Lugano to Monte Bre Onto Bre Village, Gandria and Castagnola
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Walk number: Six Route: Lugano to Monte Bre onto Bre Village, Gandria and Castagnola. Brief description: A mainly downhill walk once you reach the top of Monte Bre. The section from Bre to Gandria is particularly pleasant, shaded and very quiet. The Gandria to Castagnola section is busier but not too much so even on a glorious summer Sunday afternoon. A good walk to start or finish a week’s walking! Grade: Easy Distance: About 6 miles. Time: 4 hrs if you start the walk in Paradiso. 30 minutes less if you start in Central Lugano. Start: Paradiso or Central Lugano. Finish: Castagnola. How to get there: Walk to the funicular station at Cassarate from Lugano or Paradiso. The Bre funicular is well-signposted from the centre. You can also pick up a city street map from hotels, booking offices and the Tourist Office. How to get back: Local Lugano bus (Line1) from Castagnola. Map: Locarno - Lugano Composizione no. 5007; Lugano Excursion Map from Lugano Tourist Office. Routes 1 and 2 cover parts of this walk. Refreshments: Monte Bre, Bre, Gandria, Castagnola. Notes: Monte Bre was a favourite walking area for Hesse. Route: 1. Walk to Monte Bre funicular from Paradiso which is a one hour or so leisurely stroll. Starting from the middle of Lugano give yourself 20 minutes plus. The area around the bottom station of the funicular is very pleasant. The development is on a much smaller scale than Paradiso. Join the train at the bottom station (Via Pico); you pay at the second level. Tickets cost 6.50 CHF for a one way journey to the top with a Swiss Card. Trains run roughly every 15 mins in summer. 2. From the top station (953m) head uphill past the church of SS Capella Maria Assumpta and a tower then down to Bre village. The downhill path is mainly stepped. 3. Bre has many works of art scattered around the village as part of an Art Trail and an interesting museum devoted to the painter Wilhelm Schmid (1982-1971). 4. The path to Gandria starts from behind Bre Parish Church. During the next few minutes the path consists of stone steps and a grassy path running parallel with the lake as it twists down. 5. When you come down to a road turn left then right. There is a marker on a stone wall (34 mins from top of Monte Bre). You are on a stony track with a big house on your right. 6. You are now on a nice stretch of broad stony track, level and parallel with lake, gently curving and descending (39 mins). Vines appear on your left (40 mins). 7. At a fork don’t drop down as it’s a private road (42 mins). When you come to a large gate to a house take the steps down to your left. You should see a “sentiero” sign (44 minutes). 8. You are in a wood (45 mins) four minutes later follow the sign to Gandria Confine. (A guided geological walk – the Percorso Didattico – is signed most of the way down this path with a brown lozenge painted on trees). This section of the walk consists of a solid woodland path and steps at steeper bits. You might spot a Virgin Mary shrine in a rock grotto on your left after 1.06 mins. 9. At 1.10 mins you are still in woodland. The path is still winding but is not so steep. At the Trabia marker (460m above sea level) follow the “sentiero” sign down (1.24). 10. You come to a sign down to Gandria - follow it (1.31). The route up is to La Madonna Dogana Gandria. 11. Steep steps reached (1.37) then the first house (1.40). When you reach the road cross it and follow the route down by the Ristorante Gandria (1.41). Five minutes later you arrive in the “centre” of Gandria (1.45). 12. Gandria is a former fishing village with some expensive restaurants and gift shops. There is a landing stage for the lake’s boat service. There are arcaded passages and vernacular housing but the village is probably more attractive from the lake. The walk back to Castagnola follows the Olive Trail (leaflet from Lugano Tourist Office). It is a wide stone coastal path with some stepped parts (timing to Castagnola 30 mins). 13. Granite seen outcrop on right (1.53) and two minutes later pass through a colonnade (1.55). 14. Hotel Elvezia al Lago is reached 21 mins out of Gandria (2.06) 15. When there is an option of routes for the Olive Trail stay on the lower route (2.12). 16. After 40 minutes you come to the arch across the path marking the beginning of the “Sentiero di Gandria”. At this point follow the Olive Trail up a slope (Viottolo delle Agavi) in front of you. 17. After three minutes this route turns to upward steps (2.29). 18. The route finishes at the former Castagnola Town Hall (2.50). Head straight ahead, on the level, and you should hit the main road to Lugano at a hairpin. Drop down the main road on your left and you will find a bus stop for Lugano and Paradiso on your right. Gazetteer: Bre Quite a pretty village with a restaurant and grotti. An alternative walk would take you to Alpe Bolla and Soragno down a well-made and signposted path open from Easter to November. Gandria Pretty Italianate ex-fishing village. Worth a brief stop for the architecture but the centre of Gandria is devoted to expensive eating and trinkets. Castagnola A suburb of Lugano today. Houses two museums, the Museum of Cultures outside Europe at the Villa Helenum and the Thyssen-Bernemisza Collection at the nearby Villa Favorita. Check with the Tourist Office for times. .