In 2014 I had a short post about the Polybahn. Now I have some better photos. This short funicular carries passengers up (or down) the hill in under 2 minutes. I feel like a kid when I ride it.
One day I rode down and was the only passenger. That is quite unusual.
I like seeing the sculpture on this building when I ride.
This article says that it costs CHF 2.7 (or CHF 2.4 with Halbtax), but that’s a regular ticket. If you just want to ride this and no other tram or train in the city, then it’s a short-distance fare of CHF 1.2. That’s what the sign out front says.
The weather predictions here are not too accurate. Many days it will predict rain all day, then it will be only partly cloudy for half a day. However, we did not want to hike in possible rain. Swiss Family Fun sends out a newsletter for which I just subscribed. In yesterday’s inbox, the newsletter suggested going to the canton of Tessin for the weekend. Tessin is the Italian canton in Switzerland, and folks there call it Ticino. We had been to Bellinzona in Ticino in Jan. 2015.
Our best bet was to take a funicular up to the top of Monte Brè near Lugano and hike downhill to the tiny town of Gandria. Like last weekend, if our idea was good, you can bet that plenty of other Swiss folk agreed. The train to Lugano was packed at the start in Zürich, some people standing.
I would post a photo here of the amazing Gotthard Tunnel, the world’s longest train tunnel, but you will just have to imagine a black square. This tunnel was completed in 2016, and this YouTube video shows the opening ceremony. I highly recommend this video if you need 6 ½ minutes of pure entertainment. The tunnel is 57 km long and takes just under 20 minutes to zip through at about 120 mph.
On the left side you can see a track up the mountain (called Switzerland’s sunniest mountain at about 3,000 ft. high). We rode that funicular up to the top. Not the steepest, not the newest, but certainly less expensive than the Stoos excursion. With our GA cards, it came to 8 CHF per person one-way. The same woman who sold us the tickets then drove the funicular up to the top, then got out and took some paper towels into the public restroom.
Once at the top, we ate our sandwiches and apples before walking down over 2,000 ft. In some ways, this is the easy way to do the hike. However, the footing is very rocky in many places, and there are some narrow switchbacks in places. I was happy to use my hiking poles.
Glamping in Switzerland 