Planning a trip to Locarno
Visitor Information -- The Locarno Tourist Bureau, on largo Zorzi 1 (tel. 091/791-00-91; www.maggiore.ch), is open March to October Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm, Saturday 10am to 6pm, and Sunday 10am to 1:30pm and 2:30 to 5pm; November to February, hours are Monday to Friday 9am to 12:30pm and 2 to 6pm.
Getting There
The nearest airport is at Lugano, 45 minutes away by train.
The Locarno-Domodossola electric railway links Locarno with the Italian town of Domodossola. From here, you can continue to Brig in the Rhône Valley, through the Simplon Tunnel. Railway lines connect Brig with Lake Geneva and Bern through the Lotschberg Tunnel. Direct trains from Lausanne or Bern take 4 hours to reach Locarno. From the other direction, through the St. Gotthard Tunnel, Locarno is 23km (14 miles) west of Bellinzona by rail. For rail information and schedules, call tel. 0900/300-300 or see www.sbb.ch.
Locarno sits atop the bus routes that connect Ascona with Lugano, and they continue on to many different mountain villages to the northeast, eventually arriving at Chur. For more details about bus transportation, call the tourist bureau .
After driving through the St. Gotthard Tunnel and reaching Bellinzona on the N2 expressway, take Route 13 west to reach Locarno.
