Hello fellow Italy lovers! My husband and I will be traveling to the Lake region for the first time this June. We have traveled extensively thru the country in the past and we are hoping to be ahead of the masses. We usually prefer to travel in April or May to avoid the heavy crowds but we have been invited to a friends wedding in Stresa on Lago Maggiore on June 11th so here we go. We will be flying in and out of MXP from NY the first week of June and plan to rent a car at the airport. We have 6 days on our own before joining the wedding party on June 10th in Stresa for 3 days of festivities. After reading past threads and reviewing the helpful FODORITES tips and recs I have been leaning towards our first stop from MXP checking into the Villa Crespi on Lake Orta for 3 nights ( thought about a 4th night but it seemed a little too quiet around this small lake to give up a 4th day here when we have such a short amount of time in this region however the quiet and less touristy part does appeal to us while we are recovering from our jet lag after enduring and overnight international 8 hr flight. I booked the next 6 nights at the Boutique Hotel Stresa, thinking we could settle in for the rest of the duration of our trip while having 3 days to explore before meeting up with the wedding party. I am assuming there is a lot to do and see on Lake Maggiore. We love slow travel, beautiful nature walks, blending in with the locals, and finding our way off the beaten path. We love live local music in the evenings in a square or hotel bar, and simple meals along with a few Michelin star dining experiences while traveling.

Does this sound like a good game plan or should I be looking into trying to fit in Lake Como, Lugano, a day dedicated toward getting into Switzerland or just enjoy exploring some of the neighboring towns on Lake Maggiore: Baveno, Cannobbio, Cannero , Laveno. I do plan on allotting time to visit Villa Taranto in Verbania.

I welcome your input and thank you in advance!

We were in Italy this May, and part of our itinerary included Lake Maggiore and Como - my TR Northern Italy May 2024 : Lombardy, Piedmont and Liguria may help with some ideas.
Lake Orta is special - however, 3 days is a lot unless you're a slow traveller (there isn't very much to do except relax and soak it all in). Due to inclement weather while in Stresa, we missed the Lago Maggiore Express day trip (which includes the Centovalli railway and a visit to Locarno) - you could consider this.

Lake Orta is very close to Stresa and could easily be visited from there.

I wouldn't drive after a overnight flight, but just jump into the next direct train to Lugano (runs every hr) and spend a few nights in the Lake Lugano area.
Sleep in a hotel where you will get the Ticino ticket https://www.ticino.ch/en/ticket.html for free and explore the Lugano - Bellinzona - Locarno area by public transport.
The Ticino area offers much more than lakes, botanical gardens and stunning villages. You may visit the 3 medieval castles of Bellinzona, the Unesco wordl heritage site Monte San Giorgio, the highest viewpoint of the area reachable by cog wheel railway (Monte Generos), the Tamaro adventure park,buildings of nowadays star architect Mario Botta, the smuggler museum of Gandria, the medieval copy of Leonardo da Vincis Last Supper at Capriasca and tons of churches and monasteries with old frescoes.

After that, you may go by ferry from Locarno to Stresa and rent your car there.

ANUJ wow just read your TR what a fabulous trip ! Made me sad that we wont have our usual 3 weeks to explore and thus will not fit in a visit to the Piedmonte region this time around. Looks gorgeous! Your pics got me excited for my slow travel itinerary to include only the 2 lakes this time around. We will actually only have 2 full days to explore lake Orta as on our first day we usually catch up on our sleep with a prolonged midday nap and wake to enjoy a leisurely dinner and after dinner stroll. Being that we will be involved in 3 days of wedding festivities while in Stresa, 3 days on our own on Lake Maggiore sounds perfect, especially if we run into some in climate weather that may curtail a planned day for ferrying on the lake to Island hop.

neckerd , thanks for your reply, unfortunately the train option is a deal breaker for my husband, who refuses to travel by train anywhere except Japan. He prefers to upgrade our seats to business class so we can sleep a bit on the flight over and as long as the morning drive is within an hour door to door to our first stop, he is ok with that. This is why I thought Lake Orta was a good option as it appears to be only about 45min by car from MXP. It appears to be a lovely less traveled Lake to recover from our jet lag and the Hotel I chose will offer our Michelin Star dinning experience to kick off our trip. With 2 full days I thought we can visit Island of San Guilio one day and leisurely explore the lake and its surroundings on day 2 before heading to Stresa.

The drive from Malpensa to Orta will very likely be more than an hour. Add the car rental process, and it could easily take 2 hours to reach your destination. Make sure you know how to reach Villa Crespi without violating the town's ZTL. You'll encounter ZTLs in many/most towns as you wander.

Hi, this is my first post here on this Fodor's. It is a good idea not to try to fit too many things in a itinerary. Trying to fit too many places in to itinerary you end up seeing nothing. If slow travel is your thing, then take it easy, enjoy fewer places longer in stead of many places for shorter time.

"and thus will not fit in a visit to the Piedmonte region this time around"
Both, Lake Orta and Stresa ARE in the REGIONE PIEMONTE (Province of Novara).

MXP T1 - Orta San Giulio is just a bit more than 1 hr by car,
either via Somma Lombardo - motorway entry Sesto - motorway exit Arona - Briga Novarese - Gozzano
or via Somma Lombardo - Varallo Pombia - Gattico - Borgomanero - Briga Novarese - Gozzano.

You don't need a full day for San Giulio Island. May be you are interested in the sanctuaries of Madonna del Sasso (Boleto) and Sacromonte (Varallo) too.
Or go to the Belvedere di Cuarno Sopra on the top of a high cliff with stunning views over Lake Orta (I was there once in a full moon night and it was fairylike).

Thanks Neckervd! I was using via Michelin to plot our drive and noted the 2 different routes from MXP to Orta San Giulio and they appear to be equidistant, I was wondering if you recommend one over the other as far as one being more scenic and/ or having less traffic, or easier to follow???

I have added the two Sanctuaries to my trip notes as day trip options but I could not locate the Belvedere di Cuarno Sopra on the map, is that on the east or west side of the Lake ? Also wondering if you would recommend the town of Pella vs Omegna for a possible day trip for lunch and a walk along the lake.

Lastly do you have a favorite day trip from Stresa and or a favorite lakeside village on Lake Maggiore???? I do want to visit Villa Taranto as we love Botanical Gardens, but will have 3-4 free days to explore outside of Stresa. Can you recommend an area that has mild to mod hiking trails as well as a place to pull off and park to these access trails?

I really appreciate you sharing your input and PS when I said we would not be able to “ fit in the Piedmonte” I was referring to the wine country region and Turin. Anju’s pictures on her TR for that area looked stunning !

Quarna Sopra:
There exist tons of maps. May be you check https://www.komoot.com/guide/594867/...d-quarna-sopra
or https://search.ch/map/Quarna-Sopra,V...,80943&zoom=11

Pella is nicer than Omegna, but don't expect too much https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura..._Piedmont.html

By far the best restaurant in the whole area is at Sorriso (not along the lake):
https://www.alsorriso.com/

There are tons of scenic small medieval looking villages in the area, many of them with small no star restaurants where you can often get some simple and unsophisticated local food (at least if you speak 2-3 words of Italian).
I like particularly Trarego-Vigggiona, Ronco sopra Ascona, Campagnano, Lozzo, Indemini, Massino Visconti (all above Lake Maggiore) or Cannobio, Ascona, Brissago, and many others along the shore of the lake.

Hiking trails are omnipresent, very well signmarked in Switzerland and often a bit less (or not at all) in Italy.
If you don't mind to drive some 50 miles OW, you could go into mountain valleys like Valle d'Anzasca (Macugnaga) or Val Sesia (Alagna).