Guide to Tuscan wines: choosing and tasting by style

If outdoor activities are to take up a good part of your week, Lake Garda seems the most suitable choice of the two. The article describes it as a destination where you can alternate shores, hiking, cycling and water activities. It stretches between Lombardy, Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto, which gives you several areas to consider without needing to go all the way around it. To start building your stay, note in particular Sirmione, Bardolino, Riva del Garda, Torbole and Limone sul Garda.

Lake Como will suit you better if you want to devote time to villages, villas and boat crossings. Bellagio, Varenna, Villa del Balbianello, Villa Carlotta and Villa Melzi are the landmarks cited in the article. To decide, ask yourself which activity you want to experience daily: walking or cycling and varying activities along the shores, or alternating heritage visits and trips on the water. In both cases, choose a few coherent areas rather than planning a succession of far-apart stops. Transport conditions, timetables and fares are not detailed in the article; check them for your dates before booking.

To organize a discovery of Lake Maggiore around the Borromean Islands, first remember the three names given in the article: Isola Bella, Isola Madre and Isola dei Pescatori. On the shore, Stresa serves as a reference point for situating your stay in relation to the islands. The article does not provide a visit duration, timetables or fares: so it is best not to build a tight schedule on an approximate estimate. Before setting off, check the available connections and access conditions for your chosen days, then decide whether you want to devote your day to a single island or visit several.

To keep the day enjoyable, allow some leeway for trips on the lake and for breaks, rather than treating the archipelago as a simple checklist. The charm of this stop lies precisely in the connection between the islands and the shores. Lake Maggiore also stands out for its geography: it touches Piedmont, Lombardy and Switzerland. It belongs to the trio of great Italian lakes along with Como and Garda, but its archipelago gives it a very identifiable common thread. If you are rather looking for villages and villas, compare with Como; if you want to focus your stay on the islands, Maggiore is the one that best matches that wish.

Lake Orta is a relevant option if you want a calmer atmosphere than that associated with the great classics like Lake Como. The article presents it as a lesser-known destination, in Piedmont, and not as a lake to be declared better than another. To find your way around, keep in mind Orta San Giulio and San Giulio Island, the two main points of interest cited. The Sacro Monte di Orta completes the landmarks for preparing a visit that is not limited to the shores.

This stop can suit a getaway where you prefer to take your time rather than multiply famous places. You can start by choosing the village and the island as the heart of your discovery, then see whether you want to add the Sacro Monte depending on the time available and the access conditions on the day of your visit. The article gives no timetables, fares or detailed transport information; so remember to check these elements before setting off, especially if you are organizing a stay without a car. Orta does not necessarily replace Como if you dream of villas and crossings between well-known villages. It rather offers another way of discovering the lakes of northern Italy: a quieter stop, centred on its own landmarks and on the Piedmont setting.

Both can interest a traveller who wants to get away from the most cited stops, but they are not in the same region. Lake Orta is in Piedmont and is organized around Orta San Giulio, San Giulio Island et la Sacro Monte di Orta. Lake Iseo, for its part, is in Lombardy. To recognize its shores, the article mentions Monte Isola, Iseo, Lovere and Sarnico. It describes Iseo as a less busy option than Como and Garda, without making it a rule valid at all times.

So choose first according to your itinerary: Orta if you are passing through Piedmont and want to discover its village and its island; Iseo if you are exploring Lombardy and want an alternative to the region’s best-known destinations. In both cases, the point is to build a stop around a few landmarks, without trying to tick off all the shores. The article gives neither transport timetables, nor fares, nor crowding conditions depending on the season. If calm is essential, check the practical information corresponding to your dates and avoid assuming that a lake will always be peaceful. To choose between the two, the region you travel through and the places you actually want to visit are better criteria than a general ranking.

Lake Burano and Lake dell’Accesa allow you to discover two different areas of southern Tuscany, but the article does not present them as two neighbouring stops. The former is located in Capalbio, while the latter is situated near Massa Marittima. To choose, therefore start from where you are staying or from the stop already planned in your trip to Maremma: the Capalbio area points towards Burano; passing through Massa Marittima makes the Accesa more coherent.

Visiting both on the same day would depend on your starting point, your means of transport and the time you want to devote to travel. Since the article gives neither distances, nor journey times, nor access conditions, it does not allow confirming that such a plan is comfortable. Avoid automatically considering them as a pair of nearby stops and check the route as well as the practical information before setting off. If your stay is short, it may be better to choose the lake that fits naturally into your day rather than crossing the region to add a second stop. These two lakes are above all of interest in a selection that steps outside the great northern lakes and makes room for the landscapes of Maremma and southern Tuscany.