How nice to read that Ziners are planning to visit Ticino. Locarno is well known for holidays by Swiss Germans , Germans and Dutch but there are not so many people visiting from oversea.

As do not exactly know what you are looking for, so I give you several hotel names.

Hotel Belvedere: very nice location overlooking Locarno. You can reach the city center by foot (downhill) or with the small cable car which operates between Locarno and Orselina. The stop is right across the hotel. http://www.belvedere-locarno.com/

Hotel Reber au Lac: located by the shore. There is a road dividing the hotel from the lakeshore but there is not much traffic. If you should decide for this hotel pls ask for a room facing the lake and not close to the rail tracks. http://www.hotel-reber.ch

Hotel Camelia: located a bit outside Locarno but you can reach the center by foot. It's a smaller hotel with garden. I've never been there but I know people who have stayed there and were very satisfied. http://www.tessinhotel.ch/hotel.vaialsito.php?Id=70& Lingua=Uk

If you do not mind taking the bus to get to Locarno (5 minutes) I can recommend 3 hotels in Minusio, the village were I live. The first one is Hotel Remorino. http://www.remorino.ch/framesetf/frameset_willkommen.htm It has a small garden with swimming pool and lake view from the rooms located in the upper levels. It's close to the lake promenade which takes you to Locarno (about 20 Minutes walk).

If you would like to stay at a simpler hotel there is Hotel Garni Minusio or Hotel Alba. They both have swimming pools and are close to the bus stops.

http://www.hotelminusio.ch/ http://www.ticinohotel.ch/hotel.php?Lingua=Uk& Id=58 for Hotel Alba.

I wish you wonderful trip.

Regards, Cornelia