LAKE MAGGIORE - GETTING AROUND

If you don`t have a rental car (which is the recommended method), the easiest way is actually by boat.

To unlock the lake`s charm, explore its picturesque and busy central parts and southern reaches by boat, using the extensive network of ferries for short visits before retiring to its calmer shores. There is an extensive ferry system (www.navigazionelaghi.it) that connects even the smallest towns and stops along both shores of the lake. However, in winter this is reduced to just local ferries (one that only crosses between Arona and Angera; another that only tools around the central lake between Stresa, the islands, and Verbania/Intra, etc.) but doesn`t connect these localized lake regions.

A nice day trip from Stresa is taking the ferry or hydrofoil to Switzerland and returning by train.

The is also a regular bus service along Lake Maggiore`s western shore between Arona, Stresa, and Verbania operated by S.A.F., www.safduemila.com), but it runs less frequently (and services fewer places) than do the lake ferries.

Finally, you can take a train up the west shore of the lake past Arona and Stresa as far as Verbania (at which point the rail lines leave the lakeside to turn northwest toward Switzerland).