When searching for the most beautiful places in Ticino, we came across the relatively small Bavona Valley. The Bavona Valley is a side valley of the famous Maggia Valley with the Maggia River but for unknown reasons the Bavona Valley is less known. We stopped over and over again at beautiful bridges to look at the river, which again had an amazing colour. The huge rocks at the river simply invited to climb on them.
Waterfall Foroglio
One of the most beautiful places of the Bavona Valley and in Ticino is definitely the waterfall Foroglio with its 110 meters. Beneath the waterfall, the water runs through massive stones, which make it possible to climb up closer to the waterfall, but very soon it got rather windy and you will be soaked by the spray of the waterfall. The closer you get to the waterfall, the wetter and more slippery the rocks will get. So we rather watched the waterfall from a distance. After our trip, we saw pictures that during different times of the year, it is possible to easily climb up all the way to the waterfall, when it does not have so much water.
Afterwards, we strolled through the narrow streets of Frogolio and were once again amazed by the old stone houses. How must life have been here back in the days?
From Foroglio, we continued further up the Bavona Valley towards S. Carlo. During summer time you can take a cable car from there to the Robièi glacier. Just below the cable car station, we found a perfect lunch spot next to a little river.
Hiking up Monte Gambarogno for the sunset
In the afternoon we decided to hike up to Monte Gambarogno from where you have a beautiful view on Lago Maggiore. After a nice and quiet dinner, we drove through what felt like a thousand serpentines up to Alpe Neggia from where one of the hiking trails to the top of Monte Gambarogno starts. When we left the Alpe Neggia by foot, we could already hear the beginning of an thunderstorm behind us but we really wanted to make it to the top. First, it also seemed that the thunderstorm got stuck behind a mountain range but then as we got further the thunderstorm grew stronger and stronger und it started to get rather windy. And then, suddenly we saw an animal sitting on the trail. Our first thought was “that has to be a wolf” as it looked very similar to one. We cannot imagine that it was a big dog because there were no other cars in the car park down at Alpe Neggia. But of course, it could have been a dog on the run or another animal. For a while we hesitated if we should continue our hike or turn around. In the end, we decided to turn around – not only because of the (possible) wolf but also because the thunderstorm came closer and closer.
When we came home we did some research whether wolves have been seen at Monte Gambarogno before but one has only found wolf marks but no proof of a wolf at Monte Gambarogno was ever found. So it most likely wasn’t a wolf!
Another beautiful valley in Ticino is the Verzasca Valley, which is definitely worth a visit as well. But also other regions in Switzerland have much to offer like the beautiful hike to the Murgseehütte and the Schwarzstöckli.
