Loop hike high above the Magadino Plain (Giubiasco and Bellinzona)

Sunday April 16, 2023 -- This is not the best April we have had.... if the sun was shining, it was very cold with icy winds. Otherwise, lots of rain and even snow to low elevations.

Which means another escape to the south. We had less sunshine than hoped (Saturday would have been better, but we hadn't made any plans), but it was still better than all the rain at home. And each trip now to the south means more green instead of all that winter brown. 

We are still finding trails we haven't done yet, or cable cars that need testing out, although here in Canton Ticino there are unfortunately not so many, which means most of the mountain summits (over 2000m from Valley bottom) are inaccessible to us. But we had heard of one very small and lesser-known cable car which we had long wanted to try out, but it is on the shady side of the mountain, so not something we can do in winter. 

The cable car starts in Camorino near Giubiasco (Bellinzona) and takes you 650m up the mountainside to a small group of buildings on a clearing called Croveggia. From there we still had to hike about 200m uphill to a mountain trail which would have been very interesting with its small trail along many cliffs, if it were not for the 30cm of leaves on the trail, making it slippery and difficult to judge if there were rocks beneath it. So that part was slow, careful going. 

After our picnic lunch at the next clearing called Cremorasco (best views of the excursion), we ended up in the off-limits military training region, which you are fortunately able to pass through on Sundays (no shooting practice). This would have been a real disappointment on a week-day, having to turn back!

The long 2-hour descent to Giubiasco was along the more popular National Trail no.7 and 2 (Via Gottardo and Trans-Swiss-Trail). We could have taken a bus again from Camorino, but chose to walk the additional 30 minutes to the train station in Giubiasco, making this an almost 4-hour hike. 

A view of one of Bellinzona's three castles (Castello di Sasso Corbaro) from the train station in Bellinzona. The landscape is starting to get greener....

Heading by bus from Bellinzona to Camorino, we get a look at the mountainside we will be hiking along, including, the path of the cable car. 

At the bus stop in Camorino we could see an old church nearby, and decided we would pass by there on our way back down the mountain

To make sure we got to ride this small cable-car, we had to call the day before to let them know we were coming, so someone could be there to operate it. The ride cost 13 CHF one-way

Another unusual cable-car which we tried out for the first time today. It only holds 4 passengers at a time, and there is only one line, a 10-minute trip. That's a transport of 12 people per hour, not good if there are groups here! We had reserved this cable-car ride for 10:30 and were there on the dot.

There is an open space above the half-doors, so I got some nice views and photos out of the cable car! Here we are just leaving the little cable-car station below. 

The view over the magadino plain toward Lago Maggiore and the popular city of Locarno

There was a fellow hiker waiting at the bottom station when we got there, so he rode up as well. The trip takes about 9 minutes one way. If there are more than four people at a time waiting for a ride, the others have to wait about 20 minutes because the cabin has to return....

The cable-way services two alpine pastures up here, Croveggia where the cable car stops, and Pian Grande, 160m higher up. 

From Croveggia you can walk back down to Camorino via the Hunger Towers Trail (something we have not yet done). Our next stop from here is Pian Grande (which we managed in 20 minutes, a 160m uphill hike) and then Cremonasco (that took longer, because of the leaf-covered trail). 

At Pian Grande we took a break to admire the view. The lake at the back is Lago Maggiore, and the mountain on the left is Monte Tamaro

A zoomed view of Monte Tamaro (a cable car takes you up to Alpe Foppa, where there is one of Mario Botta's architectural creations), and Cima die Medeglia. We have been on both summits before. Cremorasco is where we had lunch, and Cima di Dentro is where we started our descent back to Camorino.

It took us an hour to Cremorasco from here, because we had to walk carefully on the leaf-covered trails. At Cima di Dentro we started on the 90-minute descent to Camorino (i.e. 3 hours from this point).

The goal of this excursion was to try out the small cable-car from Camorino to this side of the mountain above the Magadino plain. To walk along the Hunger Towers trail back to Camorino would have been too short, so we planned the longer hike along the mountain and back down via No.2 and No.7. This was more challenging than we expected!

Heading into the forest from the small farm at Pian Grande

Stone houses built right into the mountainside

The 45-minute walk (or in hour case, one hour) to the next clearing at Cremorasco was along a narrow trail with cliffs on one side and a pretty steep drop on the other. 

The problem with hiking Ticino mountains in winter and early spring is that the trails are covered with masses of leaves from the chestnut and beech trees, and you don't know what the trail beneath is like. One wrong step and you can slip down the vertical slope!

Where even is the trail?

Slow going over the narrow, leaf-covered trail

At a small opening in the trees we actually could see below us the little cable car we came up with. Still at the top station, means no one has wanted to use it since we came up at 10:30 (it's now 11:45)

Another look at the Magadino Plain. There are lots of clouds today, so much of the countryside is in shadow. (The valley up the mountain on the opposite side is called Valle di Sementina, and that is where the Tibetan suspension bridge Carasc is located) 

How funny this looks, as his legs disappear in the thick blanket of leaves...

Trails like we love them!!!! 

Even with the leaves on the trail, we are always thrilled to do mountain hikes here, when the snow stays too long at higher elevations. 

We arrived at Capanna Cremorasco (a hut with 10 beds for public use) at 12:15. 

The open clearing that is Cremorasco

Next to the flag at Cremorasco, there was an ideally-located bench where we could enjoy panoramic views while having our lunch-break here. 

Our lunch-time bench with views over the Magadino Plain to the west 

Far past Locarno and Alpe Naccio (we also once crossed that) are the snow-covered peaks of the Valle Vergeletto and beyond. 

And this view to the Northeast is across Bellinzona and Pizzo di Claro in the center (we have been just below that peak, but not on it. Those photos are HERE)

We were lucky to have a few windows of sunshine while up here (30 minutes). The day was cloudier than expected, unfortunately. 

Good-bye to a fabulous look-out point. With such great visibility, it was too bad we didn't have more sunshine. The next stretch toward Cima di Dentro was easier going, as the trail from that side to here had been cleared of leaves. 

Barely five minutes from the Cremorasco Hut we reached the military shooting region. This sign says it is forbidden to continue on this trail, but additional signs informed us that it was OK to pass here on Sundays. Good thing we didn't plan this hike on a weekday!

This is called Alpe del Tiglio and is where the soldiers bunk when they do their training. Urs did part of his military training here as well. He said they had to climb the mountains above us, and got caught in a snow storm for the night up there. 

The 90-minute and 800-meter descent from Cima di Dentro back to valley bottom was almost always through forest, with only one clearing with a view. 

This section of trail from Giubiasco to Cima di Dentro (and technically down the other side into the Isone Valley) is part of both National Trails no.7 and no.2. (Most people do this section going uphill). As we had never walked this section before, it closed another gap for us...

A clearing along the way with some more mountain houses. 

Passing by some old chestnut trees

It was only here, about half-way down the mountain, that we had another nice view over Bellinzona. There was a convenient bench here where we sat for a while and admired the view. 

From our view bench, a zoomed view of Castello di Sasso Corbaro above Bellinzona, the one you can see from the train station in Bellinzona.

And also a zoomed view of the second of three Bellinzona castles: This is Castello di Montebello, below Corbaro and just a short distance above the city.  

Continuing down the forest trail

I spied this cool little house through the trees, built into the hillside....

Our detour to the lovely church building called San Martino was a bit of a disappointment, as the church was locked. A panel next too the church informed us that this is a Romanesque building from the 13th Century, and that there are reliquaries from the 17th Century inside. The painting of St.Martin above the main doors is from the 19th Century

At least we had a nice view from the church grounds across Camorino, Giubiasco and all the way to the third castle of Bellinzona: Castel Grande, which is on a hill right in the middle of the city.

On this excursion into the Ticino, I was thrilled with all the colours. 

Passing by the little church in Camorino where this day's excursion started, the bus to Giubiasco Train station was just about to depart (15:42). We could have hopped the bus here, but decided to walk the additional 25 minutes to the train station, getting there just as our 16:06 train was pulling in. 

In Camorino we saw a couple of the Hunger Towers, along the themed trail you can walk down from the summit station of the cable-car. These "forts" were created in 1853 as defence against Austrian invasion and to provide employment for refugees from Italy's Lombardy region (Information HERE)

Another fantastic view of Castello di Sasso Corbaro and the mountains of the Calanca Valley in the background (which is actually Canton Grisons). Only the hill with the castle is lighted by a small amount of sunshine. 

Lots of colour in the gardens on our walk through Giubiasco

Ever-present palm trees always give that Mediterranean flair

The main square in Giubiasco with the church "Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta", built in the 12th Century at the location of a previous, 10th Century church, but then enlarged a couple of times in the 15th and 17th Centuries (latter then convered to Baroque style). We didn't have time to look inside this time, which was OK, as we were here for a look in March 2021. 

Details of Santa Maria Assunta when we were here in March 2021

What our hike looks like on Google Satellite maps. First we had to walk 400 meters from the bus stop in Camorino to the cable car station. Upon returning to Camorino, we continued walking through Giubiasco to the train station there. 

All the hikes we have done to date in the region around Bellinzona, Giubiasco and Val d'Isone. 

As a side note, here is what the view would have been if the sun was shining properly! This was on April 23, in 2017, a hike we did to Cima di Dentro from the Isone Valley, and then on to Cima di Medeglia before returning a different way into the Isone Valley. That blog entry is HERE. Six years almost to the day. That was the year we had a beautiful April, with loads of blossoming trees in the early part, and then another snow and cold spell on April 29th.... most of the cherries froze that year.