Strada Bassa (Low Road) from All'Acqua to Airolo in the Bedretto Valley

Thursday May 29, 2025 -- This is a holiday in Switzerland, so we can do an outing, AND there is some sunny but very hot weather forecast for this "four-day weekend". 

We can't go up high yet as most cable-cars and buses aren't running to higher elevations yet, and due to a nasty chest cold, we weren't fit enough to do any strenuous hiking. So we were looking for some options to do easy downhill walking, like at valley bottom, but also within the mountains (as opposed to river walks in the Central Plateau, where it definitely was too hot: 27 to 30 degrees C!)

We decided to go back into the Bedretto Valley south of the Gotthard Massif, where we have been often, and where I had done a valley-bottom hike alone back in August of 2020 (photos HERE), visiting the little villages along the way. As Urs had not done any hiking along the "Strada Bassa" ("Low Road"), it was a good time to do this again. We started in All'Aqua (the furthest the bus runs up on the Nufenen Pass Road at this time of year), and then we followed some very nice footpaths, mostly through forest, all the way to the train station in Airolo. All along the way we were accompanied by the sound of the Ticino River, which is one of Switzerland's major rivers which has its source near the Nufenen Pass. 

This turned out to be a 14½-km hike, longer than we had planned. We could have caught a bus after 11 km, but we were feeling good, and it wasn't too hot, so we continued all the way back to the train station in the city of Airolo. Even the last 20 minutes along the paved road wasn't a problem, as there was a cool breeze blowing all day, and it wasn't hot at all.

Additional note: Because of the rare nice day, and it being a holiday, there were masses of people trying to get on the trains in the north part of the country heading south, many with bicycles, causing quite a bit of delay. We were worried we'd miss the bus connection in Airolo, but the little van bus waited for us, so it was all good....

Leaving home at about 9:10 a.m., we got to Airolo at about 11:05, around the time that the bus should have left. But the little bus was waiting, and off we went for the 20-minute bus ride into the Bedretto Valley. This view is of the city of Airolo at the location of the Pesciüm cable-car station. 

Heading up the valley, the bus passes through the village of Villa Bedretto, which is where we ended a different hike out of the valley in October 2022, also starting at All'Aqua but climbing up to the high trail and descending to here from above. 

A look up the Bedretto valley, as the bus heads to All'Aqua, the start of our day's hike. The Nufenen Pass further on is already open to vehicle traffic, but the bus doesn't run to the pass until the end of June. 

We got to All'Aqua, the final stop on the current run up the Bedretto Valley, at 11:40, and headed off right away on our walk down the valley. This is a look back at the hotel-restaurant there. 

The start of our hike as we head down the Bedretto Valley. 

Starting at 11:40 in All'Aqua, we ended back at the train station in Airolo just before 5 p.m., with just a few minutes to the 16:57 train back home. We weren't planning to walk all the way to Airolo, and could have caught a bus right after Fontana. But we were feeling good and the weather was ideal for walking, so this turned out to be a 14-km walk! In all, it took us five hours. 

We had a lot of nice foot-path trails along this route. Right within those trees were a few houses (Prato) and a couple of benches where we stopped to have our sandwiches. 

After a picnic stop, we continued on on the north side of the valley, and after the gravel pit, we crossed the highway and Ticino River and continued for the rest of the way along the south side of the valley. 

View to the south side of the valley. Here we descended to the highway, crossed the river, and then continued eastward on the south side of the river. 

From a higher section of the trail, we get this nice view down the Bedretto Valley. The river is called the Ticino, which has its source near here at the Nufenen Pass, and is one of Switzerland's major rivers. 

From here now we look to the north side of the valley. That village is called Ronco, and the bus passes through there before getting to All'Aqua. On my hike in 2020, I walked via all the little villages on the north side of the river. This time we just looked at them from this side. 

The next village we passed is called Bedretto. I also walked through there on the 2020 hike. 

We really enjoyed the narrow footpaths along this valley-bottom trail. 

Futher along is the next village called Villa Bedretto, which is the village where we ended the hike along the high trail from All'Acqua back in October of 2022. (The red line shows approximately where we descended). 

Zoomed view of Villa Bedretto

And an even closer look at the old church building in Villa Bedretto. This is called the the Church of The Maccabean Saints. The original building was from the 14th Century, but after several "destructions" and rebuilds, the building now dates from 1897, except possibly still the original bell-tower. 

Some very nice-looking peaks on the north side of the valley. These peaks are all part of the Gotthard Massif. 

It was pleasant weather to walk, with a bit of a chill wind blowing (almost too cold in the shade of the forest). But at least we missed out on another hot day in the lower elevations!

Above the village of Villa Bedretto, we could see the pass called Passo di Cavanna, which we descended from in July 2022 at the end of a two-day hike from the Furka Pass. (It's always interesting when we can see places we had been, from a different perspective). 

An idyllic spot to take a break. 

Zoomed view of the Gotthard Pass Road from Airolo

Up ahead is the village of Ossasco, which we will pass through. 

Now it's 2:30 p.m. as we reach Ossasco. Till now it has been about a two-hour walk from All'Acqua, and we would still have about 90 minutes to get to Airolo. There is a bus heading down the valley again in a little over an hour, so we figured we could catch it somewhere between Fontana and Airolo if we get tired of walking. 

That lady has the right idea: Enjoy the beautiful sunshine!

Nice-looking flower log!

Pretty houses in Ossasco

Here was the only uphill portion of our hike (this is looking back up the valley toward Ossasco). The trail was overgrown and we lost track of it here, and had to scramble up a very steep hillside to the edge of the forest. 

Another look at the North side of the Valley. 

And now we have arrived in Fontana, which is where I ended my hike in 2020, and from where we actually did another walk back in 2014. We were doing well with walking, so we continued on. 

15:16 in Fontana, and there was a train we could catch in Airolo at 5 p.m, which gave us an extra 30 minutes, so we decided to walk the whole way. 

Another look at the little stone houses in Fontana as we continue down the valley. 

Enjoying our walk

More nice trails

Another look at the Gotthard Pass road

This little private property was a bit off the trail, but obviously no one was home, so we "borrowed" their bench for another 10-minute break!

Another look behind us as we pass through a handful of houses in a hamlet called Tamblina

We can now see the city of Airolo up ahead. 

Another look behind us into the Bedretto Valley. 

I love how the cows always watch Urs go by. Here we have reached the base station of the Pesciüm cable-way (starts operation on 19th of June) at 4:30 p.m., and it's still 20 minutes to the train station, so we can't dally any longer if we want to catch the 16:57 train!

Another meadow cat that thinks it is invisible to us!

We had to walk 20 minutes on the side-walk next to the main road, but it wasn't an issue at all. If the day had been hotter.... maybe it would have been unbearable, but there was a nice breeze blowing. 

And we arrived at the train station at 16:51, still enough time for Urs to buy an icecream at the train station kiosk. From here, the trip home was only an hour and 45 minutes, so we were home by 6:45 p.m. 

The blue line is the trail which we did this day, 14½ kilometers from All'Aqua to Airolo. But we have done many walks in this valley, including high trails on both the north and south sides of the Valley. 

These are all the hikes we have done in the region of the Gotthard Massif, in the center of the Alps. In July of 2022 we even did a two-day hike across the top of the massif, starting at the Furka Pass and overnighting in a Swiss Alpine Hostel. 

Location of the Bedretto Valley within Switzerland.