Switzerland doesn’t usually look like this. Palm trees line the promenade, the lake water is warm enough to swim in by June, and the espresso comes with the same seriousness you’d find across the border in Italy — because the border is about four miles away. Locarno and its smaller, prettier neighbor Ascona sit at the northern tip of Lake Maggiore, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, and they get more annual sunshine than anywhere else in the country. I spent a long weekend based at Hotel Eden Roc in Ascona, and this is everything worth knowing before you go: what the hotel actually costs, how to get around without renting a car, and which day trips are worth your time.
Where Is Locarno, Switzerland?
Locarno sits at the northern end of Lake Maggiore in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland’s southernmost and only Italian-speaking region. That geography explains almost everything about the place: the architecture, the food, the pace, and the fact that Locarno logs around 2,300 hours of sunshine a year, more than anywhere else in the country, making it Switzerland’s warmest city by reputation. Ascona, the smaller resort village next door, is about a 15-minute walk or a short bus ride along the same bay. Together they form one of the more surprising corners of Switzerland — Alpine on one side of the postcard, Mediterranean on the other.
Hotel Eden Roc Ascona: Where We Stayed
Hotel Eden Roc sits directly on the Lake Maggiore shoreline in Ascona, a few minutes’ walk from the old town, with its own private beach and marina — something no other hotel in Ascona can claim. It’s a member of Leading Hotels of the World and part of the Swiss-owned Tschuggen Collection, and it holds two MICHELIN Keys, the guide’s own distinction for exceptional stays.
The property has 95 rooms and suites total, decorated in the colorful, art-forward style of Ticino interior designer Carlo Rampazzi — not what you’d picture from a typical understated Swiss hotel. There are four restaurants and two bars on site, including La Brezza, the hotel’s gourmet restaurant under Executive Chef Marco Campanella, which holds two Michelin stars and 18-19 GaultMillau points, plus the more relaxed La Casetta (grilled lake specialties on the water), Restaurant Eden Roc, and Restaurant Marina.
| WHAT | APPROX. COST (USD) |
|---|---|
| Standard/Comfort Double Room, per night | $245–500 |
| Superior or Deluxe Room, per night | $500–900 |
| Suite, per night (peak summer) | $1,000–1,800+ |
| City/tourist tax | ~$7.80 per person, per night |
| Self-parking, per day | ~$49 |
Converted from CHF at current exchange rates and pulled from the hotel’s own booking engine and major OTAs; rates swing enormously with season, room category, and how far ahead you book. Treat this as a planning range, not a quote, and always confirm current pricing before booking.
GOOD TO KNOW
Hotel Eden Roc closes for the winter every year (from late October to late March) and operates in reduced form as “Marina by Hotel Eden Roc” during that period. If you’re planning a stay outside peak summer, check the hotel’s seasonal calendar before you book.
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What It’s Actually Like to Stay There
The small touches are what stood out. Check-in came with a handwritten welcome note and a little wrapped gift tied in the hotel’s signature ribbon, and the room itself had a bottle of home-made “Garden Eden Ice Tea” (black tea, peppermint, rosehip, orange and lemon juice) waiting on the desk — the kind of detail that tells you the hotel isn’t just running a standard five-star playbook.
Public spaces lean into the same personality. The lobby lounge has a grand piano, art-print furniture in bold geometric patterns, and open bookshelves rather than a sterile business-hotel feel. The 2,000-square-meter spa (Eden Roc Spa, part of the Tschuggen Collection’s “Moving Mountains” wellness concept) has four pool areas, a full sauna landscape, and treatments using organic and certified natural skincare lines.
Breakfast at Hotel Eden Roc
Breakfast is a proper spread rather than a token buffet: a full grain and seed bar (chia, flax, oats, almonds, granola), a made-to-order yogurt station with house fruit sauces (blueberry, raspberry, apricot, strawberry), a substantial charcuterie table with Ticino raw ham, bresaola, and smoked salmon, and a cheese course that includes a wheel shaved to order table-side.
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Getting Around: The Ticino Ticket Makes This Easy
Here’s the detail that changes the whole trip: almost every hotel in Ticino, including Eden Roc, issues guests a free Ticino Ticket at check-in, valid for the entire length of your stay. It gets you free travel on regional trains, buses, and the Locarno–Tenero–Magadino boat line, plus discounts of 20–30% on cable cars, funiculars, and many attractions across the canton. It’s worth over $60 on its own and makes a rental car genuinely unnecessary if you’re staying put in the Locarno/Ascona area.
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TIP TO SAVE MONEY
Ask for your Ticino Ticket the moment you check in, and download the app version if offered — you’ll use it multiple times a day for buses, trains, and boat discounts, and it more than pays for itself over a 3-4 night stay.
Piazza Grande and the Locarno Old Town
Piazza Grande is the reason most photos of Locarno look the way they do — a long, cobbled square lined with pastel-painted townhouses and nearly 700 meters of Lombard-style arcades, packed with café tables. It’s pedestrianized, it’s the site of the Thursday market, and every August it becomes the largest open-air cinema in Europe when it hosts the Locarno Film Festival, running annually since 1946 with a screen big enough for 8,000 people to watch under the stars.
From the square, narrow alleyways climb into the actual old town — the Borgo — where you’ll find family coats of arms carved into doorways, small boutiques, and the Castello Visconteo, a medieval castle that now houses the archaeological museum.
Madonna del Sasso: The Funicular Ride Everyone Recommends
If you only do one “attraction” in Locarno, make it this one. The Locarno–Madonna del Sasso funicular has been climbing the hillside from the city center since 1906, in a scenic four-minute ride up to the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Sasso, a pilgrimage church founded in 1480 with sweeping views back down over the lake.
| FUNICULAR TICKET | PRICE |
|---|---|
| Adult, round trip | CHF 8 (~$9.90) |
| Adult, one-way | CHF 5.40 (~$6.65) |
| Child (6–16), round trip | CHF 4 (~$4.95) |
Entrance to the sanctuary itself is free (donations welcome). With the Ticino Ticket you get 20% off; a Swiss Travel Pass gets you 25% off round trips.
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From the upper station at Orselina, you can continue by cable car and open chairlift up to Cardada and Cimetta for a 360-degree panorama — on a clear day you can reportedly see both the lowest point in Switzerland (the Brissago Islands, 193m) and glimpse toward the country’s highest peaks.
Lake Maggiore by Boat: Ferries, Marinas, and the Brissago Islands
Lake Maggiore is the real centerpiece here, and boats are the easiest way to experience it. Public ferries run regularly between Locarno, Ascona, and the lakeside villages, with the Locarno–Tenero–Magadino stretch included free with the Ticino Ticket.
The classic half-day trip is to the Brissago Islands, home to Switzerland’s only island botanical garden — 2.5 hectares of subtropical plants that thrive thanks to the lake’s mild microclimate. The crossing from Ascona takes about 15 minutes.
| BRISSAGO ISLANDS | PRICE |
|---|---|
| Botanical garden entry, adult | ~CHF 10 (~$12.35) |
| Botanical garden entry, with Ticino Ticket | ~CHF 7 (~$8.65) |
| Children under 16 | Free |
Boat fare is separate from garden admission; check current ferry schedules since departures aren’t frequent, especially outside peak summer.
A Day Trip Into Italy: Castelli di Cannero
Because the border is so close, it’s easy to spend part of a Locarno trip in Italy without much extra planning. About 40 minutes down the lake by car or boat, the Castelli di Cannero are a pair of ruined island fortresses that have stood in the water off Cannero Riviera since the early 1500s, built on the site of an even older 15th-century pirate stronghold. After a decade-long restoration, they reopened to the public as a multimedia museum in June 2025, and the ruins remain one of the most photographed sights on Lake Maggiore.
GOOD TO KNOW
The Castelli di Cannero sit in Italy, not Switzerland, so bring a passport even for a short lake day trip — the Ticino Ticket does not cover travel across the border.
Local Trains, Trolleys, and Getting Around Without a Car
Both towns are easy on foot, but if you want a quick, low-effort overview, Locarno runs a tourist road trolley (the “Dotto Trains”) that loops the town center in about 30 minutes.
What Things Cost: A Quick Reality Check
Switzerland has a reputation for being expensive, and it’s a fair one — but it’s worth knowing what you’re actually comparing against. A regular grocery run at a local supermarket (Migros or Coop, the two big chains) shows fresh produce priced not wildly differently from a U.S. grocery store, once you convert from francs.
Boutique shopping along the Locarno arcades and Ascona’s lakefront runs from accessible to genuinely high-end — expect price tags in the CHF 150–250 range (roughly $185–310) for items like leather sandals or embellished jackets in the resort-wear shops that line both towns’ main strips.
How to Get to Locarno from the US
- Fly into Milan Malpensa (MXP): This is the closer, often cheaper option — about 85 km away, with direct trains to Locarno taking as little as 1 hour 52 minutes.
- Fly into Zurich (ZRH): Switzerland’s main international gateway, with more U.S. direct flight options. From there, trains to Locarno take roughly 2 to 2.5 hours, usually with one change, through the scenic Gotthard route.
- Rent a car: Workable if you’re combining Ticino with other parts of Switzerland or Italy, though once you’re settled in Locarno/Ascona, the Ticino Ticket makes a car unnecessary for local sightseeing.
Piecing together flights and other hotels for the rest of your Switzerland or Italian Lakes trip? It’s worth comparing package deals on Expedia before you lock in your dates — bundling your flight into Milan or Zurich with a few nights elsewhere on the itinerary can trim a meaningful amount off the total cost, even if you book Eden Roc itself direct.
See Hotel Deals on Expedia →
Best Time to Visit Locarno and Ascona
Late spring (May–June) is the sweet spot: warm enough to use the hotel pool and lake, blooming gardens on the Brissago Islands, and fewer crowds than peak summer. July and August bring the warmest lake swimming (water hits 24–26°C) and the Locarno Film Festival in early-to-mid August, which is electric but also the busiest and most expensive stretch of the year — book hotels well ahead if you want to be in town for it. September is a quieter, still-warm alternative. Hotel Eden Roc itself is closed from late October to late March, operating only in a reduced “Marina” format, so this genuinely isn’t a winter destination in the way some other Swiss regions are.
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Tips to Save Money on This Trip
- Get your Ticino Ticket immediately at check-in — it’s free with any qualifying hotel stay and covers most local trains, buses, and one full boat route, plus discounts on the rest.
- Fly into Milan Malpensa instead of Zurich if your dates and fares allow it — it’s closer, the train is faster, and MXP often has more competitive fares from the US than Zurich.
- Visit shoulder season (May-June or September) for noticeably lower hotel rates than the July-August peak, especially around the Film Festival in August.
- Eat where locals eat away from Piazza Grande’s front-row tables — a few streets back into the old town, prices for pizza and pasta drop noticeably compared to the prime lakefront tables.
- Buy Brissago Islands boat tickets from Porto Ronco rather than Locarno if you have a car — it’s the shortest, cheapest crossing to the islands.
- Bring cash in small denominations for the botanical garden and smaller attractions — several don’t accept cards for purchases under CHF 20.