Società Navigazione del Lago di Lugano

Società Navigazione del Lago di Lugano

SNL MV Paradiso arriving at Gandria.
Industry	Transport
Founded	1873 (current name: 1919)
Headquarters	Lugano, Switzerland
Area served	Lake Lugano
Website	http://www.lakelugano.ch/

The Società Navigazione del Lago di Lugano or Lake Lugano Navigation Company (SNL) is a Swiss company operating passenger services on Lake Lugano. The company also operates bus routes in the same area, and is based at Cassarate in the city of Lugano. It was formerly known as the Società di Navigazione e Ferrovie per lago di Lugano and at one time also operated railways in the area.

The passenger boats of the SNL principally provide services for tourist purposes, but they also connect Lugano with other lake-side communities, in both Switzerland and Italy, some of which have no road access. The bus services connect Lugano with Gandria and Campione d'Italia, both of which are also served by boat services.

SNL is a member of the arcobaleno tariff network, but only accepts arcobaleno tickets on its bus services and not on boat services. It also grants a 40% discount on all its fares to holders of arcobaleno season tickets.

The Società di Navigazione e Ferrovie per lago di Lugano (SNF) was formed in 1873 to construct and operate a transport link from Menaggio, on Lake Como, to Luino, on Lake Maggiore, via Lugano. Although both ends of this link were in Italy, the company was created with Swiss finance, and registered in Lugano.

Previous plans were to build a railway throughout, but difficulties in financing the proposal and the substantial engineering works that would be required, led to the revised plan which was eventually implemented. This involved the construction of two unconnected railways, both entirely located within Italy. The Menaggio–Porlezza railway and the Ponte Tresa–Luino railway () were linked by the use of steamboats, between Porlezza and Ponte Tresa on Lake Lugano, to form the desired through route.