Lake Maggiore has a way of rearranging your priorities. You arrive with a list and a schedule, and within a day the lake has quietly persuaded you that the only sensible plan is to follow the ferries, chase the light across the water and let the islands and gardens set the pace. Over many seasons here I have refined my thinking on what genuinely deserves your time, and what you can leave for a return visit. Below is my honest ranking of the best things to do on Lake Maggiore, with the entry prices as they stand, so you can prioritise well on a short stay.
1. The Borromean Islands
If you do one thing, do this. The three Borromean Islands sit in the water off Stresa, Baveno and Verbania, and they are the reason so many of us fall for this lake in the first place. Isola Bella is the showpiece: a baroque palace and its extravagant terraced gardens, all white peacocks and clipped hedges, for around €27. Isola Madre is gentler and, to my mind, the more romantic of the two, a botanical garden with free-roaming peacocks and an enormous Kashmir cypress, at around €23. Between them lies Isola dei Pescatori, a working fishing village that costs nothing to visit and rewards you with a lake-fish lunch at the water’s edge.
A combined Bella and Madre ticket runs to about €40, and a three-site ticket that adds Parco Pallavicino on the mainland is around €55. The islands open roughly from 12 March to 8 November. What I would do on a first visit: take the morning ferry, give Isola Bella and its palace the bulk of your energy, break for lunch on Isola dei Pescatori, then drift over to Isola Madre for a slower, greener afternoon.
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2. Villa Taranto
Across the water at Pallanza, in Verbania, sits one of Italy’s great botanical gardens. Villa Taranto was laid out in the 1930s by a Scottish captain, Neil McEacharn, who poured decades into it, and the result is a horticultural love letter: spring tulips in their thousands, autumn dahlias, banks of azaleas and beautifully engineered terraced water gardens. Entry is around €11 for an adult and about €5.50 for a child, and the season runs roughly from 6 March to 1 November. Time your visit for tulip season if you possibly can. It is a garden that changes character completely from month to month.
3. Santa Caterina del Sasso
Some places are unforgettable, and this is one of them. Santa Caterina del Sasso is a monastery that clings to a cliff face above the east shore at Leggiuno, and the way to understand it is from the water, where its walls seem to grow straight out of the rock. Entry is only around €5, with a panoramic lift for a further euro. You can arrive by boat from Stresa, Arona or Laveno, walk down roughly 80 steps, or take the lift. It is open for most of the year with limited hours in winter. My advice: approach by boat if the timetable allows, so you get that first view from the lake, which is the one that stays with you.
4. The Rocca di Angera and its doll museum
At the southern end, on the east shore, the Borromeo family’s hilltop fortress presides over the water at Angera. The Rocca di Angera is a proper castle, but the surprise inside is the Museo della Bambola, a wonderful and slightly eccentric museum of dolls and toys that is far more charming than it has any right to be. Entry sits at around €13 to €15, and the season runs from roughly mid-March to early November. It is a lovely half day, and the views back over the lower lake from the ramparts are superb.
5. Parco Pallavicino
Just above Stresa, Parco Pallavicino combines a park, a wildlife garden and the Villa Pallavicino itself, which makes it the easiest choice on the lake for families. Entry is around €18 for an adult and about €13 for a child, with a season from roughly 12 March to 8 November. If you are already buying the three-site Borromean ticket, it folds in here neatly. I would pair it with an island morning and let the children loose among the animals in the afternoon.
6. Mottarone by road and the Giardino Alpinia
From the summit of Mottarone, at 1,491 metres, you look out over seven lakes and, on a clear day, all the way to Monte Rosa. On the way up sits the Giardino Alpinia, a lovely alpine garden worth a stop in its own right. One honest and important note: the Stresa to Mottarone cable car has been closed since the fatal accident of 23 May 2021 and has not reopened to passengers, so please do not plan around it. You reach both the summit and the garden by road, either in your own car or on an organised excursion, and I promise the view rewards the drive. Go on a clear morning before any haze builds.
7. The Cannero castles
Off Cannero Riviera, towards the northern reaches of the lake, a cluster of ruined islets rises from the water: the Cannero castles, romantic and half-wild. You cannot really tour them in the way you might expect, but you do not need to. They are at their most atmospheric seen from a boat or from the shore, especially in late light. They are one of my favourite quiet corners of the lake, and they photograph beautifully.
8. The Orrido di Sant’Anna at Cannobio
A little further north still, near Cannobio, the Orrido di Sant’Anna is a narrow river gorge where clear water rushes through the rock below a small church and an old stone bridge. It is a refreshing change of scene from the grand gardens and palaces, and on a warm day it is one of the loveliest spots on the lake to pause. Combine it with a wander through Cannobio’s old streets and its Sunday market if your timing is right.
9. The Sasso del Ferro chairlift at Laveno
On the east shore at Laveno-Mombello, the Sasso del Ferro cable-chair carries you up for some of the biggest, most open views across the whole lake. It is a modest, old-fashioned sort of ride, and the panorama at the top is enormous. If you are exploring the eastern side and want a high vantage point that is fully open, this is the one to seek out.
10. Riding the ferries at golden hour
Finally, the experience that costs the least and lingers the longest. Simply riding the ferries as the sun drops is, for me, the truest way to know Lake Maggiore. The water turns to copper, the villas glow along the shore and the islands seem to float. Buy a ticket, find a seat on deck and let the boat do the work. It is also, incidentally, where the best photo spots tend to reveal themselves.
What to prioritise on a short visit
If you have only a day or two, give the Borromean Islands your first and best morning, then choose one garden (Villa Taranto in spring, without hesitation) and one dramatic landmark (Santa Caterina del Sasso). Save Mottarone for a clear morning by car. Everything else is a happy reason to come back. For a day-by-day plan that ties these together, I have set out the perfect itinerary separately.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the number one thing to do on Lake Maggiore?
Without question, the Borromean Islands. Isola Bella’s baroque palace and gardens, the peaceful botanical garden of Isola Madre and a lake-fish lunch on Isola dei Pescatori together make up the single experience that defines the lake, and they are all reached by a short ferry ride from Stresa, Baveno or Verbania.
Is the Stresa to Mottarone cable car open?
No. The cable car has been closed since the fatal accident of 23 May 2021 and has not reopened to passengers, so please do not plan to ride it. You can still reach the Mottarone summit and the Giardino Alpinia by road, either driving yourself or joining an organised excursion, and the panorama over seven lakes is well worth the trip.
What can you do on Lake Maggiore on a rainy day?
Head indoors and make it a palace-and-museum day. The palace at Isola Bella, the doll and toy museum inside the Rocca di Angera and the interior rooms of the lakeside villas are all rewarding in poor weather, and a covered ferry crossing has its own moody charm when the cloud sits low over the water.
What are the best free things to do on Lake Maggiore?
Isola dei Pescatori costs nothing to wander, the Cannero castles and the Orrido di Sant’Anna at Cannobio are enjoyed from the shore, and strolling the promenades of Stresa and Pallanza is free. Only the ferry ticket itself is required to enjoy the lake at golden hour, which is the finest bargain of all.
Related
For more, read my guides to the Borromean Islands, the best photo spots and the perfect itinerary, or return to the complete guide to Lake Maggiore.
