Monte San Salvatore

Beautiful hike with astonishing views of Lugano and a small part of Milan, in Italy. The hike to the top is easy-moderate. It is mostly uphill but not very steep. The trail is not technical and you have a museum and a restaurant at the top. There's no need to pay for an entrance fee and you can easily get to the trailhead by walking from the city center. If you don't want to hike, you have the option to pay for a small train (I'm not sure about the name) to bring you to the top.

Highly recommended to be visited😍😍😍 The you can have your ticket of gentle people all staff there they kind trying to speak your language. The place like a dream. There is a tape for water and serviced with a WC. There is a restaurant you can take your coffee takeaway ☕️ or you can have with enjoying the nice view, personally i would like to visit Monte San Salvatore 100000 times 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍.

Amazing!! Must see! Do not miss! Magical experience especially around sunset!! Must go up the hill to see the panoramic view! 10 minute walk.

The natural scenery was absolutely stunning. No matter where you looked, the panoramic views were truly awe-inspiring. It was an experience that was undeniably worth it, and one that I wholeheartedly recommend to others.

Worth paying a visit to this mountain as you will be able to get a good view of the whole of Lugano. Once up there, there are nice little walks that you could do. Plus the view is really quite spectacular.

Monte San Salvatore, is a must-visit! The funicular ride to the top was an enjoyable experience, offering stunning views along the way. Once at the top, the breathtaking panoramic views were absolutely worth it. The variety of trek paths provided different perspectives of the surrounding beauty, and there were plenty of benches to sit, relax, and soak in the serene atmosphere. It's a nature-rich haven that offers a perfect blend of adventure and relaxation. Highly recommended for anyone visiting Lugano.

Hiked this from the base at Lake Lugano. Took 1hr 40min to get to the summit. I wanted to get there for Sunrise and I think I hit it quite lucky. I set of at 5:30am, with sunrise scheduled at 7am. The first hour or so is urban roads and is reasonably well lit, but there are areas without a footpath, so definitely being a torch or something reflective to keep you safe on the road. After the first hour, you lose the footpaths and the streetlights, but by this point there was just enough brightness in the sky for me to see my way. The last part is definitely the hardest as it is woodland. It is easy to navigate following the white and red flags on the trees as seen in my picture, but it's a tough climb, especially when slippy from last night rain, and I had to get my hands dirty to help me up, but it was so worth it. The views were incredible, and the cold March air soon began to cool me down. Definitely allow yourself more time to come down, and I was lucky enough to find a big stick that gave me some support to get down some of the steeper and slippery parts, I'd suggest to find a suitable one on your way up and leave it somewhere to help get down if you think you may need it. The funicular was not operating, so there was no easy way out of it. It took me a full 2 hours to get down as the fatigue in my ankles and blisters were soon setting in so I took it easy. All in all, 22k steps and nothing too challenging, beautiful views the whole way back down. I highly recommend as a fan of walking and hiking, and if not take the funicular when it is in service to take in the view.

On Monte San Salvatore, there is a restaurant, church with paranomic terrace, network tower, museum and numerous easy to hard nature trails. The easy ones can be easily done within 30 minutes although note that it has some steps involved so it is not recommended with pram. There are also many informational banners providing interesting snippets and facts along the trail on the history of the St. Gotthard Railway. My favourite quote in one of them: “One does not travel to arrive, but to travel”.