This circular hike above Laveno Mombello to the Sasso di Ferro is probably the most famous on the Lombardy side of Lake Maggiore. One section is covered by the famous“Funivia” cable car.(Click here for the video.) The tour starts at the parking lot of the Funivia valley station. This is well signposted in Laveno Mombello. Most hikers take the cable car up and then walk down the hiking trail. Personally, I find this less strenuous, but your knees should be in really good shape, otherwise it’s a real torture. Hiking poles are advisable here. Personally, I prefer to walk up and take the cable car down. It takes about 1.5 – 2 hours from the valley station to the mountain station. Half an hour before the mountain station, a small restaurant in Casere invites you to take a short break. I had a very nice panini on the terrace here. The restaurant at the mountain station is average, but the view is of course breathtaking.

TIP! As this hike is very steep over a longer distance and there are only limited parking spaces available at the valley station, I recommend leaving your car at the “Parking lot for torrent visitors” (see map) and take the desired direction from there (walk uphill and take the cable car down or walk downhill and take the cable car up). This way, you only walk part of the route first, can then rest a little in the cable car and then walk the rest of the route.

ATTENTION! A large part of the route is very nicely paved with small cobblestones and you should definitely wear shoes with sturdy soles. These cobblestones are no fun for dogs either. Dogs are allowed in the Kübel cable car, but the dog should not be too heavy and should not panic. With our Colja, we only ever walk sections. We haven’t dared to take him on the cable car yet and he always chooses the unpaved edge on the section with the cobblestones. Maybe it’s also because of the delicious smells of all the pretty Italian fur noses that pass by every day.