What to Do in Stresa with Kids
A hunt built around covered stops, tested in the rain
Stresa sits on Lake Maggiore and offers Como-like views without the price tag or the crowd-dodging. We went on a girls trip, and naturally, it rained.
Lake Maggiore is famous for its views, and that day we couldn't really see them. I was fully prepared for the afternoon to be a write-off.
It wasn't. The route runs through Piazza Cadorna at the heart of the village where you can shop and try local Italian specialties (including a treat only found in Stresa), past a grand waterfront hotel that's hosted kings and writers, and then to the lake itself.
Most of the specific stops in between are indoors or covered on purpose — authentic little pieces of Italian lakeside craft, not places you duck into just to wait out the rain.
The one place we couldn't take cover was the very end: a playground right at the water's edge, because a hunt without a proper finish doesn't hold a young kid's attention no matter what else went right. We got a little damp for the last few minutes. Given everything else that went right that day, I'd take that trade again.
If you're staring out a hotel window in Stresa wondering what on earth you're going to do with the kids for the next few hours, this is the answer.
Ages 3–7 (sweet spot 4–6), roughly two hours including the playground finale. Digital download or printed kit.