Lugano is in the southern part of Switzerland in the Ticino region and it’s one of the most beautiful places you’ll ever see. In Ticino Italian is spoken as the main language and you’ll notice that the vibes, the food and the people are much more closely related to Italy than to Switzerland - it’s a little Italy within Switzerland and has a little bit the best of both worlds. Tourists from all over the country flock to the Ticino region in the summer but also in March/April and October/November as these months tend to already bring bad weather to the northern part of Switzerland while the weather in Ticino is still mild.

I love buying products directly from the farm and around two years ago I started to really look for where the best Hofläden (Farm Shops) around Zürich were and exploring the different options. Buying in a Hofladen is definitely not the same as going to a supermarket and you might not be able to do it on a weekly basis, but it’s always nice to get out from time to time, see something new and buy local and seasonal products straight from the people who have farmed them.

We love walking and hiking around the Zürich area and have come up with some beautiful day trips you can do where you will not only be walking or cycling and enjoying nature but also eating good food in a cozy environment. Discover Zürich together with your family, your friends or on your own and take some time to enjoy nature.

Cinque Terre means “five lands” and it is an are in Liguria close to La Spezia made up of 5 main towns: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, Riomaggiore - we really liked all towns except for Monterosso al Mare which was the biggest, loudest and “ugliest” one. Cinque Terre is known for it’s old school charm and architecture - the houses are all colored and there ambiance is very old school Italian. People usually come here to relax, hike, drink wine and enjoy the sea. Being a gourmet blog we always want to recommend the best restaurants, bars and local delicacies which is usually very easy in Italy as the food tends to be amazing. In Cinque Terre though, being such a touristy place, we have to admit hat we struggled - the search to find good restaurants was hard and we were at times very disappointed with the quality of food that was served to us.

This weekend we decided to spend the weekend in Morcote, Ticino and try some restaurants we had been very curious about for some time now. Morcote was voted as the “nicest village of Switzerland in 2016” and it really leaves you breathless every time you go. Even though Morcote is located on 10Km from Lugano and could also be done as a day trip, we decided that we would dedicate our entire weekend to the activities in and around this lovely area.