When you think of the Italian Lakes, you probably imagine those grand palace hotels around Garda and Como and maybe a chance meeting with George Clooney on his Riva - and if Brad happens to be on board too, then so be it! Lake Maggiore, however, is closer to the South of France, bigger than Como and only second in size to Garda. It has a surface area of about 213 km², a maximum length of 54 km and, at its widest, is 12 km, and it's very deep, on average about 180m!

So it was that last summer, my family decided to embark on our first major camping adventure to Lake Maggiore in our newly acquired 1979 yellow VW Camper Van - if you've seen the film Little Miss Sunshine then you have a pretty good idea of how ridiculous we looked on the autoroute hurtling past Monaco at a break neck 65mph - those signs warning us of speed cameras set at 90mph through the tunnels around Nice were an aspiration for our mode of transport!

If you happen to have a towable boat lying around at home then it really is worth driving it to Lake Maggiore - which is exactly what we did. And if a few friends want to bring their tents and campers along too, then great, which is how our simple camping trip back to nature turned into something that resembled a circus convoy.

Lake Maggiore is a comfortable three hour drive, or in a 30 year-old VW, an uncomfortable five hours. But the view as you descend down from the autostrada towards the lake is well worth the drive - Lake Maggiore really is breathtaking and is so large that even in high summer it has a feeling of idyllic solitude that you can only find in Juan-les-Pins on a rainy January day.

We booked into the small but beautiful Camping Solcio in Meina, right on the lake front where we rented a pitch on the water's edge with a perfect view of the sun rising over the lake each morning. Life couldn't be better and if you love water sports, you can rent buoys for your boat and there's even a ramp on site to put it into the water. If you don't happen to have your own boat lying around - and you're probably better off not to - you can rent speed boats on Maggiore as long as you have a boat licence but book ahead.

Alternatively, there are passenger ferries operating the whole length of the lake that can take you to nearby and very grand Stresa and Arona, which is where the pretty young things from Milan like to party at the weekends. For the more adventurous, boats even go to the Swiss end of the lake at Locarno for a taste of Swiss/German/Italian culture.

We spent endless days watching the sun come up and go down and occasionally breaking the peace on the speed boat visiting beautiful lake islands such as Isola Bella and Isola Madre. There are lovely little pizzerias at a fraction of the cost of restaurants on the French Riviera and the Italians have a wonderful way with kids, or bambinos, as they came to be known. So whilst we enjoyed amazing Barolo wine with our meal at our lakeside restaurant, the bambinos fished off the boat dock and had diving competitions.

There is so much to do that you would be hard pushed to fit it all into a week - there are the palazzos on the Isolas (or islands,) the cable car ride from the lake up to the lakeside Alpine mountains, the stylish shops of Stresa and the bars and restaurants of Arona and Locarno.

If camping really isn't your thing - and it's not mine, normally - then there is a plethora of hotels to choose from. In Stresa, you'll find the grand hotels with perfect groomed lawns and stucco ceilings like the Villa Palazzo Aminta and The Bristol. But for me, these large overbearing buildings don't captured the charm of Maggiore. I preferred the Hotel Bel Sit in Meina which is more contemporary in style whilst retaining its lakeside charm. The rooms were spacious, beautifully furnished in browns and taupes with plush bathrooms - drench showers, glass sinks - and balconies overlooking the Southern part of the lake. Most importantly, all this comes at 130 euros for a lake facing room in high summer.

Downstairs is a lovely breakfast terrace where home made breads are served in the morning and a fabulous sunbathing deck right on the lake allows you to while away the afternoon reading Hello magazine, full of pictures of George Clooney and Brad Pitt on nearby Lake Como.

But in my view, you really can't beat camping in a 1979 garish yellow VW Camper Van with your toes in the lake.

You can GOOGLE on down from here.