Northern Italy Day 4: Lake Maggiore

There is no direct public transportation route from Lake Como to Lake Maggiore, so we had to go back through Milan. In theory, each leg is only 60-90 minutes. However, this ended up being doubly frustrating as not only did the track work on the Varenna line reduce the number/times of trains, track work on the Lake Maggiore (Stresa) route also reduced the number/times of trains, so it took us almost the whole day to get from one lake to the other!

Once we got to Stresa, we took a taxi to the ferry terminal (it would otherwise be a 15-20 minute walk) and purchased tickets for a 10-minute ferry ride to Isola Bella, one of the private Borromean Islands, where we were staying for the night at the Elvezia Hotel, which had nicely modern rooms with balconies on the lake as well as a good included breakfast. 

Note that the ferry service is run by the same company as at Lake Como, so the same website provides boat schedules and online tickets.

One thing I didn't realize is that, at least in mid-May, the last ferry to/from the island is around 6pm. And because it is a very small private island, there was almost no one left there after 6pm... and no restaurants other than the one in our hotel. So make sure to plan accordingly...

After checking into our hotel, we quickly headed for the top (and only) attraction on the island - the absolutely stunning baroque Palazzo Borromeo, with a formal Italian garden, which together take up almost the whole island. This was one of the highlights of the trip, so even if you don't stay overnight on the island, I definitely recommend spending a few hours here!

Bottom line: In comparison to Lake Como, Lake Maggiore was almost completely empty of people, which was a very welcome change. It seems like Lake Maggiore was more commonly visited by tour groups than by individual/family travelers. In comparison to Lake Como, the land surrounding Lake Maggiore is flatter, meaning fewer mountains and cliffs immediately surrounding it. This makes it a bit less picturesque. Of course, this could also have been due to the fact that it was cloudy the whole time we were there!