Piazza Grande in Locarno 2026: How to See a Film

Watching a film at Europe’s biggest open-air cinema

The Piazza Grande, the main square of Locarno’s old town, turns into Europe’s biggest open-air cinema every evening of the festival: 8,000 yellow-and-black plastic chairs facing a screen roughly 26 metres wide and 14 metres high, close to 364 square metres in total. According to ticino.ch, the current set-up, designed by architect Livio Vacchini in 1971, hosts the Locarno Film Festival every summer, with the 79th edition running from 5 to 15 August 2026.

Unlike Cannes or Venice, where most of the public-facing programme is reserved for industry badge holders, the Piazza Grande is open to everyone: all you need is a ticket, no accreditation required. There are five options. The single « Regular » ticket (CHF 33, about £30) gets you an unallocated seat, subject to availability; the « Numbered Sector » ticket (CHF 50 on its own, about £46, or CHF 17 on top of an existing pass) guarantees a numbered seat with no need to queue early. For a full festival day, the « Students & Trainees » Day Pass (under 30, ID required) costs CHF 27, while the full-price « Regular » Day Pass sits somewhere between CHF 30 and 40 depending on the source — the exact figure wasn’t confirmed to the last centime at the time of writing, so it’s worth double-checking the price on the official box office before you buy. For film buffs planning to catch screenings across all eleven days, the full Festival Pass costs CHF 110 (about £101), or CHF 117 for the « Students & Trainees PLUS » version (down from CHF 130), and families can pick up the Locarno Kids Screenings Pass (ages 8-16, CHF 40).

As for timing, Piazza Grande tickets go on sale online from late June 2026, before the full programme is even announced on 9 July. Physical box offices open on 2 August (Piazza Grande), then on 5 August, the festival’s opening day (Coop and Palexpo/FEVI counters). According to CILECT, tickets are entirely digital: a QR code on your phone or a printable PDF, with nothing to print out if you don’t want to.

Highlights

• No accreditation needed: a ticket is enough to sit alongside the festival’s industry professionals and stars
• Two screenings every evening, generally around 9pm and 11pm, across all eleven days of the festival
• 20% off the Day Pass for anyone arriving by Swiss public transport (SBB partnership)

Piazza Grande screenings only take up your evenings, so your days in Locarno are free. A few minutes from the centre, Falconeria di Locarno runs open-air birds of prey shows (eagles, falcons, owls, vultures), open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm — a family-friendly outing to slot in between two evening screenings.

What to know before you take your seat

Dusk falls gradually over Ticino: the sun sets around 8:30pm in August, and the square visibly starts filling up from that point on. Two screenings are usually scheduled each evening, the first around 9-9:15pm and the second around 11pm, though exact times shift slightly depending on each film’s length and are confirmed on the official day-by-day programme.

For the unallocated « Regular » area, the recommendation that comes up again and again is to arrive around an hour before the first screening starts, especially for highly anticipated films, world premieres or tribute evenings, such as Darren Aronofsky receiving the Leopard of Honour on 14 August. The « Numbered Sector » ticket removes that pressure entirely, since the seat is guaranteed and numbered.

The plastic chairs, iconic as they are, aren’t built for comfort: a cushion or small blanket isn’t a luxury for a two-hour film. Even with average daytime highs of 23°C, the temperature drops noticeably after sunset, so a light jumper or jacket is welcome. The chance of rain isn’t negligible either, around 31-40% on any given day according to WeatherSpark, though the festival keeps screenings running in the vast majority of cases: during the 2023 edition, audiences sat through pouring rain in leopard-print ponchos, a nod to the festival’s symbol, according to SWI swissinfo.ch. The 35mm prints shown on the Piazza Grande are even struck in duplicate so a second screening can go ahead if the weather interrupts the first. There’s no documented official indoor back-up for a specific Piazza Grande film, so the safest bet is to check the festival’s official app or the local forecast on the day if you’re unsure.

Every viewer can also vote for the film they’ve just seen via a QR code on their ticket, as part of the UBS Audience Award, handed out since 2000 with CHF 30,000 (about £27,600) going to the director. In 2019, Locarno’s audience award winner, Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, went on to win an Oscar — a fairly reliable sign that the public’s picks are worth trusting.

Highlights

• A friendly, international atmosphere, with Ticino locals and festival-goers from around the world sitting side by side
• Audience voting by QR code (UBS Audience Award, CHF 30,000 to the director)
• Screenings go ahead even in the rain, with prints shown in duplicate as a safety net

A record-breaking selection for the 79th edition

Locarno Film Festival’s 2026 selection, unveiled on 9 July in the « Locarno79: Official Selection Announced » press release, comes with record-breaking numbers: 233 films on the programme, including 103 world premieres, chosen from 7,759 films submitted (+21% versus 2025) from 69 producing countries. The opening film is The Green Eyes by Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, and this edition’s official poster was created by American artist Cindy Sherman.

On the Piazza Grande, several films bring together eagerly awaited international casts: Ni Vue, Ni Connue by Marc Fitoussi, starring Isabelle Huppert, Sandrine Kiberlain and Diane Kruger, premiering worldwide on 15 August for the closing night; Ketticè by Giovanni Tortorici, starring Monica Bellucci and produced by Luca Guadagnino; The Invite by Olivia Wilde, with Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton and Seth Rogen; and Down the Arm of God by Peter Brunner, starring Caleb Landry Jones. According to Variety, artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro describes this edition as « adventurous, full of surprises, and taking on the challenges of the present without ever sacrificing the pleasures of storytelling and entertainment ».

Director Darren Aronofsky receives the Leopard of Honour (Pardo d’Onore) on Friday 14 August on the Piazza Grande, with screenings of two of his films, The Fountain (2006) and Mother! (2017), according to Screendaily. Other honours go to Isabella Rossellini (Excellence Award), Virginie Efira (Leopard Club Award) and Asia Argento (Life Achievement Award). The international jury of the Concorso Internazionale, which awards the Pardo d’oro (Golden Leopard), is chaired by Belgian director Fabrice Du Welz, alongside Lolita Chammah and Paulina García, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

New for 2026: the Locarno Kids Screenings competition, with seven feature films for young audiences judged by a jury of 11 to 15-year-olds. The festival runs 13 screening venues in total (the open-air Piazza Grande plus 12 indoor cinemas), across 11 sections, with 20 awards handed out over the course of the edition.

Highlights

• Leopard of Honour for Darren Aronofsky on 14 August, the night before the closing gala
• Isabelle Huppert, Diane Kruger and Sandrine Kiberlain together for the closing-night world premiere on 15 August
• New Locarno Kids Screenings competition, judged by an 11 to 15-year-old jury

From Locarno station to the Piazza Grande

There’s no direct flight from the UK to Locarno itself, but getting there is still straightforward. Zurich is the best-connected gateway from Britain: Swiss, British Airways and easyJet all fly there direct from Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and London City, and the fastest onward trains reach Locarno via the Gotthard Base Tunnel in as little as 1h40-2h20 — or you can take the scenic 3h19 Gotthard Panorama route for the views instead. Milan is the other option: easyJet and British Airways fly direct to Milan Malpensa from Gatwick, Heathrow and several regional airports (Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol), and Locarno itself is then a direct train ride away, about 1h55 with 15-20 services a day, according to rail.cc. Malpensa sits around 60km from Locarno (roughly 1h20 by car or 2h20 by train with a change) — worth combining with a day trip from Milan on the Lombard lakes if you’re extending your stay. One thing to flag for summer 2026: engineering works on the TILO/SBB network in Ticino run from mid-July to the end of August, mainly on the Biasca-Bellinzona stretch (replacement buses in place), while the Bellinzona-Locarno leg looks largely unaffected — check up-to-date times on sbb.ch or the TILO app before you travel. Once you’re there, a free shuttle links the Piazza Grande, the station and Spazio Cinema every 20 minutes from 8:30am to 9:30pm, and your festival ticket or pass gives free access to the Arcobaleno transport network (Ticino and Moesano) for as long as it’s valid.

On the accommodation side, Locarno’s hotels fill up fast during the festival, with occupancy climbing to 85-90% according to Ticino Welcome: budget on a hostel dorm bed from around EUR30 (about £26), a mid-range room between EUR100 and EUR200 (roughly £85-170), and EUR250-plus (£213+) for something central in high season. Neighbouring towns (Ascona, Minusio, Losone, Brissago, Solduno, Tenero) offer alternatives a few minutes from the centre, and tend to have more availability. Tenero campsite, on the shore of Lake Maggiore ten minutes from Locarno, is a solid budget option from around CHF 45-50 a night (roughly £41-46).

As for food, a simple meal costs CHF 20-40 (about £18-37); Ticino’s proudly Italian-speaking table has a reputation for being a little more affordable than German-speaking Switzerland. Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and TWINT are all widely accepted, so there’s rarely a need for cash — and if you do want some, avoid exchanging pounds on the ground, where the rate is often poor (as a rough guide, CHF 1 was worth about £0.92 at the time of writing). Switzerland is in the Schengen Area but outside the EU: as a UK passport holder you don’t currently need a visa for a short tourist stay of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, according to GOV.UK, and the country already runs the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) biometric checks on arrival. Just make sure your passport was issued within the last ten years and stays valid for at least three months beyond your travel dates. The EU’s ETIAS travel authorisation (a quick, low-cost online form, not a visa) is due to start applying to Switzerland from late 2026 — it won’t affect an August trip, but it’s worth checking GOV.UK before you book anything later in the year.

The festival isn’t just about the Piazza Grande. Locarno’s old town (Città Vecchia), with its Lombard arcades and Castello Visconteo, takes about two hours to explore. The funicular from Orselina leads up to the Madonna del Sasso sanctuary, then a cable car and chairlift continue to the Cardada and Cimetta viewpoints. Lake Maggiore is perfect for a swim at Lido Locarno or a boat trip to the Brissago Islands, a botanical garden unique in Switzerland with more than 1,700 subtropical species. Ascona, 15-20 minutes away, rounds off a pleasant afternoon before the evening screening. The weekly Piazza Grande market, held every Thursday, and Ticino cuisine (risotto alla ticinese, polenta, traditional grotti) round out a trip with an identity well beyond the festival itself. Locarno isn’t even Switzerland’s only big open-air summer date: the Paléo Festival in Nyon, the country’s largest open-air event, takes place a few weeks earlier over on Lake Geneva.

Highlights

• Free shuttle linking Piazza Grande, the station and Spazio Cinema every 20 minutes throughout the festival
• Tenero campsite, on the shore of Lake Maggiore, from around CHF 45-50 a night (roughly £41-46)
• The Brissago Islands and Madonna del Sasso: two excursions under an hour from the Piazza Grande