Day 4: Domodossola to Locarno

We woke up this morning to find that Domodossola was bright and sunny... which was fortunate, because breakfast was served outside! With views like these, we couldn't complain.

Our plan for today was to take the Centovalli railway between Domodossola and Locarno in Switzerland. It was €17 each, plus a supplement of €1.50 to travel in a panoramic carraige, so not the cheapest journey we have ever taken, but the route looked spectacular from what we'd seen on the website, so we thought it would be worth the money. The trains run approximately every hour, and we were at the station in Domodossola in plenty of time for the one that departed at 10.25. I had been a bit worried in advance about how busy the train might be but while it did ultimately end up being full, we beat all the elderly Germans into one of the front carriages and secured a comfortable window seat

And it really did turn out to be worth the money! From Domodossola (about 270m) the train climbs steeply to the highest point of Santa Maria Maggiore at 836m before crossing the Swiss border and descending to Locarno. In total the journey takes about two hours and crosses no fewer than 83 different bridges and viaducts. The scenery was stunning and the windows on the panoramic carriage were really clear. I managed to get a couple of photos through the glass.

We arrived in Locarno around 12.30 and headed straight to our accommodation to check in. Finding affordable accommodation in Locarno had been a real struggle, and I was a little bit nervous about the hotel I had chosen as I realised belatedly after booking it that it basically consisted of some rooms above a fish restaurant. Some of the reviews I'd read online made reference to people being checked in by a fishmonger, and given that fish is one of my least favourite things in the whole world I was rather concerned it might smell.

Luckily, when we arrived it actually turned out to be really nice Admittedly our room was on the highest floor of the building, which necessitated climbing several flights of stairs in darkness because we couldn't find a light switch, but once we got to the top we found we had a spacious bedroom with a door opening onto a roof terrace. You can't see the lake from there but there are some views of the mountains. And best of all I couldn't smell any fish!

We decided to head out into Locarno as quickly as possible in case they were following Italian serving times for meals; we didn't want to miss the lunch-time slot and end up starving until late evening like yesterday. I had mainly chosen to come to Locarno because of the lake, so I wasn't sure what to expect from the town, but it turns out to have an interesting historical centre. Almost immediately we found this church...

...followed soon afterwards by this castle.

The main square was very pretty too, with multi-coloured buildings.

We stopped at a restaurant just off the square where we had a rather expensive (but delicious!) meal, to which we added a carafe of wine in order to bring the total over 50 CHF and thus enable us to break one of the 100 CHF notes which the post office had lumbered us with. Our next mission was to find a shop in which we could buy yet another plug adapter, not having realised that Swiss sockets were hexagonal and wouldn't accept a normal European plug adapter. We drew a blank in the Co-op but eventually found a branch of the department store Manor where, having anticipated the problem, they had a comprehensive display of Swiss plug adapters for every nationality of plug you could imagine, including UK. Problem solved!

When planning the holiday, I had decided to buy us a Ticino Discovery Card, a pass which would enable us to access lots of the attractions in the region for three days, as well as covering our travel between Locarno and Lugano. The website Swisspasses.com offered to sell them in advance, which seemed like a good option, so I duly paid and received a voucher which said I could exchange it at the tourist office in Locarno for two passes. Our next step then was to locate the tourist office, which turned out to be a bit of mission itself due to less than helpful city plans, but when we finally got there and presented the voucher, it seemed like we had an even bigger problem on our hands: the girl behind the counter had no idea what it was and said that they didn't accept any kind of vouchers. Oh dear! Our hearts sank, but luckily she turned out to be extremely helpful and after ringing about five different people, none of whom seemed to have heard of this voucher either, eventually decided to give us the passes anyway. Phew! In future it seems like it is definitely a much better idea to purchase at the tourist office when you arrive in Ticino!

All our logistical challenges resolved, we set off to do what we had originally intended and explore Lake Maggiore.

It was beautiful.

There's a wide path around the edge of the lake so we were able to walk for miles (although we had to be careful not to go to far as this definitely isn't a lake you could do a circuit of!) We had views towards the mountains...

...and back towards Locarno.

The temperature had really picked up by this point so we stopped at a little cafe for a drink before heading back to the hotel to cool off.

Locarno is beautiful and we are looking forward to making the most of our Ticino card tomorrow