Description: Following breakfast, we stopped at the front desk and told the English-speaking desk clerk that we only had 24 hours to spend in Lugano and asked what she would recommend. She suggested a trip to the top of Mount San Salvatore and gave us good directions to get there. We quickly discovered that everything in Lugano, built in the midst of the Swiss Alps, is either uphill or downhill, and a source of some great exercise.
The ride up Mount San Salvatore was spectacular. The funicolare (cog-wheel incline train, cost $10.14 USD per person) took 12 minutes to reach the top, with departures every half hour. The 360-degree view of Lugano and the surrounding areas was breathtaking. Dark clouds moved in quickly and positioned themselves midway between us and the lake, yet did not block the view, but only enhanced it. My photographs of this site are incredible. From the top of San Salvatore, a panoramic hiking tour leads you through a natural park and allows you to view the treasures of the local flora. With a gourmet restaurant, a self-serve restaurant and a free picnic area there is a nice variety of refreshments for any taste. There is also a museum and an old church that were quite interesting. Then back down on the funicolare, a long walk along the shore of Lake Lugano for our next adventure.
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