Lakes Maggiore and Orta in September input please
 

First, thanks to all of you who answered my previous thread trying to decide on Lake Maggiore vs Como. Based on the excellent advice I got there I'm going with Maggiore (and Orta). I'm now up to the booking the hotels/actual number of nights and hoped to get some input as to the feasibility of what I want to do. This trip will be part of a much longer trip but this part will take place about the third week in September. My main concern is transportation between places. Currently only the winter schedule for the boats is on their website and the most recent summer schedule I can find is from 2016 and it's pretty hard to read so not sure I'm doing it right.

Lake Orta - Two nights (one full day as I will arrive in the early evening (from Bergamo) and leave pretty early in the morning the day I leave - heading to Stresa).

Stresa - Two nights (have been before and been to the islands so not planning on repeating those). Main thing I want to do is visit Santa Caterina in Laveno but I would also like to see the Rocca d’Angera. If I arrived midday is it possible to do one of those that afternoon and the other the following day, or is possible to do both on one day?

Locarno - Three nights – one day trip by boat to Cannero and Cannobio. Having trouble reading the ferry schedules (and the most recent summer schedule that I can find is a few years old) but looks like there is at least one daily from Stresa to Locarno taking about 3 hours.

After Locarno I'm heading further into Switzerland, first stop Bellinzano.

Thanks

https://www.navigazionelaghi.it/risu...?lake=Maggiore

You'll have to check back on this website in a few weeks. It's currently showing the winter timetable (to 4/4/20). I find it easier to look at the timetable pdf rather than search point to point.

Do not stay at La Bussola in Orta San Giglio! It was a horrible experience for us and our friends. It is probably the main reason we did not care for Lake Orta and wished we had visited it as a day trip from Lake Maggiore. Plus the air quality was poor there due to paper mills.

Jean, thanks for the link, I have been on that site and as you note, summer is not up yet. I will keep checking back.

HappyTrvlr - that's for the warning. That was the best hotel I found! And cost way more than I wanted to spend (€150 a night, everywhere else I'm find great looking places for less than €100). The other hotels I looked at on booking.com seem kind of sketchy.

Anyway, I'm now thinking of either skipping Orta or trying to do it as a day trip from Stresa. There is a bus, but I just discovered it stops running around Sept 10 and I am planning to be there Sept 15 so unless the 2020 schedule runs another week later than 2019 did I'm out of luck for that. I'm going to hope a taxi is not exorbitant cause with the money I'll save not staying at La Bussola that's an option.

It might be easier to fly from Corfu to Malpensa with easyjet, every Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday) instead of Orio al Serio.
If you land with Ryanair at Orio al Serio, you will hardly arrive at Orta-Miazzino "in early evening" (unless you spend a whole day at Bergamo).

Orta can easily be done as a day trip from Stresa (it would be easier from Pallanza or Intra, however), for example like this:
Stresa dp by train 7.41 - Premosello ar 8.04, dp 8.24 - Orta ar 9.00

neckervd - I'm planning on spending one night and part of the following day in Bergamo. I've been there a couple other times and really like the town and enjoy just exploring it some more. I have a hotel that will store my luggage till I am ready to move on.

I agree Orta will be better as a day trip. Thanks for that train info. I've also read (on rome2rio) that you can take the train to Arona and take a bus from there. Someone also gave me a link to a travel agency in Stresa that does day trips and someone else mentioned a private transfer might only be around 50€ each way which, while I'd rather not spend that, might make sense in this case.

So now thinking of 4 nights Stresa, 3 Locarno

There are tons of possibilities
via Arona - Borgomanero
via Verbania Ferrovia - Omegna
via Premosello
https://www.comazzibus.com/eng/orario.php?p=143
FONTANETO AUTOSERVIZI S.P.A.
TRATTA 1: STRESA - ARMENO - ORTA
Fermate: Orta Piazzale Prarotondo
Autoservizi Fontaneto
Viale Volta n. 85 - 28100 Novara
Tel. 0321.391601 - 0321.620797
Attachment 3964
Attachment 3965
I gave you just the "all by train" solution

There are tons of possibilities
via Arona - Borgomanero
via Verbania Ferrovia - Omegna
via Premosello
https://www.comazzibus.com/eng/orario.php?p=143
FONTANETO AUTOSERVIZI S.P.A.
TRATTA 1: STRESA - ARMENO - ORTA
Fermate: Orta Piazzale Prarotondo
Autoservizi Fontaneto
Viale Volta n. 85 - 28100 Novara
Tel. 0321.391601 - 0321.620797
Attachment 3966
Attachment 3967
I gave you just the "all by train" solution