Stresa: Do I Need A Car?
 

We are booked at one of those "grand" old hotels on the lake and wondering if we really need a car. We can taxi to and from the train station and I understand the hotel is supposedly a 10-minute walk from the center (who knows how fast that person was walking!!!).

Will be spending four nights and after one or so will probably feel the need to non-veg for a day.

Anyone with pertinent suggestions I would appreciate your thoughts and thank you.

Boats go all over the lake, even to Locarno, Switzerland at its north end - not so many go there but some - but in the Italian part of the lake they go all over frequently - no need for a car - boats let you see both sides of the lake at once!

The most famous sights - the 3 Borromean Islands can only be reached by boat (or swimming) - they are just offshore from Stresa, a lace I've stayed and really liked - the municipal band played at nights along the neat waterfront esplanade - you can take buses over to Laker Orto for a day too if you like to explore than often neglected but neat smaller lake.

Pal,

Thanks for your prompt reply. Using Googlemaps it looks as if the hotel really is only a short walk from the center so I doubt a car is going to be necessary. I am in the process of looking at the ferry schedule to see where else we might venture on any day out.

No car needed. Also no need for looking at the ferry schedule. They go every few minutes.

You can do a day trip or half day trip to Lake Orta, just over the mountain behind Lake Maggiore. Perhaps it can be done by public transportation.that is the only reason I can rhink of for having a car. The best thing about the lakes is being car free and using ferries to get around.
Those grand old hotels along the lake are not far from the town center. If I were returning to Lake Maggiore, that's where I would stay. Sounds like a wonderful vacation.

Thanks, everyone for your VERY helpful replies. We were going to return to Lake Como and I had booked a hotel in Bellagio (one of the few I KNOW has air conditioning and in August, in Italy, I KNOW it is "charming" to have it). But after viewing this over-the-absolute-top place in Stresa I changed my mind. It will be MUCH easier to reach than the train-to-Verenna-and-then-the-ferry-across routine which we enjoyed in the past and since we have to return to Milan by train on the 6th for the opera that night, this seemed like a better choice overall.

Am looking very forward to this four-night stay which will sweeten the bucket for my partner considerably.

Thanks again and as well for the suggestions regarding days out.

The Borromean islands are lovely. Not sure which hotel you are talking about but I would have thought it would be walking distance into town.

This is from my 2004 report:

... Instead of resting by the lake (along with a throng of day-trippers who arrived by coach), I took the local train to Domodossolo, where I caught the Circumvalli to Locarno for an afternoon in Switzerland. Since the three-legged trip (I returned to Stresa by boat), was arranged and well-advertized by the local travel agents, the Locarno-bound train was packed, but the Alpine views were worth the heat and crowds.

And I enjoyed the 10th century castle in Locarno, which was not crowded.

I did the same day trip as thrusdaysd but went both way by train - just wanted to experience the Centovalli scenic train once again (100 Valleys - a Swiss train that runs thru much of Italy).

Returning by boat would have been nice but schedules were not conducive - Locarno in any case is a neat town to day trip to by water or train or combo of both.

Bookmarking

"Not sure which hotel you are talking about..."

Sorry, I should have been more explicit. We have booked a room in the Grand Hotel Des Iles Borromees and yes, we WILL be tipping the staff for services rendered. I cannot think of any better way to, as someone here so sweetly put it, throw our money around.

I have never stayed in any of the grand hotels in Stresa, but my general impression from those who have is that (a) the hotels are long past their prime and (b) they are only able to survive by booking in loads and loads of coach tours. They are behemoths built in an era when large (rich) Italian families would rent multiple suites for the entire summer, dining twice a day in the dining room. All that is over, and the hotels struggle to break even and refurbish the rooms with modern amenities.

I haven't bothered to read reviews of the specific one you've booked, and I'm guessing you have, but thought you might want a heads up if you haven't done a lot of digging.

I have just booked the Belvedere on Isola Pescatori. I trust that will allow me to avoid any tour groups after the ferries stop. I know that the last time I was in Stresa I encountered a lot of day trippers, but things seemed pretty quiet at night. However, that was ten years ago, and I noticed last year that there were a lot more tourists around even in central Europe than four or five years ago. And it wasn't August.

We are just finishing up a 2 weeks stay in The Lake District (Stresa, Lugano and Bellagio) and are now finishing up in Milan.

We stayed at Grand Hotel Des Iles Boromees and really liked it. Breakfast was amazing and it was the nicest of the 3 places we stayed. We did it first and wished it had been last because the others weren't nearly as nice.

We actually walked from the train to the hotel; .an easy walk downhill, maybe 8 minutes. We did take a taxi to train station as it was raining when left and it was uphill. :) 10€ for a 2 minutes ride.

We did not need a car for any of the trip, happy to use trains, ferries etc.

We had 2 really good dinners in Stresa. One at La Botte and one at the restaurant of the Fiorentino Hotel.

It is a quick walk to the heart of Stresa where the restaurants are located.

We did a day trip by ferry to the Gardens at Giardini di Villa Taranto.

We also did a day trip to Locarno and went up the funicular.

Not sure if you are going to Bellagio too, if so I can recommends couple of good places to eat.

I'll take a Stresa over a Bellagio any day - Stresa is a tourist town but not one that in the daytime at least is so so totally overrun by tourists who are ejaculated in huge numbers as each boat arrives and mob the postage-stamp-sized main town square amnd don't get much off it.

Stresa is quite touristy but many of the tourists are Italian. Bellagio has fantastic scenery, but you could be in Essex or Oshcosh. Even away from the lake, you get tourists in shops and restaurants making no attempts at speaking the most basic Italian. The locals all seem to speak excellent English, but it wouldn't kill the Americans and British to learn a simple greeting or the words for please and thank you

DebitNM,

Thank you for your very PRACTICAL and helpful information, particularly that regarding your walk from the rail station to the hotel. I am certainly not adverse to taking a taxi but the distance sounds more than reasonable. We've done the trek up and down the hill in Varenna to and from the ferry dock so the Stresa thing sounds like a piece of cake!

And, no we have decided not to include Bellagio this time around. We will be coming off a three-night/three-opera performance music overload session in Verona so being in Stresa, and at that hotel, seems perfect.

MissPrism, I would expect there to be a LOT of tourists and for good reason and I am sorry but Lake Como is NOT to be confused with ANYWHERE in either Essex or Oshkosh IMO but I appreciate AND respect your viewpoint nonetheless.

As to the ability AND willingness to express courteous words in ANY language, I suspect not doing so has as much to do with simple MANNERS and the ability to think of someone besides oneself than it does with language abilities.

Stresa is so so small that any hotel in town in an easy walk from the train station and probably all downhill.

IF I ever had unlimited funds, I'd stay here in a heartbeat.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev..._Lombardy.html

Yep, the Grand in Tremezzo is definitely a wonderful place to stay and is close to Villa Carlotta as well. However, I do not think it quite compares, interior decoration-wise, with the Grand in Stresa. BUT, being on Lake Como is an experience in and of itself and that floating pool in Tremezzo is one of life's great treats IMO.

Hmmm, we only walked in the lobby and out back to the pool there. ..and of course saw the floating pool....but the photos online of Tremezzo and it seems nicer that GH des Iles Boromees.