Walking from Gandria to Castagnola and Villa Fogazzaro Roi near Lugano
A traveler is planning a visit to Castagnola and wants to combine a scenic walk from Gandria to Villa Fogazzaro Roi with some lovely picture opportunities. They're looking for help with public transport options and dining locations, especially since they need to manage their energy levels while traveling in their seventies.
- Check local boat schedules using the Swiss timetable website for trips from Lugano to Porlezza, stopping at Oria for the villa.
- Be mindful that some roads may not have sidewalks, making walking less straightforward in certain areas.
- Consider dining options that allow for an earlier lunch, as transportation may take longer than expected.
AI-generated summary-
We will be staying in Castagnola and I’m wondering if I can combine a walk from Gandria to Castagnola with a trip to the Villa Fogazzaro Roi just over the border. I’m not so interested in the villa itself but the grounds look lovely. I’ve more or less decided that a day trip to Menaggio and the towns nearby will be too crowded, if I can find pretty vistas closer. I really just want to take some pretty pictures 🙂
The #12 bus seems to go as far as Oria Confine Dogana Italiana, but then there’s a hour wait for another bus which takes 1 minute to get to Oria Paese. So it would seem you can easily walk it rather than wait for another bus.
However, Google maps is not very helpful. Apparently it is a 2-minute drive or a 3-minute bike ride to bridge the gap, but if you walk, it’s an hour and a half because you have to go around the whole town and enter it from the east. This makes no sense to me. Is there a reason you can’t walk there directly?
The earliest booking you can get at the villa is 11:00-12:00. Then we would need to get back to Gandria, walk to Grotto Elvezia for lunch and on to Castagnola. Assuming there is a bus or ferry we can take back that way.
But maybe it will take too long to get to Grotto Elvezia and we will want to eat earlier? Not a lot of options. There seems to be a ferry port near the Villa, but I can’t find any timetables and suspect the ferries don’t run frequently. Not much information at all on how to get around in this area by public transit. We are in our seventies, so I want to plan carefully as our energy can only take us so far and I’d like to do the olive walk.
Any information would be most appreciated.
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Hi Alizar,
It could be quite simply, you are unable to walk this stretch of the road. It maybe just a road with no footpaths.
For the boat schedule, you can research via the Swiss timetable or you can scroll to “Other websites of interest” in our Lake Lugano boat trip guide below, there is a link for the boat schedules. You will need the Lugano – Porlezza route, alighting at Oria for Villa Fogazzaro Roi.
- https://www.myswissalps.com/travel/public-transport/timetable/
- https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/boat-lake-lugano/
Kind regards,
Yolanda
Thanks, Yolanda.
I think you are right about the missing sidewalk, it seems to disappear briefly. However, given the short distance and quiet area, I think people probably do walk it. I used AI to find the Lugano to Porlezza route. If anyone needs it, here is the link.
https://www.tp-info.ch/sites/default/files/fap/2024/pdf/3622.pdfbest, MK
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