Mountain Forest Walk in the Blenio Valley, from Motto to Malvaglia

Wednesday January 7, 2026 -- This week has seen the coldest days we've had so far, even down to minus 8 degrees in the lower areas where we live (and much colder in the mountains). Also, there is still lots of snow and we just didn't want to walk in these frigid temperatures.... so we headed again to our winter go-to hiking grounds in the Ticino.

We are still finding new trails we haven't walked yet, even if they are not that exciting. Whereas only four days earlier we did a riverside walk along the Ticino River nearer to Bellinzona (photos HERE), this time we traveled to the Blenio Valley again (a side valley of the Leventina Valley and a favourite of ours, especially as we can be there fairly quickly). This time we did a hike on forested mountain trails for some more strenuous walking along the eastern side of the valley, so we couldn't start too early.

It was a two-hour trip to the village of Motto north of Malvaglia, from where we have started other hikes at the valley bottom, but this time we headed up into the hills and hiked back to Malvaglia, where we then caught a bus back to Bellinzona after three hours of exercise and sunshine. Even with temperatures of just 3 degrees above zero, it was quite a warm day. Interesting note is that when we left home at 9 a.m., the temperatures there were -8ºC!!

Having spent the night in the Küssnacht House, this is a view of Mt.Pilatus as the sun starts to light up the peak at 9 a.m. At this point it is -8ºC!

Getting ready to head to the Küssnacht train station on the other side of the lake, to meet Urs in Arth-Goldau, just a 12-minute train ride from here. 

As my train reaches Immensee on Lake Zug, looking north, the city of Zug is blanketed in fog, whereas here, even though very cold, it's nice and sunny!

Across the valley on the south side of Lake Zug is the community of Arth, at the foot of Mt.Rossberg. 

Heading down the east side of Lake Uri, (at Sisikon) with a lovely view of the Uri Alps. 

Directly across is the winding road into the Isental Valley, a favourite of ours. 

On the way to Bellinzona, the train passes the town of Claro, where we had walked just a few days earlier (photos HERE). What a difference in weather just over an hour makes!

From Bellinzona we switch to the train to Biasca and take a bus from there into the Blenio Valley. It is on the hillside below Dagro and across the Malvaglia Valley where we will be walking later. Good to see that there is sunshine there!

We started at about 11:30 in the village of Motto (we didn't want to risk starting earlier, in case there would still have been shadow there), and caught the bus back on the main road in Malvaglia at 14:39. It was not a long hike (6 km), but we got three hours of fresh air and exercise climbing up along forested mountain trails!

In Motto, where we are starting on our hike, is a little church which is being renovated. Back in April 2022, we got a private tour of this church (as well as the one across the Brenno River) and were shown how far the renovations were progressing. (Not very quickly, although the outside is finished). This is the second time since then that we have peeked into the windows (see also December 2024) but this time you could not see past items placed in front of the window. 

Cats always like to come to Urs for some petting time! Growing up, Urs had a cat exactly like this one, so it brought back memories for him. 

On the other side of the river is another historical church which we were fortunate to get a tour of back in April 2022 when a local man met us at the the other church and let us in. (We called him ahead of time and met him there). 

Starting on our walk up the hill now, passing through the village of Motto. 

Looking past the roof we can see a region below Pizzo Molare, a popular ski region.. but no snow on this day!

For the first hour of our walk the trail headed up the hill above the village of Motto, then through the forest and down to the next village called Rongie. We started at about 11:30. 

We had to climb and then descend about 155 meters through the forest on the first part of this trail from Motto to Rongie. 

At about the highest point of this first stretch we came across this bench in the sunshine, and as it was now exactly noon, we had our picnic lunch here. 

It was a perfect day for walking along these mountain forest trails, as the lack of leaves in these otherwise pretty thick forests allows for lots of sunshine!

What an interesting cube-shaped boulder lies in the forest here!

A lovely view up the Blenio Valley.

Below us we can see the houses in the next village called Rongie. We didn't detour down there, because we had visited that village when we walked a piece of the Blenio historical trail between Motto and Malvaglia, but on the valley bottom. (Photos HERE). 

The people who used to live in these valleys long ago built "cellars" into the mountainsides (using large existing rocks) to keep their food cool before they had electricity. 

Walking through a little hamlet above the village of Rongie. 

Walking through a little hamlet above Rongie. From here we headed uphill again on similar forest trails as the first part of the hike. 

On the second part of the hike we had to climb again, this time it was 265 meters toward the Malvaglia Valley. In these regions and side valleys in the Ticino, we often pass such shrines on the mountain trails. 

Heading up along the forest trails again. 

Across the valley now we get a look at the ruins of the Seravalle Castle, which we visited on a March 2023 historical walk we did here in the valley. (Photos HERE). 

We passed via a small hamlet called Rurett. From here we could  have descended down to Malvaglia along the paved road, but we wanted to continue on the mountain trail. The village at the back is called Ludiano, which we walked through on the December 25, 2024 historical hike. It is now just after 1 p.m. 

A nice view DOWN the Blenio valley this time. This is very close to the junction of the Leventina Valley (where the major Ticino River flows) and the Blenio Valley here. At the junction is the city of Biasca, which is usually in shadow by 2 p.m. at this time of year. 

A very attractive property with some nice terraced vineyards. 

By 1:40 p.m. we reached the highest point of our hike after a fairly easy uphill on the forest trails. Here we join a trail we've walked before, in May 2017 when we walked out of the Malvaglia Valley, on our first hike there (a total 6-hour hike!)

These steps are hewn into the rock!

Lovely stone arched bridge called Ponte Lau, crosses the ravine at the entrance of the Malvaglia Valley. 

Now across the bridge we are back in the sunshine, and ready for the final descent into the town of Malvaglia. It's now 2 p.m. This little building is called the "Capella Sacre Cuore". 

From here it's another 30 minutes to the bus stop across from the Malvaglia Church, and we are trying to get the 14:38 bus, otherwise we have to wait an hour for the next bus. As it is now 14:04, we are going to have to hurry!

We took a different trail down the mountain than we did last time, via a hamlet called Scateto. Here's another look up the Blenio Valley.  

An icy trail as we head down to the houses in Scateto. 

We had to hurry down the mountain through forests and vineyards as we really didn't want to wait an hour for the next bus. 

After taking a wrong turn on the way down, we still managed to get to the church in Malvaglia at 14:36, just two minutes before the bus was to arrive! We didn't need to go and check out the church as we had already seen the inside on the Christmas Day 2024 hike down the valley. BUT, we still had a short stretch to walk along the main road to the bus stop. 

Lucky for us the bus was running a bit late, or it might have been a tight race to the finish! (It is now 14:39!, and we had to walk from that church tower in the back!)

As the bus heads into the city of Biasca, we get a look at the two magnificent churches, which we have visited before. Especially the large Romanesque Church was particularly beautiful (photos are HERE). 

What our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps. 

These are all the hikes we have done here on the lower part of the Blenio Valley. Mostly it's in the winter months that we are here, because there is little snow and the temperatures are usually milder.

Location in the Blenio Valley within Switzerland.