Vira (Gambarogno) is a district of the municipality of Gambarogno in the district of Locarno in the Swiss canton of Ticino. It was an independent political municipality until April 24, 2010. The Riviera del Gambarogno with its characteristic Ticino villages lies on the left bank of Lake Maggiore and stretches for ten kilometers from the beginning of the lake to the Italian border. However, the Gambarogno region begins in Contone, at the foot of Monte Ceneri, and includes parts of the Magadino plain. The historic center of Gambarogno is the village of Vira with the church of San Pietro, which rises impressively above Lake Maggiore. Vira is characterized by an unspoilt village center with old houses nestled close together, narrow alleyways and arcades.
From Vira, a road leads up to the mountain villages of Alto Gambarogno, from where you can enjoy many beautiful views of Lake Maggiore and the Alps.
The Gambarogno Botanical Gardens are located on the hill terrace between Piazzogna and Vairano. Covering an area of over 17,000 square meters, it is home to 950 varieties of camellias, 350 different magnolias, azaleas, peonies and rhododendrons, with ivy, pines, juniper bushes and other European and exotic conifers, some of which are rare. From the shores of the Gambarogno, scheduled boats run to Locarno, Ascona, the Brissago Islands and other excursion destinations on Lake Maggiore. The Ticino triumvirate of Lugano, Locarno and Bellinzona is just as easy to reach from Gambarogno as the nearby Italian market town of Luino