Located in the Mendrisio area of Ticino, you can stay a cosy night in the forest at Momo Bellavista. This tiny wooden home is big enough for 2 persons, located up the mountain of Monte Generoso. It’s an ideal location to stay in the heart of nature, off-grid and definitely a cosy night for couples. You can combine the stay with a local hike, a delicious meal at the restaurant and wildlife spotting. For a clear night you’ll be amazed with the night sky too!
This post is based on our visit and 1 night’s stay during May 2023. This was not sponsored and based fully on our own personal experience.
Information About Momo Bellavista
Where Is Momo Bellavista?
The location of this tiny wooden home is located at 1202 elevation between just below Monte Generoso. This is part of the Southern area of the Ticino canton of Switzerland.
To get there, its very easy with the Monte Generoso Capolago train. This is also a fun travel way to get there, with stunning views to the top of the mountain.
Alternatively, if you will visit with your own car, it takes (without traffic):
- From Lugano: 45 minutes
- From Bellinzona: 1 hour 15 minutes
- From Milan: 1 hour 15 minutes
- From Lucerne: 2 hours 30 minutes
- From Zurich: 3 hours
How To Book A Night At Momo Bellavista?
We booked our 1 night stay via www.swisshotels.com and searching Momo Bellavista, which was easy to do for our dates. We booked about 1 month in advance, since it was not fully sold out.
They do not have a minimum night stay for multiple nights, so staying 1 night is easy to reserve online.
What Is Available At The Tiny Home?
Once checked in by picking up the keys at the nearby restaurant/hotel, which is only 7 minutes away walking, you can explore the tiny home at your own pace. You get two keys, one for the tiny home and one for the bathroom.
Tiny Home
Inside the tiny home it is super small but super cute. It’s great for 2 people, with 2 chairs and a mattress for 2 people. The accommodation has also the following:
- An electric fire (with some nice settings!)
- A coffee machine and supplies
- A few plug sockets incase you need them
- 2 chairs for the bottom area
- 1 mattress with 2 pillows and 2 single duvets
The sweetest part is that when you arrive*, there is also a picnic basket already available for diving into and enjoying! It had all the essentials for cutlery, plates and glasses. It also had 2 apples, 2 water bottles (still and sparking), some jams, some breads and some delicious local Swiss cheese!
*Based on our stay in May 2023.
Outside the property there is a lot of space, with a private wooden decking area where you can sit and relax. There is also:
- An open space BBQ area just opposite for if you want to cook your own food
- 2 picnic benches, beautifully made with large wood
- A green grassy area where you can relax more, to also watch the night sky for stars!
Skylight
The idea of the tiny home close to the peak of the mountain is to focus on the beautiful night sky. On a clear sky, you would see so many stars that would make such a wonderful night.
You can choose to sit outside, especially if the weather is not too cold, or you could enjoy the skylight. This is so cosy to be able to lay in bed at the top of the tiny home and look out directly up out the window!
Bathroom
The tiny home does not have a bathroom inside directly, however this is located just a quick 10 second walk outside to the other building. This other building is split with two doors that both open with your 2nd key.
There is on one side a large shower room with sink and plenty of space, where we also had clean towels, soap and a mirror.
The other side had a separate toilet and 2 sinks, as well as more towels and soap. It was minimalist design but perfect for the location and style.
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What To Do Near Momo Bellavista?
Here is a list of things to do near the tiny home:
Relaxing
There are two deck chairs branded with the Ticino logo as well as a large lounge umbrella at the tiny house. This is perfect for using by sitting on the deck area of the tiny home and relaxing.
When we finally settled down from our picnic, the sun was no longer on the decking of the tiny home. So we actually took both deck chairs out onto the grassy area for relaxing in.
Wildlife spotting
If you are a wildlife lover like us, you will love staying here. By 5pm, most hikers passing by have stopped and nature comes to life. If you sit still and relax on the terrace area of the tiny home, you wont be disappointed to spot something.
During our stay, it started by us spotting lots of lizards sunbathing on the nearby rocks. By 6pm there was a huge bird of prey circling around and then it was watching us from a nearby tree. There were also lots of tiny birds flying around, feeding on the bugs and singing. We couldn’t hear a single car or person after this time!
In the early morning, around 5:30am, we saw two huge deers passing by. They were eating from the low tree branches. We nearly missed them as we we were still in bed, but climbed down early to look outside out of curiosity of spotting something and saw them! Such beautiful creatures. We also ended up hearing a woodpecker or two around us, but couldn’t spot them.
Hiking
Surrounded by the forest and mountain terrain, you can start many hikes right from the front door of Momo Bellavista.
From Momo Bellavista, you can hike to the following:
- The peak of Monte Generoso – 1 hour 20 minutes
- Somazzo – 1 hour 50 minutes
- Cragno – 1 hour 10 minutes
- La Grassa – 45 minutes
- Carima – 2 hours
- Muggio – 2 hours 30 minutes
Since the tiny home is located near Bellavista train station, it’s also very easy to take the beautifully painted blue and orange train to the peak of Monte Generoso. This allows you to start some hikes from the very top, and head around or down back to the tiny home.
Osteria con alloggio La Peonia restaurant
You can also choose to head down to the local restaurant called Osteria con alloggio La Peonia. You can choose to sit outside for a snack or bite to eat. They have also a wide range of drinks to choose from.
We personally suggest dinner at this restaurant if you are staying only one night at the tiny home. We had a delicious salad and soup to start with, followed by a deliciously cooked burger for myself and a fish dish for Dawid. All with 1 bottle of rose wine, which in total costed under 90 CHF. The portions were huge, so definitely no room for desert for us!
Alternatively you can also choose to hike up to the other Bellavista little restaurant near the train stop. This is a cute little place we also experienced a previous time when hiking Monte Generoso. Was perfect for a drink with a view towards Lake Lugano! However our previous visit we remember that they closed at the same time as the last train down, so you its more suggested for a late lunch. This is a better option for when you stay more than 1 night at the tiny home.
Breakfast At Momo Bellavista
For reference, the breakfast is included for your Momo Bellavista stay and served also at this restaurant just 7 minutes down the pathway. This we had to unfortunately skip due to needing to leave early for another adventure. But we see from reviews that there’s lots of choice and well enjoyed between the times of 8am and 10am.
Our Personal Experience At Momo Bellavista
We absolutely loved our stay at Momo Bellavista, where we decided to simply relax for the afternoon and evening. We had hiked Monte Generoso in the previous month, so we already had explored a little of the area.
For our stay, which was in May 2023, so it already rather warm during the day with around 19°c (66.2°F). This worked out lovely as we had decided to enjoy the picnic from check in time 2pm to around 4pm. We had bought also some snacks of our own, which we enjoyed together with the local delicacies provided in the picnic basket that was on site.
We sat at the picnic bench area which was close by. Then from 4pm to 6pm we relaxed in the sunshine on the Ticino deck chairs. It was warm until around 6pm, which at this time we went for dinner at the local restaurant. We had already a table reserved, but it was also a quiet period for them with plenty of space.
Our night’s stay was a cosy one, we loved the overall vibe, being directly in nature and in a dark location on the mountain. We slept pretty well too, after climbing up the steep ladder, but did wake up a few times simply since it was somewhere different to our own bed!
We would definitely recommend a stay here for you to experience for yourself, as a single traveller or with a loved one or friend!
One Downside: Privacy before 6pm
We did notice that of course this tiny home is pretty close to the hiking route, that there were a few hikers walking down from the mountain on the Sunday of our stay. They had to then pass the Momo Bellavista tiny home on their way down.
Some of them were quite curious and walked up and tried opening the door, despite the clear ‘private’ sign and ‘do not disturb this property’ at the entrance. When they realised the door was locked (since we locked it while at picnic bench as our stuff was inside), they walked around the tiny home to look inside the huge window. So if we were inside at that time, it would have been rather annoying that people just walk around to look.
By 6pm we didn’t see anyone else since all hikers were likely down with last train, so it didn’t bother us further for the night.
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Recommendations And Tips
Are you wondering what tips or recommendations we’d suggest after our night’s stay? I would be too!
Our Tips:
- Take clothing based on weather, as well as a warm jumper/clothing for an evening. You are at … elevation after all so it will be generally colder than in Lugano etc.
- Reserve a table at the local restaurant for dinner. They have large portions which are priced well and absolutely delicious. We had a 2 course meal and a whole bottle of local Ticino wine for around 90 CHF.
- One 1 night was cosy, but we’d suggest two nights to fully enjoy your stay here.
What we want to highlight based on this, is that this tiny home is perfect for those who want to also have a night (or more) off from usual daily life. It’s the perfect location to relax without technology, such as your phone. We suggest that when you arrive, to put your phone either off or in flight mode!
For official questions directly, check the Mendrisiotto Tourism site.
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