Lake Maggiore, Italy
 

Hi, I'm new to this forum; we (hubby & me) are planning to travel in late May/June from Paris to the Italian Lakes; a friend suggested we stay 4 nights at Lake Maggiore LM (at Hotel Cannero, Rivriera) and on our way to Cinque Terra CT for 4 nights. We are trying to decide if LM is a better option than around Lake Como. Has anyone stayed at LM in late May? Also we haven't yet decided whether to go by Rail or Hire Care. We will be going onto Nice from CT where we thought of hiring a car once we get to south of France and driving back up to Paris, via Loire Valley etc. and get the Rail to/in Italy! Any thoughts or better ideas would be appreciated. The train from Paris to Stresa gets in about 5pm but then you have to get up to Cannero Riviera, by taxi $100 each way. Hope its worth the visit? Thanks, West Aussie :)

May is a nice time to visit the lakes, but personally I think Lago di Como is more beautiful than Lago Maggiore (but don't know anything about Hotel Cannero). If you take a train to Milan, you can switch to ones that go to Varenna (about 5 euros).

Don't know about driving from Nice to Paris. Because of the unpredictability of May/June weather, and the parking difficulties in le Cinque Terre, it makes sense to take trains inside Italy. That said, I would be very much tempted to rent a car in the town of Como on Lago di Como and drive to the Riviera, and then drive to the French border, and drop off the car there. Compare costs, train skeds and travel times and see what you think.

If you decide to rent a car inside Italy, make sure the place you stay in le Cinque Terre has guaranteed parking.

... and I think Lago Maggiore is more beautiful than Lago di Como. But frankly: the difference isn't that big.
Lake Maggiore has 4 Islands which can be visited, 3 of them with botanical gardens, 1 of them with a castle/palace.

There are furthermore 2 viewpoints to lakes and alps (Sasso del Ferro, Cardada/Cimetta) which can be reached by gondola and 3 others (Piancavallo, Mottarone, Biegno/Alpe Neggia) which can be reached by bus

Cannero is a nice small village. http://www.hotelcannero.com/ is along the lake shore, very close to the boat's pier (8 daily boats to Luino, 1 boat to Stresa, 1 boat to Locarno, much more boats from Intra, a short bus ride from Cannero).

You don't need any taxi in order to reach Cannero, as there are frequenet buses from Verbania Pallanza railway station (change bus at Intra), from Locarno railway station (change bus at Brissago) as well as boats from Luino railway station.

Paris - Cannero: trains plus buses about every hr from 7.23 until 11.57 (departure time from Paris)
for example
Paris dp 7.23 - Cannero bus stop ar 15.28, change at Basel, Domodossola, Verbania-Pallanza and Intra
Paris dp 10.23 - Cannero boat's pier ar 19.45, change at Basel, Cadenazzo and Luino

The lakes are quite different.

Lago Maggiore is surrounded by rather low hills, Lago di Como by steep mountains. The scenery of Lago Maggiore is lovely, romantic, that of Lago di Como dramatic.

Lago Maggiore has the Borromean Islands, with Isola Bella as a breathtakingly beautiful combination of a palace and gardens and Isola dei Pescatori as an island with a picturesque fishing village.

Lago di Como has great mansions with their lush gardens on its shores and also several picturesque villages.

It is hard to say which lake is more beautiful. It is a matter of personal preference. Search the web for pictures and decide yourself.

We have been at both lakes with cars which gave us freedom to drive around, and we would have disliked the restrictions of public transport (although you can use the ferry boats on the lakes). If you have a car, the question which lake to select becomes less important: Both lakes are about one hour driving time apart, so whereever you stay, the other lake would be an easy daytrip.

If you choose to rent a car in Italy, drop it in Ventimiglia, board the train to Menton on the French side, and rent a French car there. Dropping an Italian rental car in France would cost you horrendous fees.

Driving from the Côte d'Azur to the Loire would require around nine hours. You have two options: Either via Clermond-Ferrand and the volcanic region around Le Puy or via Bourgogne (Beaune, Auxerre). Both regions are attractive enough for staying overnight or even longer.

BTW, on the Côte d'Azur I would not stay in Nice.

You should check out what would be the drop off fee if you rent a car in Italy and drop it off in France. Sometimes, in the large scheme of things, the drop-off fee is not "horrendous." It sometimes adds about $10 or $20 per day to the cost of your trip, and if that is not a budget buster, the convenience of having a car the entire way might off-set the cost in terms of the enjoyment of your trip.

As you can see, people's perceptions of the lakes are quite different. Some think the difference doesn't matter. Others do. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I woud prefer to take the ferries on the lake. Others prefer to drive.

One thing isn't really subjective: If you are staying on the western whore of Lago Maggiore, it's more than an hour's drive to Lago di Como, probably more than 90 minutes during the week and closer to 2 hours on weekends.

A car drive from Baveno (Western shore of Lake Maggiore) to Cernobbio (Lake Como) takes just 1 hr, thanks to the new Pedemontana motorway.
From Ascona (northwestern shore of Lake Maggiore) it would be just 45 minutes.
But a drive along Lake Lugano (via Porlezza) would be by far more scenic.

>>staying on the western whore<<

That's an interesting post!

Thank you for taking time out to respond.
So we've decided to stay at Lake Maggiore 4 nights, photos of Hotel Cannero are very amazing!
We don't want to sit on a bus for 2 hours to Cannero Riviera, when we get off the train at 5pm from Paris to Stresa. Car Hire is 5kms from train station, or we get taxi to Hotel Cannero each way and have no car to drive around the lake?
Only 3 full days there, so thinking walk & ferry around. We could stay 5 nights though��

We spent 4 nights in Stresa last May without a car. We had a wonderful time using train boats and ferry to get around. We went to Locano for a day, did the Borromean Island and went to Gardens at Villa Taranto.

Forgot to mention, getting Paris train to Geneva and then Stresa. We are getting train from Stresa to CT and then onto Cot d'Azur. Drive through Provence, over to Carcassonne, Dorsogne, Salar, Loire Valley, sort off!!!

I'm guessing that is Dordogne, and Sarlat?

How much time do you have for this trip? You're covering a good deal of territory. Have you considered open-jaw airline tickets?

"We don't want to sit on a bus for 2 hours to Cannero Riviera"
The bus ride from the railway station to Cannero lasts just 1 hr (unless you want to travel via Stresa).
If you travel via Luino, you have no bus ride at all.
But it's clear that all itineraries up to Cannero are longer than a direct Paris - Stresa train ride.
BTW: You could reduce your Paris - Stresa train journey time by 1 hr if you would leave Paris at 15.11
However, the best solution IMO would be:
Paris dp 18.23 - Olten ar 22.00. Sleep at Olten (many hotels a few steps from the railway station). Olten dp 6.57 - Stresa ar 9.38. Dining car in all trains.

Thanks neckervd for your feedback :) We have booked our train from Paris 9:11am to Stresa 16:38 via Geneve (only 1hour wait) and arrive in Stresa at 5pm on a Sunday. Hoping to see some great scenery from the train around Lake Geneve and onward hopefully! So not sure if we would have a good connection with the bus to Cannero Riviera, may have to get taxi! We are staying 3 nights at Hotel Cannero and when we check out will go down to Stresa and visit Borromean Islands, before getting afternoon train to Verenna and staying 2 nights there, any suggestions for accommodation there?
When we check out we go to Milan and get train down to Cinque Terra and stay 4 nights may be at Vernazza? Any ideas for accommodation?

Yes, I know that you travel via Geneva to Stresa. You were very clear about that in all your posts. The problem is only that the railway station for Cannero is not Stresa, but Verbania Pallanza. The train you booked doesn't stop there, but only at Stresa. That complicates things a bit.
For the train you chose, the connecting buses are:
Stresa dp 17.35 - Intra ar 18.00 and Intra dp 19.05 - Cannero ar 19.23.
The connections I mentioned in my post above would have been faster.
Imho it may not be the best idea to visit the Borromean Islands from Cannero after having checked out, because you wouldn't find any left luggage office, neither at Stresa not at the Islands.
Why not just take a bus from Cannero to Intra (20 min journey) and a connecting boat to Isola Madre (25 min) resp Isola Bella (45 min) and turn back the same way.
Or take the direct Cannero dp 11.00 - Isola Bella ar 12.30, dp 15.35 - Cannero ar 16.55 boat which may not be daily in May, however.

Oh I didnt realise that we could have got train from Geneva to Verbania Pallanza! Too late now, I guess we could be the train from Stresa to Verbania Pallanza and then taxi! Thx for advice on left luggage, thought there would be somewhere at station, coffee shop storage! Direct boat to Isola Bella at 12:30 would be great, if its running? Its very difficult planning holiday, but you are very helpful, thanks!

"I guess we could be the train from Stresa to Verbania Pallanza and then taxi"
Do you really think that I wouldn't have mentioned the possibility to backtrack to Verbania Pallanza railway station if that could solve your problem?
There is just no train until 17.16. If you take this train plus the connecting bus to Intra, you arrive at Intra only a few minutes prior to the direct bus from Stresa dp 17.35.