My original plan had been to spend 4 nights in Florence, but the heat has me waffling on this. Since we still want to visit, I was thinking to perhaps spend one of those nights elsewhere. We will be leaving Zermatt heading to Florence, and I'm wondering if anyone can suggest a nice place to stopover and spend one night. I'd prefer to stay somewhere closer to Switzerland, so that we'd have a short journey on that day and would have time to explore a bit. Then we could travel on to Florence the next day. I would prefer a small town (and one that will be cooler than Florence). We could extend our 2 night stay in Zermatt, but I really feel like 2 nights will be enough there. We will probably be taking the train that travels straight from Brig down to Milan via Domodossola, but there is another option that goes through Lugano.

Has anyone ever visited Stresa on Lake Maggiore? It's one of the stops between Brig and Milan.

Although I haven't stayed at Stressa, it gets many raves here. We have stayed up at the top of Lake Maggiore, in Locarno/Ascona area and it was wonderful, lots to see and do. I would say that probably anywhere on the lake is going to be good, lots of hotels have pools and there is a beach area in Locarno to swim in the lake (I think), it's a beautiful area.

Haven't been to Stresa.

I would choose Lugano, but Locarno is fine also. If you are traveling by train and decide on Locarno, be sure and stop at Domodossola and catch the interesting Centovalli train over to Locarno.

My husband and I have stayed in Stresa, and I would highly recommend it. Drop off your bags at the hotel and get on a boat to the islands in the lake.

Stresa is the obvious choice and a good one---have fun !

Ditto the recommendation on the Centovalli train. Stresa's pretty and the short boat cruise out to Isola Bella would make for a very pleasant afternoon. But my first choice in the region would be Lugano, farther to the east but still on a main route to Florence. It's old town is vibrant with rich shopping, museum, and dining opportunities, spectacular lakeside scenery, and there are delightful short cruises available to Morcote and Gandria.

Is Kandersteg on your way, or even a little bit out of it? We stayed there one night between Venice and Paris, and loved it! Especially if you have kids--they have a chairlift that takes you to a tobaggan, and this really beautiful walk to an Alpine lake. We just had that one night in Switzerland, but felt like we'd experienced the "real thing." Sorry if my geography is totally off!