Walking down the Beautiful Bavona Valley: Day 2 of Three-Day Trip to Ticino

(Post done on December 18, 2021)

Second Day of Three-Day trip to Ticino: Val Bavona

Monday May 16, 2016 -- Second day of our vacation in the Italian part of Switzerland. We headed back into the Maggia Valley (no tourists this time) but much further up the valley, right to the end where it splits into two side valleys at the lovely village of Bignasco. 

The Bavona Valley to the West is a wild and wonderful U-shaped glacier valley lined on both sides by magnificent steep cliffs, lush and green with overgrown vegetation. And yet there are a number of charming villages along the way; this valley is so full of boulders from a multitude of landslides, that the natives built their homes of stone, in, on and adjacent to the boulders! Life was so difficult here, that they even planted and harvested grass for their animals on top of the boulders, and built shelters for them beneath the boulders.

The trail we followed is Section 1 of Trail no.59: "Sentiero Cristallina", which actually "starts" in Bignasco and heads up valley to San Carlo (we did this stretch starting in San Carlo and going down-valley), with Parts 2 and 3 going over the Cristallina Pass into the Bredretto Valley to the North. Alternately, the trails in this valley are also called "Sentieri di Pietra", or "Trails of Stone", a very apt description. 

Strict hiking time out of the valley is four hours, so that means about 7 hours for us, with all the stops along the way to admire everything, especially all the unique stone houses, the boulder barns in the middle of the forests and the spectacular 50-m high waterfall at Foroglio, one of the highlights of this valley. 

(NOTE: Photos of DAY 1 of our 3-day trip can be found HERE)

The first bus from Locarno takes us up the Maggia Valley to Bignasco, where the Bavona Valley meets the Maggia Valley from the West. This view is down the Maggia Valley from Bignasco. 

At Bignasco we have to wait for another bus, which will take us up the Bavona Valley (on the left). This view is of the village of Bignasco, and the Lavizzara Valley to the Northeast

On the way up the Bavona Valley, we pass the waterfall at Foroglio, which we will admire on our hike back down. 

One of several villages in the Bavona Valley, which we passed on our way up the valley on the bus. 

End of the bus line at San Carlo. From here you can take a cable car to the upper plateau at Robiei (the Basodino Glacier there is the largest glacier in Canton Ticino), or hike up. We are hiking down the Bavona Valley along trail no. 59. The time suggestion of 3 hours is WAY off. It takes at least four hours to walk to Bignasco, without stops.

A look down the beautiful Bavona Valley from San Carlo

Before starting on our hike down the valley, we took 30 minutes to look at the small village of San Carlo.

Heading down the valley now, a last look at San Carlo

Walking time from San Carlo to Bignasco is at least four hours, not three, as per the trail marker in San Carlo. This was a 13-km hike!

Heading SE, this is the 16th Century chapel of Gannariente

16th Century chapel of Gannariente

Next village down: Sonlerto

So many unique details to admire in these villages.

This building is from the 16th Century, was used to store grain (rye mostly)

A look back at the village of Sonlerto after passing through. Big boulders just got incorporated into the construction of the houses. 

Panorama view of Sonlerto, looking up the Bavona Valley

Continuing down the Bavona Valley

This next village is called Roseto. This is the one I photographed on the way up the valley, from the bus window!

Now we've arrived at Foroglio, with its 50-m high waterfall

The signs indicate that the trails are called "Sentieri di pietra" (Trails of stone)

Wandering around Foroglio, and a good place for a "coffee break"

We had climbed up above the village for a way, trying to get a better look at the waterfall. This is heading back down again. 

We decided to try approaching the waterfall from the front

Nice and cool on this hot day!

VIDEO:

Foroglio Waterfall

Village of Foroglio

Interesting way that the boulders were incorporated into the building structures

Following the forest trail, we found several of these stables built under the boulders. Farmers let their goats roam in the forests, and could keep them safe here at night. 

A stable built under the boulders

And of course there are always plenty of lizards around! Also enjoying the Spring sunshine, as we were.... 

Under the boulders is also a good place to build cellars, as it stays nice and cool there. Here the trail crossed the road and the river, and the rest of the way was on the South side of the river, all through the forest. 

It's always a treat when we catch sight of an emerald lizard!

Crossing the Bavona river to get back to Bignasco, where we caught the bus back out of the Maggia Valley. 

What our 13-km hike looked like on Google Satellite Maps

It took less than an hour by bus to get back out of the Maggia Valley and to our second accommodation, a hostel in Caserma. For our DAY 3 trip to Indemini, we had to leave at 7 a.m. the next morning, and needed to be fairly close by.

Photos of our DAY3 Excursion can be found HERE.

The hostel where we spent the second night, in Losone. We had to leave at 7 a.m. to get the connection to Indemini.