Lake Maggiore hotels - Hotel Italie et Suisse, three star Italian Lakes hotel

Lake Maggiore hotels - Piedmont - Enjoy the splendour of Italy's Lake Maggiore from this vacation hotel in the centre of Stresa, 30 metres from the shore.

Just 150 metres from the beach, the hotel has its own landing stage right out front for excursions on the lake. This hotel has been finished with particular accuracy and elegance. Each room has a private bath-room, telephone, safe and satellite TV, most of them have a balcony. From the balconies you can admire the Borromean Islands and the Alps in the background. There is a bar-lounge with satellite TV and a living room with internet point.

There is plenty of opportunity to explore this beautiful lake, with a host of organised excursions. See Isola Bella, where in 1670 Count Vitaliano Borromeo started construction of his monumental baroque palace. He landscaped the majestic scenery of the gardens for which the island became so famous, and which today evoke the splendours of that bygone age. The stately Borromeo residence contains priceless masterpieces, tapestries, furniture, and paintings by great masters. The gardens bloom with every variety of trees and rare flowers which, in their succession of ornate terraces, provide a classic, inimitable example of the celebrated Italian garden of the period.

Isola Madre is the largest of the Borromeo islands and the most magical - silent, meditative and enchanting. It has gardens of exotic plants and flowers where white peacocks, parrots and pheasants fly in total freedom, evoking the charm of a tropical island. Isola Madre is particularly famous for its flourishing azaleas, rhododendrons and camellias. In 1978 the 16th century palace was opened to the public. A visit is interesting for the reconstruction of the antique interior decoration and for the livery, doll and ceramics collections. There is a museum of puppet theatres from the 18th and 19th Centuries.

Isola dei Pescatori, Fishermen's Island, owes its name to the business of its inhabitants. The fascination of this island lies in the archaic simplicity and rustic feel of its houses and narrow streets. Good restaurants offer the chance to taste the best fish from the lake.

A few hundred yards from Stresa, on the national highway to Arona, Milan and Turin, is the park at Villa Pallavicino, noted for its century-old trees, beautiful flowers and gardens, and for the wild sweep of the view over Lake Maggiore and the surrounding mountains. Many kinds of animals roam free in the park, which covers about 40 acres and is open to the public.