Italy · Lake Maggiore · Swiss Border

Flat for about thirty metres, then it isn't. Eight rides across eight years say this is a climbing base, not a lakeside cruise.

Cannobio sits right on the Swiss border, on the Italian shore of Lake Maggiore. The town itself is lakeside and level — but everything behind it runs straight up into the Cannobino Valley and the Val Vigezzo hills, and that's where every one of these rides actually happens.

Why Cannobio works so well as a base

Cannobio sits at the very top of Lake Maggiore, and the lake itself crosses the border — Locarno and Ascona, on the Swiss side, are only a short drive away round the northern tip. That puts two countries' worth of riding within reach of one base: the Cannobino Valley and Val Vigezzo climbs behind the town on the Italian side, and Ticino — the Verzasca Valley among it — a short hop into Switzerland, without needing to move camp.

The Italian shore of Lake Maggiore is well-established lakeside campsite and motorhome touring country generally, which is a large part of what makes Cannobio workable as a multi-day riding base rather than a one-off day trip — pitch up once and there are several valleys' worth of climbing in range in both directions.

The five rides built so far

Eight real rides make up the Cannobio history; five are written up properly below, each with its own real GPS track, distance and climbing. A sixth — a flat February 2021 recovery spin at just 162m over 31km — proves not every day here has to be a leg-breaker, but doesn't yet have its own page.

Planning a visit

When to go: avoid January to March — that's the rainy season here, and these are mountain roads with real drops in places, not somewhere you want to be riding in the wet.

Coffee: Malesco has some nice, cheap coffee stops if you're up that way on the bike. Cannobio itself has so much choice for coffee that naming a specific place wouldn't add anything — you won't struggle to find a table.

Where to stay: this is a beautiful place to base yourself for a few days and just enjoy the rides, rather than a one-day dash through — which matches the campsite/motorhome touring country mentioned above.

The church at the top: at the top of one of the shorter climbs there's a small church with a lovely little restaurant right next to it, serving genuinely good food. It's also reachable as a walk directly from Cannobio if you'd rather not ride it.

Camper parking: there's a spot near the top of one of the climbs where you can park a motorhome or camper — but the road up is full of twists and turns, so it's not one to take casually in a larger vehicle.

The reward at the end

Source: Kevin's Strava export, 8 rides 2018–2026, 5 built as full pages with real GPS tracks above. The sixth (flat, Feb 2021) is still to get its own page.