10 activities around Locarno: Join a summer enthusiast on her adventures!

Pic­ture-book sum­mer days – that’s exact­ly what you get at Locarno Youth Hos­tel. Curi­ous? Then read the blog post and dis­cov­er the activ­i­ties for your­self!

1 Enjoy the view

Off to a promis­ing start: As soon as I arrive in the warm­ly fur­nished room, I’m drawn to the charm­ing bal­cony. The mag­nif­i­cent view of the palm trees makes it dif­fi­cult for me to keep my eyes on the pages of my book. This is how you imag­ine the per­fect kick­off to sum­mer.

2 Market feast in Cannobio

In Tici­no, you can feel the Ital­ian flair up close – because Bel­la Italia is prac­ti­cal­ly around the cor­ner, along Lake Mag­giore. Right on the shore of the lake is Can­no­bio, the first Ital­ian town across the bor­der. I rec­om­mend dri­ving, then you’ll only need about 25 min­utes from Locarno. An excur­sion des­ti­na­tion with a vibrant Sun­day mar­ket offer­ing region­al spe­cial­i­ties such as cheese, sala­mi and tasty antipasti. A culi­nary stop that is sure to leave you smil­ing – my absolute favourite: pick­led gar­lic!

Tip: It’s best to come on an emp­ty stom­ach – there’s some­thing to sam­ple at almost all the stalls and the lit­tle bites are real­ly deli­cious!

3 Ice cream in Ascona

Per me una pal­li­na di mel­one e cioc­co­la­to, per favore! Ice cream is always a good idea – and a vis­it to the Gela­te­ria Pinoc­chio in Ascona is a must. They offer a large selec­tion and friend­ly ser­vice, and after­wards the prom­e­nade invites you to take a stroll. The bright scoops of ice cream go per­fect­ly with the colour­ful hous­es of the for­mer fish­ing vil­lage. From the youth hos­tel, you can eas­i­ly reach Ascona in 20 min­utes by pub­lic trans­port – get off at: Ascona, Cen­tro.

4 It’s aperitif O’clock!

As the sun slow­ly sets, the ear­ly evening calls for an aper­i­tif. The trees sway in the wind, it’s pleas­ant­ly warm and in front of me is a cool Aper­ol Spritz. For a drink, head to the Tibon Grill Bar, tucked away in one of Locarno’s wind­ing alleys. You can walk to the aper­i­tif spot in just 10 min­utes. The restau­rant is also very close to the Piaz­za Grande, ide­al for a short stroll through the city.

5 Cycling tour to the Maggia Valley

Hire a bicy­cle from Rent a Bike at Locarno rail­way sta­tion and ride to the Mag­gia Val­ley for the per­fect mix of action and relax­ation. The Tici­no Tick­et, which you get on arrival at the youth hos­tel, gives you a 20% dis­count. It’s no secret that the Mag­gia region is breath­tak­ing. The crys­tal-clear water and impres­sive cliffs speak for them­selves.

A lit­tle insid­er tip: It takes around 25 min­utes by bike to reach the Orri­do di Ponte Brol­la – and the way there is sim­ply amaz­ing.

6 Picnic in the park

Unpack your favourite snacks on the shore and make your­self com­fort­able on your beach tow­el. I dis­cov­ered this idyl­lic place in the Par­co del­la Pace. Bus line 4 takes you from the youth hos­tel to the Locarno, Lido stop in 18 min­utes. Click here for the timetable.

7 A journey through time at Castello Visconteo

The large build­ing is locat­ed in the heart of Locarno and an 8‑minute walk from the hos­tel. The Renais­sance-style struc­ture adorns the cityscape and hous­es the Munic­i­pal and Archae­o­log­i­cal Muse­um. You can find the open­ing times and admis­sion prices for the Castel­lo Vis­con­teo here.

8 Marvel at the Brissago Islands

The two Bris­sa­go Islands are locat­ed in Lake Mag­giore and can be reached by boat. The jour­ney to the islands takes around 55 min­utes from Locarno and around 15 min­utes from Ascona. Only the larg­er island is open to the pub­lic and there is some­thing mag­i­cal about it. The peace­ful and serene atmos­phere imme­di­ate­ly cap­ti­vates me. It’s this, and the lush nat­ur­al beau­ty, that makes this place so spe­cial. I learned quite a bit from the short botan­i­cal tour, which is includ­ed in the admis­sion price.

Fun fact: The Bris­sa­go Islands are home to plants from all over the world. You can find the cur­rent admis­sion prices here.

9 Strolling through the market in Luino

Tak­ing the boat from Locarno to Luino is 1 hour and 35 min­utes of pure sea air! Tick­ets are avail­able online or direct­ly at the har­bour. And don’t for­get: make sure to have a few euros in your pock­et, as the Ital­ian mar­ket in Luino invites you to browse and shop on Wednes­days. From cloth­ing and house­hold goods to region­al foods.

10 Unwind on the terrace

The ter­race of Locarno Youth Hos­tel is the per­fect place to relax – espe­cial­ly in the com­fort­able sun loungers. A lit­tle time out is often under­es­ti­mat­ed, but some­times it’s exact­ly what you need.

Look­ing for more inspi­ra­tion? In the blog post «Ter­race sea­son has begun – pre­sent­ing leg­endary aper­i­tif spots», you’ll find more tips for the per­fect place to unwind.