Ascona

Ascona's lakefront is a long row of pastel houses with cafe tables, and behind it the old lanes climb toward the hill of Monte Verita - which is the more interesting half of the place. From 1900 that hill was settled by a colony of vegetarians, theosophists, anarchists, nudists and dancers pursuing an alternative life; over the following decades Hermann Hesse, Carl Jung, Isadora Duncan, Rudolf von Laban and Erich Maria Remarque passed through, and Laban's movement work there fed directly into modern dance. The Bauhaus-influenced Hotel Monte Verita of 1927 and the original wooden Casa Anatta survive as a museum. The town also runs a long-established jazz festival each summer.

What you actually see

• A pastel lakefront - the arcaded promenade along the water.
• Monte Verita - the utopian colony's hill, with Casa Anatta as a museum.
• A 1927 Bauhaus-influenced hotel - built for the colony's later phase.
• A summer jazz festival - long established in the streets and squares.

When to go

March to November. Two days.

Honest expectations

The waterfront is expensive and crowded in season. Monte Verita's museum keeps limited hours and is a walk uphill. The colony's story is better told in the museum than visible on the ground. Parking is difficult.

Nearby

Locarno is next door; the Brissago islands lie offshore.