To find the location of the holiday homes on sites such as www.multimap.com or www.viamichelin.com, enter the country as Italy, and the location as follows.
| Holiday Home | Location |
| Casa Miralago | Vacciago |
| Villa Gelsomina | Lortallo |
| La Calla, Orchidea, L'Isola, Giove, Venere | Orta San Giulio |
| Casa Fiori | Pella |
| Casa Bartula | Bolzano Novarese |
The closest airport to arrive at is Milan Malpensa airport, as it is just 24 miles (40 km) from the holiday apartments, but three others, Milan Linate airport, Milan Bergamo (Orio al Serio) airport and Turin Caselle airport are all within 90 minutes drive. For full details of scheduled and low cost flights from the UK, Ireland, Holland, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Sweden and Finland, see our table of flights to Lake Orta.
You can then pick up a hire car at the airport. Bookings can be made online, see our page with links to the main car hire companies.
Arriving by public transport from any of the airports is possible, but needs several changes. A hire car is recommended, and can be cheaper than return taxi transfers, and it will help you get more out of the area, even if you don't use the hire car on some days.
A bus runs from Malpensa airport to and from Novara every one to two hours, this bus is provided by STN (Società Trasporti Novaresi), the timetable is at www.stnnet.it/novaramalpensa.html, cost €7. From Novara, take the train to Orta-Miasino (details below).
The holiday homes are very easily reached by road, and detailed directions are supplied in your location pack.
You may find the directions available from the Michelin online route finder useful. Wherever you are driving from, a choice of routes is available, and as well as an overall map, the itinerary now shows smaller maps for each junction and even the speed cameras! Enter the destination location as detailed above.
To sail through Italian motorway tolls almost without stopping, Italian Telepass boxes or VIACards can now be bought online at www.tolltickets.com. Any feedback on the services provided by this website would be appreciated.
Lake Orta is just 670 miles from Calais (just two thirds of the distance to Tuscany) so it's an easy two day drive.
We have two route suggestions:
If you take an early morning ferry across the channel and follow either of the above routes, a wonderful hotel to break the drive is Husseren Les Chateux in Alsace. It's about 6 hours drive from Calais, and 5 hours from Lake Orta.
To avoid any delays at the motorway tolls or at the Swiss border, French Liber-T boxes, Swiss Vignettes, and Italian Telepass devices and VIACards can all be bought online at www.tolltickets.com. Any feedback on the services provided by this website would be appreciated.
And if you need real-time traffic reports for UK motorways, try www.frixo.com
You can arrive at the main-line station of Arona and take a taxi (about 40 euros).
There is also a branch-line between Domodossola and Novara, with 5 or 6 trains a day in each direction. The closest station is Orta-Miasino (2 miles). Taking advantage of the Eurostar service through the Channel Tunnel, the journey time from St. Pancras International to Orta-Miasino, including changes (Paris, Lausanne, Domodossola, or Paris, Novara) is 10 to 12 hours for day trains, longer for sleepers.
There are now several web sites with Italian and European train timetables online including www.trenitalia.it and Deutsche Bahn (bahn.hafas.de) (tip: make sure you type in the station Orta-Miasino with a hyphen!).
If you need a taxi from a nearby station, book with a local taxi firm www.taxilagodorta.it (more taxi numbers are provided in your location pack).
The local bus company is Comazzi, their web site www.comazzibus.com lists a number of local services. There are now six buses a day (approx every 2 hours) between Milan Malpensa Terminal 1 and Orta (parking area), the timetable is at www.comazzibus.com/orari/e_pettenasco_malpensa.pdf Booking is required. Phone number 0322-844862 (+39-0322-844862 from outside Italy).
STN - Società Trasporti Novaresi - operates a bus service between Malpensa airport and Novara every one to two hours, timetable at www.stnnet.it/novaramalpensa.html.
For a hire car or minibus with driver, contact Gilardetti at Borgomanero. Telephone +39-0322-844.744 Web site www.gilardetti.net
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