My husband and I will be staying in Stresa for six nights in May, and I would like to take a daytrip to the village of Orta.

Does anyone (Bobthenavigator) know of a public bus company that travels this route? (We will not have a car.)

A few years ago i was in Stresa and researched this exact thing and found there was some kind of bus service, perhaps with a change but it was very doable.

That's encouraging...

Thank you, maybe I'll get lucky!

Stresa to Orta San Giulio is only about a 40 minute ride at best. I am unaware of Public transportation but contact APT Stresa or the Proloco Stresa and they should be able to tellyou.
You could hire a driver for the day and then include visits to the Alessi factory in Ormegna and the beautiful pristine Val Strona where the Wasser clan still wears traditional dress.
I have walked the penninsula and that takes 8 hours!!

As i remember the transportation involved taking a local train and transferring to another local train and maybe not a bus

something like take train to Domodossola (45 mins) then a train back down on another line to Orta-Miasino (1 hr)and schedules i have seen that this is very possible

so this is a circuitous rail route and as Orta is basically i think just over the ridge from Stresa a road route would be much quicker.

italianconcierge,
You wrote:
"...contact APT Stresa or the Proloco Stresa and they should be able to tell you."

What does APT signify? What is Proloco Stresa?

Palenque, If I understand you correctly: As the bird flys, this is a relatively short ride. Maybe if italianconcierge decodes his message, I can investigate further.

APT i think is provincial tourist office and proloco is the local Stresa tourist office - google Stresa tourist office is what i'd do.

This company appears to have a bus service from Verbania to Omegna, but I can't get timetables to display.
www.vcotrasporti.it

Okay, I've gotten this far, but the red line on this link stops just above Orta. I can't find bus timetables, either Geoff. (I went into the web site you posted as well.)

http://www.vcoinbus.it/unico/estivo/mappa.html

If you're staying in a hotel in Stresa, ask them about bus service to Orta.

Jean, I already figured that much out. It's just that I am a planner, so this is what I do.

I wanted to post the reply I received today from the Hotel Astoria in Stresa regarding bus service to Orta:

"To Orta is operating a public bus service but times are no good, I would recommend the excursion."

So, it looks like we may end up taking a day tour if we want to see Orta on this trip.