Lake Maggiore Holidays - Stresa Verbania Lake Maggiore Holidays

To the tourist, who for the first time arrives in Stresa, is offered a breathless sight. At the beginning a superb window of the lake front, delineated with lines of palm trees, with flourishing gardens and facades of majestic hotels. Then, turning to look at the lake, enchanted, as if emerged from the same waters the spectacular Borromean Islands (Isola Bella, Isola Madre and Isola dei Pescatori). It is enough the splendour of these visions to make one understand how Stresa has been able to become one of the maximum meetings of international tourism. The town, already at the middle half of Lungolago di Stresa the 19th century was the most elegant place to stay, the most visited by the international upper middle class. Others again are the reasons of so much fame and prestige. Here art and nature are mixed together in a way that one respects the other, here the hospitality is to boast to generation and the cultural initiative, that happens in the course of the year, they are the necessary corollary of it.

Lake Maggiore is a paradise for your holidays and for certain type sof activities. Walking, hiking and golfing are three that immediately come to mind. There is also the opportunity to swim in the Lake, windsurf, boating, play tennis, go off road cycling and horse riding. The secret however is knowing where to go and how to ask for it. Des Iles Borromees Golf course is a T testing 18 holes lie at 500m above sea level. Following the natural terrain and the lush vegetation of the hills above Lake Maggiore. The course is more a test of accuracy than distance while the back 9 holes offer stunning views over the lake. If you wish to trek over to Lake Como you can experience the famous Menaggio and Cadenabbia golf course.

Originally founded by an English aristocrat in 1907, this very tight 18 hole course was completely redesigned in 1965 but still maintains a traditional British feel. It offers breathtaking views over Lake Como from its elevated position above the lakes western shore. The clubhouse features a magnificent library of golfing literature, said to be second only to that at St Andrews. Lake Maggiore offers an exceptionally wide range of water sports, from wild water rafting to sailing, wind surfing, kite surfing, canoeing and swimming. There are a number of boat clubs (Intra, Pallanza, Omegna, Pettenasco) and a Regatta Club in Belgirate. During the summer windsurfing and catamarans are popular at the Cannobio Lido in upper reaches of Lake Maggiore. Canoeing and kayaking have become much more popular in the narrow valleys at the end of the Lake especially in the fast water zones.

Scuba diving clubs are now becoming more popular and as Lake Maggiore is up to 300m deep, there is always the chance of bumping into that monster of the deep. Check out the night diving at Cannobio Hang gliding is also undertaken by the locals and double ups can be had for the more adventurous. Whilst you glide over and down the Lake, perhaps the less active could take a go at catching one of the famous Lake fish.

The Grand Hotel is the right choice for your holidays in Lake Maggiore, Italy. It has repeatedly been enlarged and since the early 20th century has its present appearance. At the same time the park has adapted to frequent adjustments, although certain peculiarities remain. Among those worth mentioning are the fashionable quarters to the east, the greenhouses and storage rooms to the west (an area currently used as the Residenza del Parco and Sporting), an area to the south set in the English manner with small detached houses and outbuildings and, as a poster of the time read, “a huge park and garden with tennis and croquet courts”.

The park of this 5 five star hotel in Lake Maggiore was established at the same time as the Grand Hotel, in 1863. From contemporary illustrations and lithographs, one immediately realizes what the clients (the Omarini brothers) and the designer (the architect Antonio Polli) had in mind: in front of the incomparable sight of the Borromean islands, they wanted to create a parterre of flowerbeds set in the Italian style. These flowerbeds had to be laid out beyond the street of Sempione as well, in the garden of the landing stage constructed on an embankment by the lake.