Lake Como and Garda get the crowds and the villa-hopping tour buses. Lake Iseo, an hour or so east in Lombardy, keeps a lower profile — and its centrepiece is Monte Isola, Italy's largest lake island, where private cars are effectively banned. Only three residents hold a car permit: the priest, the doctor and the mayor. Everyone else gets around on foot, by moped or on the island's small shuttle buses, which makes the steep, quiet roads feel tailor-made for easy cycling.
Getting there is simple. A ferry crosses from Sulzano to the little port of Peschiera Maraglio in about five minutes and costs €2.60 each way, with trains from Brescia to Sulzano starting at €4.10. Bike hire along the harbour starts at €4 an hour — you'll be in good company, since most fellow riders are wobbling first-timers rather than Lycra-clad racers. A circular lakeside route threads past olive groves and hamlets like Sensole and Menzino, where a cafe-bar keeps cyclists caffeinated. One quirk: bikes aren't allowed on weekend ferries.
The island's capital, Siviano, is worth a slow wander — pastel villas stacked on terraces, a medieval stone tower and the church of Santi Faustino e Giovita. The island has been inhabited since Roman times, and Venetian rule in the 15th and 16th centuries left the architecture looking much like Garda and Como, minus the crowds. Monte Isola's traditional trade lives on at Retificio La Rete, a shop and workshop at Siviano's port where fishing nets have been handwoven for centuries — everything from nets for hoops and goals to hammocks and shopping bags.
The scenery splits in two. To the south, the lake is soft hills and franciacorta vineyards dotted with white bell towers; the north is jagged peaks dropping straight into emerald water, with the privately owned Isola di Loreto — topped by a castle-like building — sitting offshore.
For lunch, head to a lakeside restaurant like La Foresta in Peschiera Maraglio for local fish: vinegary pickled tench, chub carpaccio, and the island staple of dried, salted 'sardina' on grilled polenta — actually a shad, not a sardine, and once used to pay Monte Isola's taxes to Venice. Sleep in one of the island's simple restaurants-with-rooms or holiday apartments; Decio in Peschiera Maraglio has sleek doubles with lake-facing glass walls from €90 B&B, and the alfresco L'Isola dei Sapori nearby pours chilled franciacorta with local salami and olives.
Day two is for hiking boots. The trail from Peschiera Maraglio climbs 450 metres through chestnut forest to the Santuario della Madonna della Ceriola, a striking white 13th-century sanctuary built on the site of a pagan temple. The frescoes and golden altar inside are lovely, but the payoff is the panorama — the whole lake laid out below, ferries shrinking into toy boats. Autumn is arguably the best time: mild temperatures (the author rode in shorts in 24C sunshine), turning forest colours and, if you time it right, a crop of prize conkers still to fall.
Who it suits: anyone who likes gentle cycling, slow villages and views without queues — a Como alternative for people who'd rather not fight for a viewpoint. Thanks to The Guardian Travel for the original report.
