GOLF HOLIDAYS AT LAKE MAGGIORE
Where to play & stay, what to see, how to get there.
Golf holidays - Lake Maggiore
Lake Maggiore is a tourist hotspot with stunning scenery of lakes and mountains speckled with pretty towns, scenic drives, exceptional food and wine, great weather and easy access. The fact that it has enough golf courses for a week-long stay and short flights to most European airports makes it good for a quick golfbreak too or why not make that a longer golfing holiday and really enjoy yourself?
Maggiore is arguably the most interesting of the Italian lakes too, due to its three main islands of Isola Bella, Isola Madre and Isola Pescatore all of which can easily be visited in a day using the frequent ferries (or private hire boats) from Arona and Stresa.
Stresa is the main tourist destination on Lake Maggiore and a busy town in season. We therefore favour the slightly smaller town of Arona for your golf holiday, it is large enough for a week long holiday and much closer to the golf courses to boot! Not to mention only twenty minutes from Milan's Malpensa airport.
Lake Maggiore Golf Clubs
Close to the southern end of Lake Maggiore are two exclusive Golf Clubs: Bogogno with 36-holes and Castelconturbia with 27-holes. So plenty of high-class golf within half-an-hour of the water's edge. Heading in the other direction along the lake and climbing up above Stresa, you will come to Iles Borromées Golf Club, a rather hilly course but one that is most entertaining if played with a buggy. These four (and-a-half) are the closest golf courses to Lake Maggiore.
Venturing slightly further afield, there is Jack's course at Le Robinie (very handy for Malpensa airport) and another beside the lake at Varese, laid out around around an old convent (now a rather special Clubhouse). East of the lake, so sort of in no-man's-land, is the small woodland Golf Club of Golf dei Laghi. A nice little course if you happen to be passing that way, but probably not alone worth the drive from Arona, especially when there are so many other good golf courses close to Lake Macggiore to play.
Heading further West there are several courses around Turin (home to the Molinaris) that could be played from Maggiore but probably more convenient to move over that way and stay a few nights. (The Foresteria at Biella is a belter).
Lake Maggiore Hotels
Stresa, halfway up the western edge of Lake Maggiore, is the big tourist destination on the lake. This makes it a very busy town in season with plenty of traffic negotiating the narrow lakeside roads. So for your golfing comfort, we favour the more southerly town of Arona as the place to stay on your golf holiday. Arona is a smaller town with an intimate feel yet large enough to offer plenty of restaurants to cater for a week-long holiday. It is also much closer to the golf courses than Stresa, so less Italian driving - a major plus point! Not to mention only twenty minutes from Milan's Malpensa airport.
There are a couple of good hotels in the centre of Arona the four-star Concorde and the three-star Albergo Giardino. To be absolutely honest, these are not luxury establishments dripping with every mod-con, but solid, family-owned hotels that are cosy and welcoming with great locations close to all the eateries and drinkeries around Arona's Piazza del Popolo, making them the ideal base for a golfing holiday in the Italian Lakes.
Those who would like a a little more luxury should head a mile out of Arona up to Oleggio Castello where the Palazzo dal Pozzo offers outstanding levels of comfort. Owned by the Dal Pozzo family for the last three generations they also maintain the Castello Dal Pozzo next door where you can treat yourself to some regal accommodation in the quiet of its private park. The restaurant within the hotel is tremendous and there are one or two more places to dine too within walking distance in the little village of Oleggio Castello (and a fantastic gelateria!) or it's a short spin down the hill to Arona and the lake.
If you would prefer to base your Lake Maggiore golf holiday in the busier tourist town of Stresa, please let us know as there are a number of hotels that we can recommend in Stresa for your golf trip to the Italian Lakes. Likewise if you fancy staying over on little Lake Orta with its romantic monastery on the tiny islet in the middle of the lake.
Lake Maggiore - what to see and do
Lake Maggiore has numerous attractions. For most, the main ones are the three Borromean islands that sit in the middle of the lake roughly opposite Stresa. Isola Bella is the largest and is entirely taken up by a stately home and floribundant formal gardens, Isola Madre and Pescatore once hosted all the local fishermen, there are few left these days most having turned their hand to restauranting instead, which is handy for tourists around lunchtime! The route to the islands is ferry from Arona or a drive up to Stresa and a shorter hop across the water.
Opposite Arona is the castle at Angera, ferries shuttle back and forth all day so a visit is easily completetd in half-a-day - depending on how long one lingers over lunch at the port...
Leaving the lake below, you can take the Stresa cablecar up to Mottarone where there is a littel ski 'resort' in the National Park (small charge to enter with your car), more gardens to meander through and some spectacular views down onto the lake and its surroundings including the charming little Lake Orta - well worth a visit in its own right. At the northern end of Lake Maggiore is the town of Baveno: here there are several Victorian villas (Villa Elmo for instance) all of which have rooms to admire and superb gardens to stroll around.
Staying on dry land the city of Milan is less that an hour away by train and has a lot to see: its Duomo is quite an incredible sight. As are some of the prices in the glittering Galleria shopping arcades just beside it!
Getting to Lake Maggiore
Very easy to get to with so many flights to Milan's Malpensa airport with EasyJet, Ryanair and others.
From Malpensa to the golf courses at Bogogno or Castelconturbia it is only twenty minutes and ten minutes further on to our favourite golf holiday hotels on the lake shore in Arona.
