On the Via Gottardo Trail again, from Lodrino to Biasca on the Ticino Side

Thursday November 27, 2025 -- It's still very cold in the north, and lots of sunshine in the south, so on the spur of the moment I headed toward Bellinzona and Biasca, which is just a two-hour trip to milder temperatures (about 9 degrees) for a short walk of 10 kilometers.

Since I keep track of all our hikes on Google Earth Maps, I like to connect trails from where we ended and started previous trails, and there was one rather monotonous stretch along the Ticino River between Lodrino and Biasca in the "Riviera" part of the valley, connecting where we left off on our (similar) December 2023 walk along the Ticino River, and ending in the city of Biasca. This is another section of the National Trail no.7: "Via Gottardo" of which we have done several sections, but the maximum amount of time I can spend walking along the river. (For me, this is much more tiring than 4 hours of mountain trails).

I started at 11:15 at the former train station in Cresciano, and ended in Biasca at about 2 p.m., just as this city was starting to be thrown into the shadow of the steep western mountains there. Winter walks in the sunshine are difficult to calculate in this part of the Ticino River Valley, and I should have started at least an hour earlier for better sunshine. Returning to Bellinzona by train, I could have spent some more time in the sunshine there, which lasts until about 4 p.m., but after this 2½-hour walk I was ready to head back home (just a 90-minute trip).!

PART I -- Snow in our region... The landscape was beautiful, and on the way south, I almost changed plans as the landscape was beautiful! In retrospect, I could have done a very nice walk somewhere here at lake level, with gorgeous views of the freshly-fallen snow!

Passing Mt. Rigi at the south end of Lake Zug. The snow-cover tooks fabulous, especially where it ends so suddenly!

And here we are near the city of Schwyz. I could have done a nice walk along the cleared roads, but actually, I wasn't sure how cold it would be. 

Fantastic Mythen Mountains

Close-up look at the Grosser Mythen Peak. It was just a few weeks earlier that I walked down to the city of Schwyz through the clearings on the bottom left. 

Later on, near the south end of Lake Uri near Flüelen, another fabulous peak called Gitschen. 

PART II: 10-km Walk from Cresciano/Lodrino to Biasca along the Ticino River

This turned out to be a 10-km and 2½-hour walk, mostly along the Ticino River on a fairly level path. After crossing the bridge at Biasca (in shadow at 1:30 p.m.), the final 1½ kilometers to the train station was along a paved road. I started across the river from Lodrino at 11:15, and just caught the 13:55 train back to Bellinzona (I was a minute too lake, but the conductor waited for me!)

Starting across from the former Cresciano train station (where we had ended a similar walk in December 2023) at 11:15, I first crossed the Ticino River and walked beneath the freeway bridge on my way to Lodrino on the west side of the river. 

A look south down the Ticino River as I cross the bridge on my way to Lodrino. 

A look to the mountains on the east side of the river near Osogna, I can see the little Oratorio della Santa Pieta chapel which we have walked past on two previous hikes on the higher trail (February 2018 and February 2020) 

A view of the snow-covered peaks on the west side of the river, above the village of Lodrino. 

A view up the Ticino River after passing beneath the freeway bridge. 

Here I cross a side stream which enters the Ticino River. View past the freeway bridge to the mountainside above Osogna. 

Up ahead is the parish church of Lodrino. (Back in February 2018, we started and ended a loop tour up the western hillside above Lodrino and the granite quarry just north of here.) A trail marker here indicates that it should take another two hours to walk to Biasca.  

This is the Sant'Ambrogio Church in Lodrino. The church was first mentioned in the 15th Century, although this building is Late Baroque.

Details of the Saint Ambrose church in Lodrino. The Rococo stucco artwork is from the 17th Century, as is the main portal and the fresco of the Nativity above it. The fresco of St.Christopher to the right of the door dates from 1718. 

Panorama view of the inside of the church in Lodrino. (I cannot recall quite clearly, but I don't think we saw the inside of this church last time we were here in 2018, because it was a Sunday and there might have been a church service going on).

I loved the colour inside of this building. 

Just to the north of the village is the Lodrino granite quarry. In February 2018 we started here in the village of Lodrino and hiked a trail above the quarry to three hamlets on this mountainside. 

Now starts the long walk along the Via Gottardo Trail next to the Ticino River. On that February 2018 hike, we also walked here along the river and through the forests back to Lodrino from Iragna, and as there are two parallel trails, I tried walking on the sections we didn't cover last time! 

A long level trail along the Ticino River. The air temperature was pretty mild, so a comfortable (although for me somewhat monotonous) walk. 

Across the river is the very steep Valle Osogna. (There is a trail up into that valley, but less interesting for us, as it's a 900-meter climb through the forest to the first clearing with mountain homes).

Ticino River (looking south), one of Switzerland's major rivers. 

The colour of the river was a clear turquoise. 

Now I get views into the Blenio Valley, which branches off from this valley at Biasca. It is a beautiful valley we have walked many times, and is also the valley that leads up to the Lukmanier Pass. 

I took a small detour off the riverside trail to have a look as this lovely "pond". 

This trail along the river is part of both National Trails no.7: "Via Gottardo", and no.2: "Trans-Swiss Trail". 

Above me to the west, more of the higher, snow-covered peaks come into view. 

A spot along the river for a short break. 

Crossing the bridge over the Ticino River before the final stretch to the train station in Biasca. It is only 1:30 p.m., but this part of the valley is now already in shadow of the steep mountains to the West. 

At this point it was 13:41..... The train leaves at 13:55 and I walked very quickly because I didn't want to wait around for the next train at 14:25 because there was a lot of construction noise. It was all on paved roads from here to the train station, and I walked very quickly..... 

A look southwards down the valley from Biasca

To the northeast, the Blenio Valley (and the Malvaglia side valley) still have lots of sunshine!

But to the northwest, the Leventina Valley is already in shadow. Biasca lies at the junction of the Leventina and Blenio Valleys .

Just short of the train station, you can see the double-waterfalls that Biasca is known for. It's 13:51 and I figured that was more than enough time for the few meters to the platform, but.... there was a detour due to construction, and I just made it to the platform at about 15 seconds before the 13:55 departure, and just wanted to hop into an open door.....

... when a train employee signaled to me that I had to go to the front part of the train! Lucky for me, he opened this door remotely and the train driver waited for me, causing the train to leave a bit later than the scheduled departure! From here the train goes back to Bellinzona, where I take the fast train back home (by 3:45 p.m.!)

This is what my walk along the Ticino River looks like on Google Satellite Maps. Starting where we ended the December 2023 walk, I crossed the river to Lodrino, and then walked along the west side of the river to the bridge at Biasca. 

These are all the hikes we have done in this upper part of what is called the Riviera, near Biasca at the junction of the Blenio and Leventina Valleys. 

By 2:30 p.m., as the fast train north passes by Biasca again, the city is already in shadow. 

PART III -- Winter Scenes North of the Gotthard Tunnel

North of the Gotthard Tunnel, the sun is setting behind Mt. Gitschen at the south end of Lake Uri. 

A glimpse of Mt. Bristen to the south (Zoomed View). 

Heading north along Lake Uri

Beautiful sunshine in Schwyz. These are the peaks of the two Mythen mountains! It might have been a nice walk here in the north after all!

And now the view south over Lake Lauerz as the train arrives in Goldau. 

Location of Biasca within Switzerland. 

Two Trips to the Granite Quarries between Bellinzona and Biasca

The cold weather and cold winds here are not showing signs of letting up, so as long as the option is available to us, we keep heading South of the Tunnel on our days off, even if it's just for a handful of hours of sunshine. So this past week we did another two trips down (that's a total of four trips in two weeks) for some hiking near a couple of granite quarries, one hike on each side of the Leventina valley, across from each other.

Sunday February 18th - This one was a long hike (11 km), a round tour starting and ending in Lodrino, with a hefty ascent (450m) to a couple of mountain villages perched above the massive quarry on the West side of the Leventina Valley, starting South of the quarry and descending in Iragna North of the quarry. We returned along the Ticino river, which was slightly boring and by that time (3 pm) that area was in shade already. Our favourite part was a series of cellars built into the large boulders (of which there are plenty) in the woods, and each one had a stone picnic table next to it, like a place you come to do your Sunday BBQ instead of having a garden plot like they do here up North...


(See further below for description of second tour)

Above the large granite quarry near Lodrino is the village of Pai, which was our first destination after climbing up from the valley bottom.

Our excursion started at this pretty and typical Ticino waterfall and clear turquoise pools in Lodrino

The Ticino village of Lodrino. 

South of us the air in Bellinzona was pretty hazy

This area was full of cellars built under the boulders, and small elevated patios with granite picnic tables.

Until a few years ago, these little structures were small restaurants called "Grotti"

Here's to hoping that spring is just around the corner.... (or is that just wishful thinking?)

After climbing for 45 minutes we made it to above the quarry. This view is to Lodrino, where we started our hike. (Three days later we returned to hike above the quarry on the left of this photo)

Pai

Above the quarry is a smattering of houses in a sunny clearing (this community is named Pai) with a beautiful old stone church/chapel (Oratorio San Martino) dating from the early 13th century. The door was barred but through a small slit I could see very old frescoes on the walls inside.

From the road above Pai, looking down over San Martino church to the Ticino River below.

30 minutes later we reached another mountain village called Sacco, where we "borrowed" someone's granite picnic table to have a coffee break.

 

This lookout point over Biasca and into the Blenio Valley was the highest point of our tour before descending back into the Leventina Valley

This last village called Citto is in shadow most of the winter. This was 1:20 in the afternoon!

The trail down was very steep, and the destination was Iragna, North of the quarry. From here we headed over to the Ticino River for our walk back to Lodrino.

Checking out the granite tables and fountains on display at "Gottardi Graniti"

The return along the Ticino River was rather boring

One more look at the quarry and the mountainside above (where we walked), at 3 pm already long in shadow.

This 11-km tour took us 4 hours to do

And this was the weather North of the Alps

+++++++++++++++++++++

Wednesday February 21st - This one was a relatively short hike, just over 5 km and only 300m ascent above a smaller granite quarry on the East side of the Leventina Valley. We ascended at Cresciano and came down in Osogna, passing mostly through forest strewn with humungous boulders, a popular area for practicing free-climbing. Our favourite spot this time was a lovely series of waterfalls and pools with stunning rock formations carved smooth by the water, somewhere we'd like to return to in summer for a swim... except we found out from the Internet later that this spot (Boggera River in the Cresciano Valley) is a popular place for canyoning in summer, so we'll have to see just how popular it is.... 

In the Ticino, the steep trails are usually "outfitted" with steps, either hewn directly into the rock or created by clever laying of stones and stone slabs.

After a short steep ascent we arrive at a community called "Sul Sasso" (translated means "On the Stone") on a pleasant sunny hang.... they must get lots of sunshine here because there were many small vineyards.

The forest was strewn with HUGE boulders, a favourite area for practicing free-climbing.

This was our favourite place, the bottom part of what is apparently a series of pools and waterfalls created by the river Boggera (higher up) where you can go canyoning.

If it had been summer, we would have gone for a cold swim!

Higher up is a gorge replete with such waterfalls and pools, a popular place for canyoning.

This was our planned destination for lunch: The chapel called Santa Pietà overlooking the Ticino River

Picnic lunch on the granite steps of Santa Pietà

From this vantage point we get views South along the Ticino River....

...and views northwest to Lodrino and the granite quarry, above which we walked three days earlier

Zoomed view of the town of Lodrino across the valley, start and end of the 11 km hike we did three days earlier.

Zoomed view of the granite quarry across the valley. The machinery gives an idea of how large the granite blocks really are.

Very happy to be able to enjoy the mild sunny weather in the South.

Our descent to Osogna, where we got on the bus to go back to Bellinzona.

Also here in Osogna is a natural pool (named Pozzon) popular with the locals in summer. Not the same river or canyon, although canyoning is also popular here. 

Parish church in Osogna

Colorful handpainted shrine in Osogna, a very pretty piece of artwork

The hike from Cresciano to Osogna was only 6 km, with an ascent of only 300m, but satisfying because we got to enjoy three hours of sunshine and mild weather.