Lake Maggiore area

Hi Mona. I'm working on putting together a future itinerary to Lake Maggiore & I'm reading 2 books which are a really good source of information regarding what to see/do in & around Lake Maggiore. They contain much more in-depth information than many of the other tourbooks I've looked at. The first book is 'The Italian Lakes' & it's a Lonely Planet book. It has detailed suggestions on what to see and it also gives transportation options for each area including how to get there by car, boat, train, bus, parking, etc. The 2nd book is an e-book from Amazon called 'Lake Como, Lake Lugano, Lake Maggiore, Lake Garda: The Italian Lakes' by Catherine Richards. It's only about $7.50. I don't own an e-reader but you can read it on your desktop computer or in my case, I'm reading it on my Itouch. I am currently reading both books & feel that both have excellent recommendations & information. I hadn't planned on traveling to the north part of the lake in Switzerland but after reading about Locarno, Ascona & the surrounding area, I'm definitely going to include it in my itinerary. You should read about the Lake Maggiore Express which is a full-day trip by railway & ferry to Locarno & the surrounding area. I also found a great web site (www.visitstresa.com) containing really good information. It gives suggestions for a 1-7 day itinerary & some great ideas for excursions too. I was originally planning on only spending 2-3 days on Lake Maggiore but after reading the information from all these sources, I'm trying to stretch it into a week. Have a great trip.

Obviously visit Stresa and its islands, but also visit Cannero Riviera, Cannobio, Mottarone, Villa Taranto, and Orta San Giulio on Lake Orta. A day trip to Macugnaga at the foot of Monte Rosa is also a great day out. There's a cable car you can take in Macugnaga. There's also a very informative blog about Stresa.
http://stresasights.blogspot.com/2009/04/fyi-using-bus-system-in-stresa.html

Mona, One really nice day trip that I've taken, is from Stresa to Locarno (CH) on the very scenic Cento Valli railway, with the return to Stresa by boat. It's a bit of a long day, but very enjoyable. If you decide to take that particular trip, don't forget to take your Passport. Happy travels!

See the Maggiore Express and the Maggiore Discovery websites. http://www.lagomaggioreexpress.com/Inglese/index.html
http://www.maggiorediscovery.com/default.html

Thanks for your suggestions so far. We bought the ebook for our Kindle and bookmarked several of the other sites your all kindly recommended. We'll keep reading and planning.