On our first day in Ticino, which is in the southern part of Switzerland…the italian speaking part… we went to the pristine little town of Ascona. Ascona is known for its car free lake promenade, and its old town with all kinds of little boutiques, some selling italian-made fashion, and its art galleries.
We went there for a little walk, a couple shopping stops, and an almost 3 hour lunch!
Here you get some impressions of beautiful little Ascona on the shore of Lake Maggiore…
On the promenade itself you’ll discover several things before you go into the old town’s little alleys…
Towards the end of the Promenade you’ll see this bar-club-restaurant. Restaurant by day, club by night, and open-air sea lounge right next to the lake (unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of that lounge…but it’s pretty cool!)

For more info check out their website: www. seven-ascona.ch, it’s a group of people who have opened several really cool restaurants in Ascona.
Leaving the promenade and walking up into the old town of Ascona, you’ll discover all the boutiques that are hiding in the small alleys of this adorable town. I love the alleys there…
But, since I was with my friend and our kids…three kids in total….we, understandably, weren’t able to walk, or shop around for too long since the kids got tired and hungry after a while. So we headed for our lunch destination, the ‘7 Easy’ Restaurant which belongs to the above mentioned 7 Group, which includes Ivo Adam, a star cook of Switzerland…and a cute one too! Hehe…

It’s the restaurant to the left with the white-black “banner” (it’s not really a banner…but you know what I mean…right?). It has a really contemporary, cool, and at the same time rustic interior (rustic because of it’s wood-log wall, leading to the toilets….really cool looking!) and is specialized in making pizzas and other simple but really good dishes.
And while my friend and I were sipping on some Aperol Spritz (a favorite among Swiss women, aside of Prosecco) after eating lunch, and having a mommy-and-single-life-with-kids chat, at the same time watching our kids having fun (yes, we moms know how to multitask even when relaxing)….they drove around on their scooters and bikes, and then went for a jump on the Trampoline Jumping Rope thingy.
And so we all had a very nice, sunny, satisfying sightseeing afternoon, and went back to our hotel content and happy.
Ascona is a popular toursit destination and hosts a yearly Jazz Festival in June, and it has one of the world’s oldest minigolf courts…apparently…
“In 1954, the minigolf course in Ascona (Switzerland) opened, the oldest course worldwide following the norms of Paul Bongni.” source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniature_golf
This town is really worth a visit. If you want more information, check out the links below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascona
www.myswitzerland.com/en-ch/ascona.html
www.castello-seeschloss.ch/English/Hotel.html
Copyright © Nathalie Isler, 2014
Wow how wonderful! I am so jealous and I want to move to Europe, right about….NOW! =) The pictures are beautiful. Thank you for sharing
LikeLike
Thanks my dear! Yes, please, move on over!!!!!
LikeLike
I mean, move over here…now! LOL
LikeLike