Cable Car Monte San Salvatore – A View of Lugano

Monte San Salvatore rises 912 metres upwards on the banks of Lago di Lugano.  Visitors to the Swiss canton Tessin and also hotel guests in Lugano or Paradiso enjoy a trip to the mountain with the wonderful view.  One can take an uphill walk or the cable car up the San Salvatore.

Thanks to two men – Franz Josef Bucher and Josef Durrer-Gasser – a cable car was installed on the Monte San Salvatore . Work was begun on the narrow gauge railway in around 1890.  The San Salvatore Railway, which carries its passengers up to 909 metres height, is called Funicolare Monte San Salvatore in Italian.  From here it is only a stone’s throw to the viewing platform.  The cars run every half an hour between March and November.  One has a magnificent view of the Swiss regions and the Luganer lake from the top.  There is a park with innumerable possibilities for small visitors to run around and play as long as the parents enjoy the view of the panorama.

Be Active on the Monte San Salvatore

Rambles through the landscape are possible from Monte San Salvatore.  It is more adventurous on the climbing paths – these are prepared climbing tours in the mountains.  Visitors with a good head for heights can discover the area in a totally new way and are secured with a steel rope.  Qualified mountaineers ensure that the climbing tours are safe and a unique experience.

The religious inhabitants call the Lugano region The Arch Brothers of Good Death and Prayer.  On special occasions, they wrap themselves up in a white linen sheet, with only two holes for the eyes, the sheet is fixed at the waist with a strap.  This is how the arch brothers used to escort, amongst others, the punished on their last journey to execution.  They then carried out the funeral ceremony.  The church on the Monte San Salvatore belongs to the arch brothers since 1680.  Innumerable poor people and tired hikers found housing and rest for decades with the merciful brothers.

There has been a museum on the peak of the San Salvatore since 1999.  In the lower area of the exhibition are artefacts and documents of the arch brothers, in the upper area, you can find several different types of minerals and rock samples, even some fossils.  A special room is dedicated to the caves of the Monte San Salvatore.  Seven different caves were found in this Tessin mountain.  Whoever uses the cable car to travel up the mountain, can stroll through the museum free of charge.

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