Lugano Switzerland – Our Most Excellent European Adventure: Part 1

Posted on   July 11,2018   By John Compisi

We just returned from nearly a month in Europe. The next series of posts will highlight our travel adventures and offer tips, tricks and recommendations on our favorite ways to enjoy these amazing locations in Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and France.

Lake Lugano is as beautiful as any of Italy’s great lakes. (L.Compisi)

We flew non-stop from San Francisco (SFO) to Zürich (ZUR) in about 11 hours. We planned on not wasting the day getting over our jet lag in Zürich, and got our rental car, (we used Hertz), to continue on to Lugano, Switzerland (2.5 hrs. away). That was the first of many good decisions. Our flight landed in Zürich at 10:10 am (local) and arrived in Lugano around 2 pm. The challenge was to remain awake until 8:30 pm to help us sleep through the night. That strategy worked for us.

Hotel Victoria au Lac is charming and ideally placed (L.Compisi)

Our hotel in Lugano was Hotel Victoria au Lac in Paradiso, the small city along Lake Lugano. Although the hotel is showing its age and is a bit thread-bare, the location is stellar and quite adequate. It offered a complimentary breakfast and free wifi in our room. Hotel Victoria also has paid parking underground across the street (a huge plus). Additionally, it is within walking distance of the Lugano city-center. The lakeside promenade was beautiful and offered restaurants, museums, gelato stands and so much more. It was mid-June and the weather was warm and delightful.

View from our balcony at Hotel Victoria au Lac (L.Compisi)

We had a delicious and quite delightful late lunch at Ristorante Cafè Retrò, just across the street from our hotel. We had pizza (the first of many on this multi-country adventure) and it’s was very good. Equally delightful was the Valpolicella Ripasso wine from Italy that we enjoyed.

Delicious food and wine at Ristorante Cafè Retrò (L.Compisi)

Located just across the street from Hotel Victoria YUM!! (L.Compisi)

After walking the length of the promenade and up 125 steps to keep ourselves awake, we decided to head back to Café Retro for an early night cap. The staff (Stanley) and the owner, Matteo, did an amazing job in making us feel like locals by offering finger foods with each bottle of wine we purchased.  No need for dinner!

Stanley (above) and Matteo made us locals at Ristorante Cafè Retrò (L.Compisi)

The next morning we woke, had a delicious breakfast at the hotel (which we shared with the very fat birds on the veranda) and headed for our next stop.  Here we come Valpolicella, Italy.

Our breakfast companions at Hotel Victoria au lac (L.Compisi)