Verzasca Valley

Of no help to you at all, but I'd never heard of Verzasca Valley. Wow. Just some brief digging on the web, and a recommendation was a PostBus as a convenient way to explore the valley. When are you going? I hope you will report back.

have you asked your host for advice?

This site may help https://swissfamilyfun.com/valle-verzasca-hike/. We used their advice to do the short hike from Brione last year. There is a cute hotel at Brione, BTW. I’d love to stay there! https://www.myverzasca.ch/home

I suggest you stay in Locarno. It's a major town, a transit hub, and a docking point for some boats on the lake shore.

Yes--The Postbus runs from Locarno. I don't know whether there's a smaller town on the way to the Verzasca Valley where you could stay. I've never stayed in Locarno itself, but I had the impression it was a rather grand lakeside resort town.

The bus ride up the valley is beautiful. The waterfalls are usually more dramatic in the spring; it's drier in the summer.

I was doing research, and never ran across the Postbus option. Thank you for mentioning that!
We are going in late April. I will be booking the Airbnb in the next couple of weeks, but I wanted to figure out where to stay before booking. It sounds like Locarno would be a good choice from the comments. We would like to avoid touristy areas, but in April it should be less busy. I also know the touristy areas are going to be the ones that have the best public transportation.

You can look at the bus schedule at www.sbb.ch/en. You will see that buses run from/to Locarno morning and late afternoon/evening on an an hourly basis to/from Sonogno which is as far the valley as the bus goes. At other times, the bus runs from Tenero, which is a short connecting train ride from Locarno.

Looking at google maps it will show the bus stop locations and local shops, like the Coop grocery store, and also restaurants. I did see some Airbnb's near the bus stops and grocery stores, so staying in the valley is an option.

I really enjoyed Locarno - it's got grand parts but is very approachable, even during the film festival. The juxtaposition between history, glamour, the lake views and the dinky five franc tourist train was a hoot!

That said, if you want to see how the other half live, Ascona down the road / across the water is very grand. (The beach club was surprisingly affordable, though, at least until I paid for a cabana, an open air massage and a lakeside cocktail 🤣. Was a fun afternoon as a one-off!)

Thanks for even more great advice! I'm really starting to love this forum. Much better to hear from actual experiences instead of just googling it.
Has anyone spend any time at the river? It looks beautiful. I know swimming in it won't be an option in late April (i'm not that brave), but just checking it out would be awesome. Anyone have any good advice on the local waterfalls? I found a list, but wanted to know what the experience was so I know i'm not just reading hyped up stuff from google.
The transportation there sounds solid. There are a few airbnb options in Locarno, so that is most likely where we will be staying since everyone is mentioning it.

Eatsrootsandleaves, do you mind me asking what area you did stay in?
Thank you for the advice on the waterfalls. I was reading about those ones, but I didn't know if they were just being hyped up.