For an immersive experience of the magical winter festivities, the Locarno Winterland is the place to be for this Christmas. With live music every night, Christmas market stands to shop at and delicious local food stands, the Locarno Winterland is a great place to spend an afternoon or evening at. The event is very family friendly with kid activities, an ice rink and a slide for whizzing down with laughter.
Read on to see our own personal experience with visiting Locarno Winterland in the snow, and get inspired to visit too!
Locarno Winterland 2024
About
The Locarno Winterland event for 2024 is held from 21st November 2024 until 6th January 2025.
Location of event: Piazza Grande, 6600 Locarno
Prices
What’s great about the event is that it’s completely free to visit with no admission fees.
However as you can imagine, if you wish to participate in one of the activities or eat some food here, then you will need to pay. The prices for the activities are mentioned below, and for food and drink, this depends onwhat you take!
However it is good to know that the Locarno Winterland is a cashless event. So make sure to bring either your credit card or debit card, or for locals they can use TWINT to pay here.
Opening Times
The opening times are:
- Monday: 16:00 – 01:00
- Tuesday: 16:00 – 01:00
- Wednesday: 11:30 – 01:00
- Thursday 16:00 – 01:00
- Friday: 15:00 – 02:00
- Saturday: 10:00 – 02:00
- Sunday: 10:00 – 01:00
Activities at the Locarno Winterland
Ice Skating
The Locarno Winterland has a … size ice sink situated right in the piazza. Here you can watch everyone try either their very first time ice skating, or to see the professionals spin around on the skates. It’s very beautiful to see, making it very festive with the surrounding Christmas decorations and chalets and restaurants nearby.
You can rent ice skates for 5 CHF per person, and for those with children you an also rent a penguin for 5 CHF too, which lets kids skate around while holding it for balance.
Good to know: If you are a wheelchair user, you can also ice skate here with support from the Cerebral Foundation which have special skates available!
What we love is that the ice rink is certified as ‘green innovative‘ which reduces energy consumption by 40%.
Gourmet Winter Cottages
For a bite to eat, you won’t be disappointed here. If you feel like eating out, snacking from one of the cottages while watching the festivities, then it’s the perfect evening. The Winterland gourmet cottages has something for everyone, which includes:
- Churros and crepes
- Venezuelan Arepas
- Burger and fries
- Indian traditonal dishes
- American bakery goods
- Fried seafood
- Piadinas with different fillings
- Thai dishes
- Ciabatta loafs
- Twisted potatoes
- Loaded waffles with toppings
- Pulled pork
- Porchetta and Bavarian sausages
- Swiss cheese raclette
- Oyster lounge
Winter Restaurants
As well as the above food stand cottages, you can also dine in at one of the many delicious Locarno restaurants. Special for the event, you can enjoy also two additions;
- The fondue chalet San Bernardino – typical Swiss fondue with bread, potatoes etc
- Igloo Chinoise restaurant – A cafe by day, but Chinoise by night that has rice, beef, turkey, potatoes and more.
Night Light Projections
Locarno is a great place for events, hosting also the Locarno Film Festival each year. For the Winterland, they have an amazing 360 degree projection of lights that shine onto the piazza buildings every 30 minutes. The projections are videomapped over many of the buildings, viewable from all angles.
This has been created and directed by Davide Grampa with the support of designers and animators Alberto Barone and Marilena Pasini.
This is really great to see and festive for all ages, with a fairytale inspired story that comes to life to those who watch it. Since it get’s darker quite early in Winter, you can watch this every day from 17:30.
Winterland Music Concerts
The event has also every evening live music being played here. There is a special tent with the stage, and you can see who will be playing and at what time for your visit. They often have local DJs from 17:00, and special acts later on in the night.
Winterland for Kids!
Throughout the event there are activities for children. These include;
- crafting bell decorations for the Christmas tree
- clown shows
- creating ceremic decorations
- gift box creation with teas
- biscuit decorating
- Pasta making classes
- creating gifts with jeans
- New years eve decorations
There is also a photoshoot with Santa Claus on a few of the days!
Make sure to check their programme to see which times and days for each event, as they are all split throughout the festivities.
Christmas Market Stands
Of course no Locarno Winterland festivities would be complete without a Christmas market. There will be around 15 stands here, some which will stay the whole time and some that will alternative with other Christmas markets within Ticino.
These stands will include homemade gifts, decorations for your home, culinary specialties and more. So you might find something for yourself or for your loved ones!
Get inspired with our relevant content:
Ticino Christmas Markets
Bellinzona Christmas Market
Christmas Markets In Zurich
Picturesque Ticino Villages In Switzerland
Summary
We hope you get to visit the Locarno Winterland for this Christmas. It’s a true delight and festive for all ages. The light projections are of course only when it’s dark, but the festivities are there throughout the day and very much enjoyable even in the day time.
We really enjoyed our time here, and it was magical that it was also snowing! We love that the event is until early January, so we’ll definitely be visiting a few times before it closes.
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