Taking a Day Trip from Lake Como to Lugano, Switzerland
Lugano: a city seemingly being pulled in two directions, one to modernity, cleanliness and privilege, the other more ancient, more primordial. When walking through Lugano, Switzerland, it’s common to hear a mix of Italian and Swiss German being spoken. It makes sense - Lugano is directly over the border of Italy and it makes for an interesting mix of different cultures.
Lugano, Switzerland
In May of 2022, with Covid finally letting us start to live our lives again, Kevin and I got lucky. Luck to us was a childless six night trip to Lake Como for our 10th anniversary. To be fair, we had just come off almost two years indoors with our baby, unable to leave or show Maeve people exist other than her parents. We were ready for a short break. The grandparents were nice enough to split up watching her and we found an inexpensive nonstop flight to Milan. Knowing time was short, we didn’t want to go far after our flight, so while Lake Como would not have been our first choice of destination, it was only about an hour from Malpensa airport and therefore perfect for our purposes.
What to do in Lugano
I’ll delve deeper into our Lago di Como experience in another post, but I will say we enjoyed it much more than we thought we would. If you know me, you know I’ve always wanted to go to Switzerland but due to it being outrageously expensive, we never previously made the journey there. The thought of our wine budget alone always had my head spinning, and we missed the chance to go there when I was pregnant and, thus, not drinking. So when we discovered how close the Swiss border was, we decided a day trip to Lugano was in order.
Bus from Italy to Lugano
Varenna was our home base for Lake Como, which was convenient as it was a perfect starting point for a loop into Switzerland for the day. We got up early and made our way to the ferry port in the center of town, where we took a quick 15 minute ferry to Menaggio. From there, we walked less than 10 minutes through the adorable village to the bus station just in time for the bus to Lugano. From what I remember, the bus took around an hour, driving through beautiful lake scenery along the way.
Upon arriving in Lugano, the bus dropped us near the train station, which is located a bit above the town. If interested, from here you could take a funicular up Monte Bre for stunning views overlooking the lake and town. However, we were pretty hungry at that point so we decided to find some lunch, choosing La Dispensa in the center of town. In true Kevin fashion, the moment we got to Switzerland he started complaining about how expensive everything was compared to Italy, particularly the meals at this restaurant that we had chosen.. While it was more expensive, I tried to explain to him that the prices were pretty comparable, where we live and eat on a regular basis. He grumbled his agreement. And he wasn’t alone. Two ragged American backpackers walked by and, seeing the chalkboard menu posted outside, started yelling loudly about what idiots all of us were for paying such lavish prices.
Lugano Activities
After lunch, where we split a salad and pasta, we took a walk around town, where they seemed to be setting up for some festival. We made our way down to the water, where we found a beautiful park with a variety of interesting and artistic sculptures. An old fashioned, impressive barometer seemed to rise up out of nowhere, completely avoided by locals and tourists. The weather for our day trip was perfect. The sun was shining and everyone was out and about, walking and jogging. We took in the areas surrounding the lake, amazed at what a contrast was compared to Lake Como. Here, everything seemed new, or at least new-ish compared to the grand old palazzos that we had seen for the past few days in Italy.
Lugano Switzerland Sculpture
Barometer Parco Ciani Lugano
We considered going to a casino (yes, really), only because it looked like it had a rooftop bar, but opted instead to find a church that Kevin had researched. I’m quite glad for our decision, as it turned out to be the highlight of our Lugano day trip. The Church of Santa Maria degli Angioli is the home to a Renaissance gem - the Passion and Crucifixion by Bernardino Luini. An apprentice of Leonardo da Vinci, Luini took most of an entire wall in the small church to paint his impressive fresco. Like many other times when we’ve stumbled into a European church, we were blown away by the mastery of the ancient piece.
Church Fresco Lugano
Visit Lugano
Walking back through town, we came upon the festival that was now in full swing. Doing some research online, it seems like this was the Swiss Electronic Music Festival. The music was bumping throughout the main square and every pub was packed with festival goers.
Lake Como Ferry
Lake Como Ferry Ride
We got a quick drink before heading back to the train station, where we took a different way home thanks to good ‘ole Rick Steves, opting for a train ride to the town of Como and then a fast hydrofoil (about 1 hour) back to Varenna. If you are visiting Lake Como and looking for an interesting day trip, I would definitely recommend checking out Lugano, Switzerland, as it’s a cool little town and it’s also fun to easily hop over to another country for a day!