Cimetta, at around 1,670 metres, from where longer hiking trails set off across open alpine pasture. The Orselina–Cardada cable car costs around CHF 34 return; the Cimetta extension is a further CHF 18 or so on top. As with lifts everywhere in Switzerland, both close for scheduled maintenance in spring and again in autumn, so check operating dates before planning a day around them — this is one of the more common ways a Ticino day trip gets derailed.
| Stage | How | Approx. cost (return) | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Locarno to Madonna del Sasso | Funicular | CHF 14 | 7 minutes |
| Orselina to Cardada | Cable car | CHF 34 | 6 minutes |
| Cardada to Cimetta | Chairlift | CHF 18 extra | 8 minutes |
Ascona’s lakefront
Ascona sits across the small bay from Locarno, close enough to reach on foot in about 20 minutes along the lakeshore, or by a short passenger boat. Where Locarno has the piazza and the funicular, Ascona has a longer, quieter lakefront promenade lined with pastel-coloured townhouses, small galleries and outdoor restaurant seating facing the water.
It’s a pleasant place to slow down for a few hours: a lakeside coffee, a browse through the old town’s narrow lanes behind the promenade, and a look at the small church of Santa Maria della Misericordia. Ascona also has a reputation, dating back over a century, as an artists’ retreat — the nearby hill of Monte Verità was a magnet for early 20th-century utopians, vegetarians and free thinkers, and now houses a museum on that history. It’s a worthwhile detour if you have an extra hour, though it’s a steep uphill walk from the lakefront.
Valle Verzasca: the translucent water
The Verzasca valley runs north-west from Locarno into the mountains, and it’s worth the detour for one reason above all: the water. The Verzasca river runs over pale granite bedrock, which combined with its glacial source gives it an unusually clear, pale turquoise-green colour that looks almost artificial in photographs — it isn’t.
The classic stop is Lavertezzo, about 30 minutes by car or postbus from Locarno, where the Ponte dei Salti, a 17th-century double-arched stone bridge, spans a series of pools that are a genuinely popular wild-swimming spot in summer. Expect crowds on hot weekends and very cold water even in August, since it’s glacier- and snowmelt-fed; there are no lifeguards. Further up the valley, the Verzasca Dam is known internationally as the site of the 220-metre bungee jump used in the opening sequence of the 1995 James Bond film “GoldenEye,” which still operates commercially for anyone who wants to repeat the stunt.
The valley is reachable by postbus from Locarno’s train station, roughly 30–45 minutes depending on how far up the valley you go, or by car if you’re combining it with other stops in Ticino.
Getting there from Zurich
Direct trains from Zurich HB to Locarno run roughly every two hours and take about 2 h 50, routed through the Gotthard Base Tunnel and Bellinzona — one of the more scenic long-distance rail journeys in the country, worth booking a window seat for. Hourly departures with a change at Bellinzona take closer to 3 hours. Both the Swiss Travel Pass and the Half Fare Card apply to this route, and the Gotthard Panorama Express combines part of the journey with a boat leg on Lake Lucerne if you want to make a full day of the travelling itself.
Given the distance, a single long day trip from Zurich to Locarno means roughly six hours on trains for perhaps four or five hours on the ground — workable, but tiring. An overnight stay, or combining Locarno with Lugano or Bellinzona on a two- or three-day Ticino loop, makes far better use of the journey.
| From Zurich HB | Journey time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Locarno (direct) | ~2 h 50 | Roughly every 2 hours |
| Locarno (via Bellinzona) | ~3 h 05 | Hourly departures |
| Lugano | ~2 h 45 | Can be combined with Locarno in one loop |
| Bellinzona | ~2 h 20 | Useful stopover point |
Where to stay and what it costs
Locarno and Ascona are not budget destinations. A simple three-star hotel room runs CHF 150–220 a night outside the festival period; lakefront properties in Ascona push well past CHF 300. Budget travellers tend to base themselves in Bellinzona instead, which is 20 minutes away by train and considerably cheaper, or in Lugano if a Ticino loop is already the plan.
A realistic day budget, on top of accommodation, looks like this:
| Item | Approx. cost (CHF) |
|---|---|
| Coffee and pastry | 6–9 |
| Sit-down lunch | 25–35 |
| Funicular to Madonna del Sasso (return) | 14 |
| Cardada cable car (return) | 34 |
| Evening meal with a drink | 35–55 |
For comparison with day-to-day prices back in the city, see Zurich travel costs.
Practical notes
Both Locarno and Ascona are compact and easy to cover on foot; there’s little need for local buses within either town, though postbuses are useful for the Verzasca valley or Monte Verità. Swiss safety and service standards apply as they do everywhere in the country — see safety and scams in Zurich for the general picture, most of which travels well to Ticino. Switzerland’s visa rules are unaffected by which canton you’re in; check Switzerland visa and ETIAS if you haven’t already sorted entry requirements for the trip.
If your Zurich trip is built around a fixed number of days, how many days in Zurich and the Zurich 7-day itinerary both address where a detour this far south realistically fits. A Zurich summer Alps 5-day itinerary is a more natural home for Locarno than a short city break, since it assumes at least one long day given over to trains.
For a first orientation walk once you arrive, a guided option such as the Locarno express walk with a local covers the old town and Piazza Grande in a couple of hours, which is useful if your visit is a single long day and you don’t want to spend part of it working out where things are. Those staying near the lido might also make use of the entry ticket to the Lido Locarno lakeside pool and fitness centre as a way to cool off after a hot afternoon on Piazza Grande.
If Ticino is one stop on a wider loop, both Lugano day trips work as a natural pairing — a photogenic walking tour of Lugano covers the lakefront and old town efficiently, and travellers wanting something calmer than sightseeing might prefer the Monte Balladrum mindful awareness walk in Ticino, a slower guided walk through the surrounding hills.
See Lugano and Ticino day trip for how the two towns fit together on one route, and best time to visit Zurich for how the shoulder seasons compare between the two ends of the country.
Locarno and Ascona travel FAQ
How do I get from Zurich to Locarno by train?
Direct trains run roughly every two hours from Zurich HB and take about 2 h 50, cutting through the Gotthard Base Tunnel and Bellinzona. Hourly connections with a change at Bellinzona take closer to 3 hours. A Swiss Travel Pass or Half Fare Card covers or discounts the whole route.
Is Ascona worth visiting as well as Locarno?
Yes, if you have more than a few hours. Ascona is a 20-minute walk or a short boat ride from Locarno and has a different feel: a long lakefront promenade, small art galleries and quieter streets. Locarno has the bigger square and the funicular up to Madonna del Sasso; Ascona is better for a slow lunch by the water.
How much does the Cardada cable car cost?
The Orselina–Cardada cable car costs roughly CHF 34 return as of 2026, with the Cimetta chairlift extension charged separately at around CHF 18 more. Check operating dates before travelling, since both lifts close for scheduled maintenance in spring and again in autumn.
Can you swim in the Verzasca valley?
Yes. The Verzasca river is popular for wild swimming, especially at Lavertezzo below the Ponte dei Salti, a stone bridge over pools of unusually clear, pale-green water. The water is glacier-fed and cold even in August, and there are no lifeguards, so treat it with the same caution as any mountain river.
Do I need tickets for the Locarno Film Festival in August?
Evening screenings on Piazza Grande are open to the public but require a ticket, generally in the region of CHF 25–35 for a standard seat, booked in advance through the festival’s own site. Accommodation in Locarno and Ascona is scarce and priced up sharply during the festival, so book well ahead or stay in Bellinzona or Lugano instead.
Is Locarno warmer than Zurich?
Noticeably. Ticino sits south of the Alps and has a more Mediterranean microclimate, with milder winters and hotter, more humid summers than Zurich. It’s common to leave Zurich in a jacket and arrive in Locarno in a t-shirt, particularly in spring and autumn.
