The dot sits in the heart of Lugano, a bright, steep little city on the shore of its lake, and it is easy to see why the Italian-speaking Swiss canton of Ticino feels like a different country from the German north. Palms grow along the waterfront, the arcades are full of coffee and pastry shops, and the light has an Italian softness, even though the banks are very Swiss. Lugano is the largest city in the canton, with about sixty thousand inhabitants, and one of the main financial centres in the country.
Bellinzona, which names the stop, is about twenty-five kilometres north-east at the foot of the Alpine passes. Its three medieval castles, Castelgrande, Montebello and Sasso Corbaro, rise from the valley floor and are a UNESCO World Heritage site, built by the dukes of Milan to guard the routes over the Gotthard and San Bernardino. They still dominate the old town, and the walls run right across the valley like a stage set.
Lugano itself is hemmed in by steep, wooded mountains: Monte San Salvatore rises directly from the lake, with a funicular to the summit, and Monte Brè on the opposite side has a small village of narrow lanes. A lakeside walk to the village of Gandria, mostly on a path hung above the water, gives a good view of the lake, and the water in summer is clear and warm enough for swimming. Piazza della Riforma, in the centre, is the place to sit with a coffee.
For riders, the roads around the lake are twisty and scenic but busy. Traffic in Lugano can be heavy, parking is limited, and Swiss speed limits are enforced with cameras and fines that sting. In the hills around, the roads climb in tight bends through chestnut woods, and in places the surface is rough. Ticino has a mild climate, with warm summers and a relatively gentle winter, though heavy rain can arrive from the south with force.
Fuel and food are easy, and Ticinese cooking leans toward risotto, polenta and local salami, with Merlot as the local wine. Cross-border shoppers from Italy keep the supermarkets busy on Saturday mornings. A motorway vignette is needed on the A2, which runs past the city.