While waiting for a boat back to Stresa from Verbania Intra one day, we noticed an interesting looking boat at the pier adjacent to ours. It docked slowly, and then, car after car after car began driving off and away into Verbania. This was the first time I had seen the Motonave Sempione, one of the car ferries that connects Intra Verbania in Piemonte with Laveno, across on the Lombardia side of the lake. 

For those of you who are thinking to drive between Lake Como and Lago Maggiore, or to anywhere on the Lombardia side, this is an alternative to driving around the entire lake. The motonave holds 90 vehicles on its two decks, up to a maximum height of 2.2 meters, and it can hold 600 passengers. And it's fast. Twenty minutes shore to shore. The map clearly shows how much distance is saved:

And there are many boats scheduled throughout the day. A glance at the schedule shows boats leaving about every 20 minutes. 

Search the entire schedule here.

If that isn't enough incentive, perhaps you'd like to know that the price is also extremely reasonable. Think of the gasoline savings!

photos property of stresasights and navigazione laghi