Midsummer night’s dream in lakeside towns

The San Salvatore peak is an impressive backdrop to Lugano, even at night. Ticino Tourism

As the sun sets this summer on Zurich, Lugano, Locarno and Lausanne, visitors can look forward to an entertaining mix of movies and music.

A series of night-time festivals and events begins on July 5 with the “City festival” in Lausanne.

For eight days, comedians, musicians, theatre and dance troupes will take over the squares and streets of the city. Admission is free and most events begin after 7pm, so there is plenty of time for sightseeing before the show begins.

The open-air “Lugano Estival Jazz” doesn’t garner as much attention as the Montreux Jazz Festival (July 5 to 20), but that hasn’t stopped big name acts flocking to the southern town.

This year, Van Morrison, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal and Khaled will headline the event under the starry sky in Lugano’s Piazza della Riforma. Three days of concerts begin on July 11 and entrance is free.

Locarno, a 30-minute drive or train ride away, is putting on a late night show of its own. There will be gigantic firework displays over the bay on July 12 and 13.

Not to be outdone, Zurich is erecting big screens on its lake shore and riverbanks for a series of open-air film screenings.

River films

The Filmfluss (river film) series begins on July 11 on the banks of the Limmat river, with a showing of five shorts by Swiss filmmakers. Among the feature-length highlights will be Jim Jarmusch’s “Ghost Dog – The Way of the Samurai” and Stephen Frear’s “High Fidelity”. Tickets for each screening cost SFr16 ($11).

Curtains go up a week later on Zurich’s lakeside as the Orange Cinema screens 30 blockbuster films and golden oldies between July 19 and August 18. Tickets cost SFr17 per film.

Orange Cinema is also running open-air film events in Basel, Bern, Geneva and Lausanne.

Films are shown in their original language at both the Filmfluss and Orange open-air cinemas.

swissinfo