Get DK Top Ten Travel Guides on your iPhone & iPod Touch!
The westernmost of Italy’s great lakes straddles the Lombardy-Piemonte border and pokes its head into Switzerland. The southern half was from the 15th century a fiefdom of the powerful Borromeo clan. Maggiore’s development as a holiday retreat for Europeans began in 1800 when Napoleon’s Simplon highway from Geneva to Milan skirted its shores. Maggiore is neither as resorty as Garda nor as breathtaking as Como, and while the triplet Borromean Islands are stunning, few of Maggiore’s other diversions can compare. Still, all this can play in Maggiore’s favour if you’re looking to avoid the over-development of Garda and the crowds of Como.
-
Modern hotel in a quiet corner of town. Its porticoed restaurant and best rooms overlook the lake.
-
The best lodgings on the east shore. Rooms mix antique furnishings with modern comforts, and there’s a great restaurant.
-
Regional specialities and ancient recipes in a modern room filled with New Age music (see Il Sole di Ranco, Lake Maggiore).
-
From the 1650s to today, the trio of tiny islands in the middle of Lake Maggiore has drawn admirers for the gracious palaces and ornate gardens built by the Borromeo family, who still own everything but the fishing village on Isola Superiore. The islands are among Lombardy’s top attractions (see Lake Maggiore’s Isole Borromee).
Gardens, Isole Borromee
-
Almost luxury-level living at relatively moderate prices: lake views from balconies, oversize marble bathrooms, pool.
-
Franco Carrera is an enthusiastic and innovative reinterpreter of “traditional” dishes. The menu changes daily in accordance with his whim.
-
The best of Cannobio’s restaurants offers Piemontese cooking with inventive touches and a generous use of vegetables and lake fish.
-
Sadly, most of this Swiss city capping the northern end of the lake was rebuilt along modern Swiss lines of concrete, glass and steel. What remains of the medieval city, however, is worth crossing the border for. The 14th-century Castello Visconteo is a highlight, as is the Santuario della Madonna del Sasso (1497), which preserves paintings by Bramantino and Ciseri (avoid the long climb by taking the cable car). The Arps (20th-century artists Jean, Hans and Margherita) donated many works to a modern art gallery installed in the 17th-century Casa Rusca.
-
Verbania’s best restaurant serves classic Piemontese dishes and lake fish in lovely grounds.
-
This convivial spot in the back streets has some outdoor tables and a menu ranging from pizza to freshly caught lake fish.
-
Hotel price categories
For a standard, double room per night (with breakfast if included), taxes and extra charges.
-
-
Restaurant price categories
For a three-course meal for one with half a bottle of wine (or equivalent meal), taxes and extra charges.
-
Advertisement
-
-
lukmansani's Prague guide
lukman
-
TobinDane's Seattle guide
TobinD
-
tamunshen's Chicago guide
tamuns
-
-
-
Berlin guide
skrams
-
London guide
pukank
-
Merry in Madrid
travel
-
New York festivities
travel
-
Christmas in Vienna
travel
-
![[+]](/images/button-addtoguide.gif)
symbol, to start adding attractions to your
tailor-made travel guide.
