Rasa is a small village in Ticino canton in Switzerland which you can reach only by foot or by cable car. This is really one of the hidden Swiss Alps treasures: small, remote, beautiful, breathing history, in amazing location.
One of my favorite things to do in Switzerland is to look for such places, discover them, search them and then recommend it to other adventure seekers.
I highly recommend visiting this small village and maybe even spend a night there in a local house.
Let us explore: how to get to Rasa, some basic facts about Rasa and what to do in Rasa.
Table of Contents
How to get to Rasa
As mentioned before, it is one of the locations in Switzerland which you can not reach by car. But it is much more remote than Zermatt (which you can reach only by train or foot), because it is much smaller, secluded and not so populated by thousands of tourists every day. It is a really remote village, which I personally love.
So if you want to reach it by cable car, you first must get to Verdasio, a village down below.
Verdasio is around 3 hours from Zürich, both by car and train. You can reach Verdasio by train, you will just have to change the train couple of times. Verdasio itself is a very small village as well. Check all the time schedules and prices of the train right here: Swiss trains.
If you go by car, you must get to this address: 6655 Intragna. It is in the beginning of the village. There is a parking place right next to the cable car station.
Timetable of Verdasio cable car:
09.00-13.00 / 14.20-18.00 (from 01.03 til 15.11)
The cable-car goes every 20 minutes.
The prices: return ticket is 12 CHF, single ticket is 8 CHF. Maybe you will want to walk down?
Reach Rasa by foot
If you want to reach Rasa by foot, you should better go not to Verdasio, but to Palagnedra (it is a village on the next side of the mountain). You should go to the last part of the village, close to Osteria Bordei Sagl, (address: 6657 Palagnedra-Bordei) it is a beautiful hotel with local food restaurant. Once you get there, look where to park your car (I must warn you, not that many parking spots there, you probably will have to park somewhere further).
From Palagnedra Bordei it is just 1,7 kilometer to Rasa. You will have to gain more than 250 meters in altitude, but the hike is not hard, pretty easy. Just have some more water in summer time. You should get to Rasa in 30-40 minutes. On the path to Rasa you will cross one more very small settlement called Terra Vecchia and with old houses.
So here you are, you reached Rasa!
Facts about Rasa
Rasa is situated at 900 meters altitude.
Rasa is in Ticino canton, so the most spoken language there is italian.
I haven’t found the exact number of people living there, but by some sources, less than 20 are constantly living there. The number I found is 12, but probably it is changing from time to time. So you can imagine, it is a small community.
The village itself is pretty old as it was founded in 14th century (first written sources that the settlement was based there) and is mostly very isolated, so the village is a small open museum with old buildings,architecture, streets and overall feeling. Don’t worry – there’s electricity and running water 😉 And only back in 1958 they built a connection by cable car from Verdasio – before you could reach it only by foot.
What to do in Rasa
Rasa is a perfect place to escape the pace of modern life and just to relax. This is what Rasa is for. It is a perfect hide out for anyone who just wants to relax, listen to the nature, enjoy local food, have some slow walks around the village and in the surrounding forests: it is a place to just to be.
There are no crowded restaurants, big hotels, skiing slopes, famous hiking routes or something like that, but this place has its own strong charm, which I personally adore.
Once you get into Rasa you will notice the old architecture, the streets, cobbled stones, the church (which is very cute outside and inside), the peace, the old trees and maybe some locals and guests.
Campo Rasa
Probably the busiest place in all the village is Campo Rasa: it is an accommodation provider which offers different houses and apartments. It is very suitable for groups or even for individuals, they have some variety there.
You can get a double room from 80 CHF, but if you are a bigger group, let’s say of 10 people, you can get a bigger place and then a price per person will get indeed smaller.
What else is pretty cool that Campo Rasa offers a huge variety of courses throughout all year: from photography to dancing and many many others. They last from one to few days. You can check all the information right here: Campo Rasa.
Grotto Ghiridone
This is a local small rustical restaurant which serves mostly local food. If you are not going to spend the night in Rasa, this is a perfect place to visit and just relax in Rasa. You will get some specialties to try while at the same time you can look around the village and enjoy the panorama views.
Hike to Monti
Rasa village is pretty up high, but there are some peaks (even not that much higher) close to Rasa. Just one kilometer away there’s another, even smaller settlement called Monti. Just a few houses there, but this can be a nice slow hike through the forrests next to Rasa. Monti is a bit higher than Rasa and you will have to gain 87 meters in altitude. If you want to do a loop hike, you can continue from Monti a bit down and then you will get back to the route from Palagnedra (if you go to Rasa on foot) to Rasa. The whole loop is just 2.4 kilometers and you should do it under one hour.
Please have a look at the map of this hike down below:
During the hike you should get some very good panoramic views, especially when you reach Monti.
The hike is easy, but as weather there can get very hot in summer time, do not forget to take at least 1.5 liter of water for each person. And wear a gut hat to cover you from the sun.
Conclusion
I think Rasa is kind of a poetic place. It is so remote, so isolated (it is even hard to think of more remote villages in Switzerland) that you should get there if you really want to relax and rest from our fast paced modern life.
I wouldn’t even suggest to do hard long hikes, just stroll around in the forests, in the surroundings, in the village. Just take it easy. Rasa village is perfect for that.
If you have any questions to me regarding Rasa village in Switzerland, please let me know, I will do my best to help you.
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