bsingerline

I have searched everywhere on here and on the web and haven't been able to find much of a list of restaurant recommendations in Stresa italy.

Anyone have any advice?

thanks

PotenzaRon

A couple of years ago we ate at the Hotel Milano which is just outside Stressa. It was a wonderful place to sit outside to enjoy drinks and/or lunch with a wonderful lakeside view.

bsingerline

Thank you PotenzaRon - is it walkable from the city center?

Anyone else have any suggestions?

Therese

Check out this thread (which says it's for Baveno, but includes a lot for Stresa, as it's the next town over):

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35128579

bsingerline

Therese - thank you very much for the post and all of the information you provided there.

Which of the islands did you like best btw? You seem to know the area well and I'd like your opinion.

Thanks

Dayle

b,

We stayed at Hotel Verbano on Isola dei Pescatori, the smallest island. We loved the hotel, the views, the quiet at night (no cars). Trans is by the public boats or privately arranged boats. I thought their hotel restaurant was very good.

We visited all 3 islands, did the palazzo and gardens tour on Isola Bella (very interesting) and took the boat up to Villa Taranto to see the botanical gardens there. Also very nice.

We would have loved a 3rd day to go up to Lugano, but didn't have time.

Buon viaggio!

Therese

I actually only made it two of the three islands. We went to Isola Bella as a family one day and all of us (particularly my husband and children) found the touristy aspect of it just a bit overwhelming, and in the end we didn't do a full visit and instead took the next ferry over to Isola Pescatori/Superiore, where we had lunch at Ristorante La Pescheria (named for a peach orchard, not fish, despite the similarity in names). We sat on the large terrace which is upstairs, and had a lovely meal.

The other two restaurants that I've been to on this island are the one at Hotel Verbano (excellent, upmarket) and Unione (downmarket, casual, good food, reportedly owned by the same people that own Hotel Verbano).

I planned to go to Isola Madre without my family one day (as it looked like the one I'd enjoy most) but in the end that didn't quite work out. Next time, perhaps.

One site that I really liked quite a lot was La Rocca Borromeo in Angera (on the other side of the lake, down towards Milan, across from Arona). Beautifully restored, and it includes a doll and children's clothing museum that was really lovely if you like that sort of thing. Fantastic views from up top (with a cafe, if memory serves). We took the ferry from Stresa to Angera, had lunch in a small (very small, and extraordinarily inexpensive) restaurant, bought ingredients for our dinner that night at the market, and then visited La Rocca. We managed to miss the last ferry back to Stresa, so instead took one to Arona and then caught the train back to Stresa.

If you take advantage of the ferries you're walking distance from many, many restaurants, as you can eat in any that are served by the ferry. Same thing for the train.

PotenzaRon

As I recall the Hotel Milano was not within walking distance of Stressa but not certain.

Therese

Hotel Milano is in Belgirate, not Stresa, and is not reachable on foot unless you are interested in some serious hiking. It would be walkable if there were a sidewalk along the stretch of the lakefront road that runs between Belgirate and Stresa, but there isn't, so never mind (and do not attempt this walk on the road, as there's very little shoulder).

You can walk between the two towns by going overland (and there's a map available in Stresa that tells you how, and what interesting things you'll see along the way, and in fact it's quite nice), but it's definitely a walk in the woods rather than a stroll along paved roads.

I've not been to Hotel Milano, but did spend quite a bit of time at Hotel Villa Carlotta, as I was teaching a course there. Rooms reportedly nothing to get excited about, and the catered food for our meals was not exceptionally wonderful.

Therese

While I'm thinking about it, I'll list some other options.

I mentioned upthread that we'd ended up in Arona after missing the ferry back to Stresa. We went back to Arona on a Saturday night, this time on purpose, to visit a nightclub called Il Batello. Batello means boat, and that's precisely what it is: a large boat that looks a bit like a Mississippi river boat (similar boats travel the lake in high season), now moored near the ferry dock in Arona. We'd rented a car, so for this trip drove down the lake front. Arona gets very busy on summer weekend evenings, not with tourists (as is the case in Stresa) but with locals. Lots of restaurants near the waterfront, all of them very busy with couples and families. We'd had dinner at our apartment in Stresa with our children, so didn't get to Arona until about 10:00. We finally found a parking place and strolled back to the busy part of town, stopping for prosecco at an enoteca. At about 11:30 we headed over to the boat to see whether it was open yet, and of course it wasn't quite. We waited until a few people had finally been admitted (there are doormen who look you up and down---don't worry, it's all for show in order to give one the impression that it's very exclusive) and finally went in. Admission includes your first drink, for which you receive a ticket to be turned in at the bar. Excellent drinks (they'd make quite literally anything you asked for, no matter how complicated), great music and dance floor, free sandwiches (to offset the alcohol consumption). You buy additional drinks tickets from the cashier, not at the bar (so tipping isn't really part of the scene either, as bar tenders don't handle cash). We left at about 3:00 AM and it was still rocking.

Therese

Oh, dear, bad news to share: I went looking for a link to Discoteca Al Batello and found that it's closed. Apparently it had been around for a very, very long time and its closing was considered the end of an era.

bsingerline

Thanks Dale, Therese, and PotenzaRon. This is really going to help!