Stresa Borromean Islands April

Kind of cool, but if the weather is good and sunny (or at least not rainy), it’s still nice.

Been there twice in April. Never rained. Sunny. Cool at night and on the boats in the lake if you take a ferry to one of the islands to eat, shop etc. Have stayed in Baveno, Cannobio and Stresa.

Nigel,

Make sure you take the cable car & chair lift to Mottarone for incredible panoramic views of the lakes.

Do take a jacket as it gets cold and windy up there!

Enjoy your trip!

Thanks very much, all.

I've been looking forward to taking my wife to the gardens.

It is either early April, or if we get back at the end of April / early May but there is no guarantee of the second trip.

I hope we have a good time. The ride up the mountain sounds about right - but it doesn't appear to go very frequently.

I'll have our car so we can stay anywhere nearby. Any particular recommendations of hotels? Nothing too fancy.

I like the sound of Cannobio but I wonder if the market gets in the way too much...

Nigel,
I enjoyed my stay at Hotel Eden in Baveno (just North of Stresa) - nice location by the water.
Keep in mind that Baveno is very quiet and there aren’t many restaurants or shops there.
You can easily travel to Stresa by public bus if you don’t want to bother driving.

Cannobio is a charming medieval lakeside town. I enjoyed walking on a peaceful trail that runs along the river to the gorge of Santa Ana. There’s a small church on the hill above the gorge but unfortunately it was closed.
The day I visited was not a market day so can’t comment on that.

If you have time, consider driving to Lake Orta and visit Sacro Monte, and the picturesque (and tiny) Isola San Giulio.

Have a wonderful trip!

Edited to add...

If you like gelato make sure you go to
L’ Angola del Gelato in Stresa (Piazza Cadorna, 38), and Gelateria di Cannobio, located at the far end of the lakeside promenade in Cannobio (Via Francesco Magistris, 45) — Yummy! 😋

well if I have to make 2, count them, two stops for gelato I'm definitely moving this up the list!!

(I hope they are open this early)

Nigel,

Make that 3 stops! If you go to Orta San Giulio, you must go to Arte del Gelato! Make sure you go to the correct gelateria because there are two next to each other. The first one has green awnings (check street view on the map) and the best one is the small one with beige awnings and a poster of a little girl eating a melting gelato

Enjoy!

Edited to add...
And yes, it looks like they are definitely open now. A trip to Italy must include eating gelato (almost) every day!

anybody got a rag?

My wife is drooling all over the sofa... think of the cleaning bill!

We went in late April 3 years ago and stayed in Stresa, making it the base of our touring. Weather was gorgeous, wisteria, camellias, tulips all in bloom. You'll love it.

Now things are tightening up, I have been seeing youtubes of Locarno. When I was there several years ago I managed to step on a small child's hand which suddenly appeared under my foot. Mama not happy. We left on the next train, ASAP.

So never having looked around the town I have been intrigued by what I have seen.. so there's some more time to spend.

And Gelato three times, oh my.

And checking the villages including Cannobio.

And the funiculars and the cable cars....

Oh we will have fun!

Has any body here participated in the Lago Maggiore Express?

Thanks

Sorry it has been a while to get back with how it went - my wife has been quite ill since we returned and I forgot that I haven't been back here.

We enjoyed the Eden in Baveno. Great breakfasts for the low price of the room, great location, nice family run operation. The owner allowed us to park in their courtyard to save us hunting on the street (which had available spaces most of the time) which made my wife's disability easier there.

Tiny lift, but big enough. Great location - just a couple of minutes to the boats, the church, the small supermarket, the walk along the shore, and the hotel restaurant has tables at the waterside.

The only down side was our room walls didn't keep out a lot of the noise from our neighbours on the floor who talked loudly but weren't shouting. The upside was they were talking in Latvian so we didn't understand anything - just as well as I don't like prying. The double paned windows did keep out street noise very well though.

All-in-all we would return.

Absolutely loved the gardens on the Borromean Islands - and the one on Isola Madre so much we will be going out of our way to return.

We wanted to get up to Connobio and Locarno but road works meant that we couldn't - we had to turn back and take the ferry across to the other side which meant we ran out of time. Far too much time wasted on that day. The road works also meant that we couldn't drive back to Locarno and through the Gotthard tunnel when we headed out to start home. We had to go all the way around the bottom of the lake on the Autostrada and loop up via Lugano.

But that road had to be repaired. It is all probably open by now.

It was cold and wet on the days we planned to follow our noses to the gelato mentioned above - between the road works and the cold we decided to save the gelato "scientific research" for the next trip.

It may sound like we had a bad time. We didn't - we had a fabulous time and will absolutely return.

Thanks to all for their suggestions and help.

Nigel,

Hopefully you have a chance to make the trip to Locarno in the near future. It's an incredibly beautiful city, especially when viewed from the restaurant patio at the top of the Cardada cable car - https://www.cardada.ch/en . As with most things in Switzerland, the cable car is a bit pricey but worth every Franc (IMO).

Post a note when you're planning to make that trip and I'll provide more information on the city. You could also make that trip via the scenic Cento Valli Railway and return by Ferry (Aliscafo?) in the evening.

Must have missed your original post!

Hope you had a great time. You should have taken the car ferry across the lake from Intra to Laveno. That would have saved going around the South end of the lake.

We prefer Ascona to Locarno. Both on the high speed ferries schedule on Wednesday’s and Sundays from April 6 to Oct 13.