Stresa was a good base for our four-day visit to Lago di Maggiore in Northern Italy, with plenty of alfresco restaurants, shops, entertainment, and access to the ferries.
Isola Bella on Lago di Maggiore
The whole area looked like a picture-postcard with the blue glacial lake surrounded by majestic mountains, dotted with the small colorful Borromeo islands, and busy ferries darting from village to village, and lazy sailboats drifting under the bright sun.
A View of Monte Rosa from Mount Mottarone
One of the highlights for us was taking the cable car to Mount Mottarone. From Stresa it took 20 minutes to reach an altitude of 1491 meters atop the mountain, which sits between Lago di Maggiore and Lago d’Orta, with sweeping views over the Po Valley, several other lakes, and the snow-capped Alps, featuring the awe-inspring Monte Rosa.
A View of Lago di Maggiore from Mount Mottarone
Narrow Gauge Train Trip through the Centovalli
Lush Landscape of the Centovalli
Another highlight of this trip was taking the scenic train trip from Stresa, Italy to Locarno, Switzerland, where we spent the day exploring, before returning to Stresa by ferry. We bought a ticket for the Lago Maggiore Express, which took us by train to the inland village of Domodossola, where we changed to a narrow gauge Cisalpino train for the scenic journey which took us through the beautiful mountains, rivers, bridges, waterfalls, and lush landscape of the Centovalli (100 Valleys). The Cisalpino Railway is a collaboration between Italy and Switzerland to provide hassle-free international train service between the two countries.
Locarno, Switzerland on Lago di Maggiore
An Evening of Music with The Jazz Workshop in Stresa
Another very enjoyable aspect of our stay in Stresa was the entertainment. In our four days here, we saw three jazz performances. One night we bought tickets to see The Jazz Workshop perform to a full house in one of the large hotels in town. Another evening, we were strolling around when we came across a live performance on the lawn of a beautiful villa, where we found a couple of empty seats just waiting for us. And then after dinner on another evening, we found ourselves sitting in the lively main square, sipping a couple of chilled limoncellos, and enjoying the music, once again, of The Jazz Workshop.