Along the Ticino River in the Riviera Valley, and a detour via Claro

Saturday January 3, 2026 -- Now we got the first big dump of snow since mid-November, and the fog is gone, but the temperatures have dropped to minus degrees. And since we are not yet used to it, besides imagining all the people heading to the mountains for this final weekend of the Christmas holidays, we simply headed back to... Ticino, where there is still sunshine and +5-degree temperatures!

We didn't feel like a big hike this time, so did a simple and easy 10-km walk along the Ticino River and through the communities of Claro and Scubiago, starting at the train station in Castione and ending in the village of Cresciano, thus connecting start and end of other hikes we have done in the region.

This again is a part of the Riviera Valley near Bellinzona which receives only a few hours of sunshine at this time of year because of the steep mountains to the east and the west. But we managed to time it right for 3½ hours of sunshine with only the final 30 minutes of the planned walk in the shadow of the western mountains.

(And of course, one aim is to visit all possible churches we had not yet seen... but two of the three were unfortunately locked).

It had finally snowed again the day before (last big snow was end of November) but we weren't prepared to do a snow hike, plus the sun wasn't shining here in the north, so that is why we headed south. Nevertheless it still looked very pretty this morning with the new snow. This is at our local bus stop heading toward the train station at 9:10 a.m.

Heading south along Lake Zug by train.

In less than two hours we were at the start of our hike along the Ticino River near Castione. It was good timing as the Castione train station was still in shadow, but barely a few meters along toward the river we reached the sunshine. Had we started earlier, we would have had to walk in the shadow of the eastern mountains.

Castione is actually kind of an industrial region, (also currently lots of construction of a new train depot), but I wanted to start here to connect to where we had recently ended a hike (photos HERE) and where we could join once again on National Trail no.7: "Via Gottardo". We started at 11 a.m. and just hit the shadws again near Cresciano at 2:10 p.m. We only had about 30 minutes of shadow.

We actually had to make a detour from the main trail through the forested section, as there was construction going on along the "dam". But that way we got great views of the Ticino River.

Clambering over icy rocks for a photo shot!

The river here had a very nice turquoise colour.

Once again we are reminded that we get much better views of the river in winter when there are no leaves on the trees!

Close-up look at the pedestrian and bicycle suspension bridge between Gnosca and Claro, built in 1997.

National Trail no. 7: "Via Gottardo" follows the Ticino River (mostly) all the way from Giubiasco (south of Bellinzona) to Airolo (south of the Gotthard Tunnel).

The beautiful suspension bridge (a pedestrian bridge) crosses the Ticino River here between Gnosca on the west side and Claro on the east. We crossed here on a similar hike back in December 2023.

A bridge over a side stream.

Crossing the wide open pastures now toward the main road, and from there we are heading up into the town of Claro, seen at the back.

Several trains passed us along our walk on the north/south stretch through the Leventina and Riviera Valleys. (Here we have to pass via a tunnel under the railway line to reach Claro).

We are headed now toward a church which we have often seen from the train but had not visited before. It is called St.Lorenzo and lies at the south end of the town of Claro in a hamlet called Cassero.

A close-up view of the San Lorenzo church.

This spot must get a lot of sunshine to make it worth the trouble of planting vineyards.

We got to the San Lorenzo church at noon, but it was unfortunately locked. (Sometimes there will be instructions on where to pick up a key, but we could not find any such information). So we found a spot on a wall in the cemetery for a break and to eat our picnic lunch. Up on the hill you can just make out the church of the Claro Monastery.

Other views of the San Lorenzo Church and Cemetery in Claro. We sat on a wall in the Cemetery for our picnic lunch. The gravestones (bottom left) are sadly for some very small children. The tower, as so many in this area, dates from the 11th Century. This modest Baroque church was restored in 1973.

Heading up now along the pretty cobblestone streets of Claro. Also here are very many palm trees.

Each stone house is unique

On an elevation about 340 meters above the village of Claro is the Santa Maria Assunta Benedictine Monastery, the oldest convent in Canton Ticino, established in 1490. We have hiked up to those buildings twice before, most recently in November 2021. (There is an old mule trail you can follow to get there, currently being renovated, and also a cable-car).

Below us now is the parish church in Claro (San Rocco e Sebastian), which I visited on that November 2021 hike up to the convent buildings, so we didn't detour that way this time.

Lots of rock here (walls, houses), and palm trees.

Another beautiful stone building which has its own built-in chapel.

Once in a while there is an olive tree!

And everywhere we catch sight of a cat.

At the north end of the town of Claro was a small elevation with some old ruins (called the "Ruderi della Castalderia di Cortauro") which I wanted to look at, but those were blocked off and off limits, so we walked around a bit looking at more lovely stone houses.

A flowering bush in early January!

Left-over roses and some unusual art...

A look up at the ruins as we come down off the little hill.

Up ahead now is a small community called Scubiago and along the way is another church to look at.

Along the way we passed two Grotti, which are small outdoor restaurants, and this one had a some fun descriptions of men's and women's toilets!

Approaching San Nazzaro Church from the back. (The following history is translated from Italian Wikipedia: "The structure is first mentioned in historical documents dating back to 1211. Between the 16th and 17th centuries, it underwent radical transformations that completely altered the church's original appearance; among the very few elements of the original building that were reused in the transformation was the south wall."). The south wall would be the one we can see from here.

Interior of the "S. Nazzaro e Celso" church in Scubiago.

Lots of nice details from this stucco artwork and the uncovered frescoes. These would have been from the 16th and 17th Centuries.

Another cat, a very pretty one!

An unusual wooden balcony on a house here!

A look behind us now as we head down to the river again from the village of Scubiago.

This is the second time we have to pass under the railway line: The first time after walking a stretch along the Ticino River from Castione and heading into Claro, and now heading back to the river for another stretch.

As we head back down to the river, we catch sight of the Claro Monastery up on the hill, above the town of Claro.

We had actually expected a lot more shadow along the riverside trail here (because the shadow cast by the western mountains comes quickly at this time of year), but we were very lucky and enjoyed more sunshine.

More bridges!

We have walked this stretch of river before on the December 2023 hike, but had gone right down to the riverbank. We were here earlier in the day at that time and had much more sunshine at the time.

By 2 p.m. the shadow had caught up to us, but we only had another 30 minutes to get to Cresciano, where we were hoping to wait inside the church there for the 14:48 bus.

At 2:30 p.m. we were in Cresciano to check out the town's church (Chiesa di San Vincenzo)... which weirdly enough was locked. We were hoping to wait out the final 20 minutes for the bus inside the church, but that was not to be.

From the bridge at the main road, this was the best view we could get of this church. (The bus stop is nearby). The bell tower is definitely from the Romanesque period, you can tell. According to information on the Internet, the original 16th Century church has been massively rebuilt.

This is what our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps. We started in Castione (where we had ended another Ticino Riverside walked in February of this year --> photos HERE), walked along the river for a bit, headed into the town of Claro and from there back down to the river. We ended our hike in Cresciano, where we had once ended a hike from the Claro Monastery (photos HERE) and also started another hike up the hill heading north (photos HERE).

The bus then headed back to Bellinzona (ca. 20 minutes), where there would still be at least an hour of sunshine, but our goal for the day was complete, so we caught the next train headed back home, a trip of only another 90 minutes from here.