The Borromean Islands

Isole Borromeo (Borromean Islands)
Near Stresa, Lago Maggiore
tel. +39- 0323-30-556
www.borromeoturismo.it
Open 9am–5:30pm
Open last Sat in March–last Sun in Oct

Take a tour: If you'd prefer to take a day trip of Lake Maggiore and the Borromean Islands from Milan with an expert guide, consider booking one through our partners at Viator.com:

• Lake Maggiore Day Trip from Milan

Hotels on the Borromean Islands

• Hotel Verbano [€€]
• Hotel Belvedere [€€]
  

• Grand Hotel des Iles Borromees [€€€]
• Hotel La Palma [€€€]
• Affittacamere Via Mazzini [€€]
• Hotel Primavera [€€]
• Hotel Meeting [€€]

First get yourself to Stresa.

By the Stresa waterfront in the center of town is a dock where you can grab a ferry the leaves frequently, roughly every half hour in summer (tel. +39-800-551-801, www.navigazionelaghi.it).

The rides are brief: 5 min. from Stresa to Isola Bella, another 5 min. to Isola Superiore, 20 more minutes to Isola Madre (with an intermediate stop in Baveno).

A nice hike to finish off the day
At the north end of Stresa, at Piazzale Lido 8, is a funivia (cable car), which glides up the steep lakeside hills, pauses at an Alpine garden, and ends up 20 minutes later at Mottarone, a 4,920-foot plateau high above the lake. (tel. +39-0323-30-295; www.stresa-mottarone.it).

To get back to the lakeside, you can (a) ride the cable car back down, (b) hike, or (c) plan ahead by renting a mountain bike from the station at the bottom, take it up with you to help explore, and then simply coast back down.

Best advice: The ferries back from the Borromean Islands stop at Stresa's "Mottarone Funivia" stop before chugging down to the main dock, so hop off here, check out the high Alpine plateau, then take the fast descent by bike. Back by the lakeside, return the bike and stroll back into town in a pleasant 20 minutes along a lakeside path: stunning lake views to one side; to the other a procession of villas and mini-palaces—some stately, some crumbling, some weirdly festooned with modern sculptures.One-way ferry tickets around this part of the lake cost between €1.90 and €4.40—but unless you're staying on Isola Superiore and commuting, buying individual tickets is silly. Instead, get the "Tre Isole" ("Three Islands") combo ticket for the Stresa-Pallanza run, which lasts all day and costs €12. (If, for some reason, you don't want to visit Isola Madre, there's a "Due Isole" ticket for €9.80).

You can get admission to just one island (Isola Bella is €13, Isola Madre is €11), both islands together (€18), or to both islands plus the Rocca Borromeo in Angera (€21.50 for all three; €8.50 for the castle by itself).

Definitely take the audioguide to learn more about each site—and grab the little pamphlet-map at the entrance kiosk on Isola Madre to help you identify all the plants (it provides not just scientific names and such, but also interesting tidbits and facts about each).