Venue

The conference will be held at the Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI), located in via Giuseppe Buffi 13, Lugano, Switzerland. This venue is located within walking distance to downtown Lugano.

Conference Dinner

On Wednesday, September 7th, an excursion to the Mount San Salvatore will be organized. The conference dinner will be on the restaurant on the top of this mount.

Accomodation in Lugano

Many tourists will be in Lugano during September, hence we recommend you to book your hotel rooms in advance. For your convenience, hotels are listed in order of increasing distance from the University campus.

These hotels have agreed to offer a special discount to the participants of the PGM conference. To book, contact the hotel and mention that you will attend PGM. The discount are on average around 20% of the official listings. The reported prices are already discounted.

  • Hotel Atlantico** (info@atlantico-lugano.ch)
    Single room 118 CHF per night.
    Double room 154 CHF per night.
    Triple room 180 CHF per night.
    Breakfast and free wi-fi included.
    Offer available up to 15th July.

  • Hotel Pestalozzi** (info@pestalozzi-lugano.ch)
    Single room (with WC, without shower) 90 CHF per night.
    Single room (with shower) 102-107 CHF per night.
    Double room (with shower) 170 CHF per night.
    Offer available up to 7th August.
    Breakfast and free wi-fi included.

  • Hotel Zurigo***
    Single room: 100 CHF per night.
    Double room: 160 CHF per night.
    Breakfast and free wi-fi included.
    Offer available up to 5th August.

  • Hotel Ceresio*** (albergoceresio@bluewin.ch)
    Single room: 85 CHF per night.
    Double room: 130 CHF per night.
    Breakfast and free wi-fi included.
    Offer available up to 5th August.

  • Hotel Federale*** (info@hotel-federale.ch)
    Double room – single use with shower 190 CHF per night.
    Double room – two persons: 240 CHF per night.
    Breakfast and wi-fi included.
    Offer available up to 17th July.

Other hotels: Hotel Acquarello***, Hotel Lugano Dante Center****, Hotel Gabbani***, Hotel Walter au Lac***, Hotel San Carlo**, Maraini Resort***, Albergo Stella***, Montarina Hotel&Hostel***, Continental Parkhotel***, Hotel Nassa***, Hotel International au Lac***.

People looking for cheaper options may be interested in the Youth Hostel, which offers a bed in shared rooms starting from 37 CHF (~30 €).

How to reach

By plane

Lugano has a small airport (Lugano-Agno (LUG)) that is currently operating direct flights from Zurich and Geneva only. From the airport it is possible to reach Lugano either by public transport or by taxi or shuttle.
Other airports, ordered by travel time, follow:

By train

You can check the train schedule and make the booking at www.sbb.ch. Lugano have direct train connections departing from:

  • Zurich HB: Very frequent, travel time approximately 3 hours.
  • Milan Central: Very frequent, travel time approximately 1-1.5 hours.
  • Luzern: Travel time approximately 2.5 hours.
  • Basel SBB: Travel time less than 4 hours.

By car

  • Coming from Milan: You can take the Laghi A9 motorway in the direction of Como-San Gottardo or the A8 motorway in the direction of Varese-Stabio (Gaggiolo). Advised exit: Lugano Sud.
  • Coming from Zurich: You can take the A2 motorway in the direction of San Gottardo-Chiasso-Italy. Advised exit: Lugano Nord.

Please remember that to drive on Swiss motorways it is necessary to be equipped with the motorway sticker that is to be applied onto the car windshield (the cost: 40 CHF valid from Jan-Dec) it may be purchased at Customs (more information).

Warning: Free/cheap parking spots in Lugano are very limited; thus, if you are coming by car, we advise you to book an hotel which provides a parking place. For more information about parking in Lugano, click here.

Local Transportation

Lugano is a small city, thus city centre, train station and the university campus are all within walking distance to each other (10 to 15 minutes walks). As an alternative, from the Lugano train station there is a funicular to the city centre which run continuously all day from 05:20 untill 23:50 hours (ticket: 1.10 CHF). There is a network of buses for travelling within Lugano and its immediate outskirts, operated by Trasporti Pubblici Luganesi (TPL; the website is in Italian only, but you may still find useful the map and the timetable for all the lines).
Nearby villages can be reached using the regional buses Autolinee Regionali Luganesi (ARL) and the yellow coaches (operated by the postal system and locally called “AutoPostale“). Click here for further information.

You can search the connections and bus schedules online on the SBB website.

All the above mentioned transport companies (including regional trains) are combined in the fare network Arcobaleno. If you plan to use the public transport daily, its advisable to buy the weekly pass which you can buy on you arrival from the train station. Weekly pass for zone 10 (which covers the entire city) costs 22 CHF.

Reaching the University

The conference venue is located within walking distance to downtown Lugano. Of course you can also reach the University by using the local bus network. Buses from important stops are listed below:

  • From train station: You can take line no. 6 (direction: Cornaredo) from “Lugano, Stazione” to “Lugano, Università”.
  • From city centre: You can take either line no. 5 (direction: Viganello) from “Lugano, Centro” to “Lugano, Università”, or line no. 7 (direction: Pregassona) from “Lugano, Centro” to “Lugano, Sacro Cuore”.

Sightseeing

Lugano is the largest city in the Italian speaking canton of Ticino which shares borders with Italy. It is one of the popular tourist destinations of Switzerland. Both Lake Lugano and the surrounding mountains provide an excellent view and a wide variety of outdoor activities. Lugano is also home to a number of historic buildings and museums. We have marked some point of interests (with the link to the relevant websites whenever possible) in the map. For information you can browse through the following websites: