Lake Garda

[kathrynmc]

We stayed in Garda in 2019 in a hotel b&b, we booked transfers with the hotel to and from the airport.

The standard of hotels in Italy isn’t the same as you would expect in other european countries, they tend to be lower and smaller rooms. We found the food to quite expensive. They have a couple of campsites close to the lake between Garda and Bardolino.

From Garda to you visit most places around the lake either via boat or bus. Swimming in the lake was fantastic, the girls also had a go at paddle boarding

We would visit again

[rebeccarobbins]

Hi,

We went in 2018 and stayed at Bardolino at Campsite La Rocca. It was a bit of a walk into town though, not great in the heat of the summer. We had a car which made it easier! It really was a lovely site though with plenty to do.

I would echo what others have said about the standard of Italian hotels probably not being what we are used to here or in other parts of Europe, so you're probably best, with teens to go down the campsite route.

It really is a stunning place, I can't wait to go back!

[jontybfc]

We got married and stayed in Malcesine. Such a gorgeous place. We loved our hotel too. Hotel Castello Lake Front.

[tiggertastic]

Originally Posted by quartergill

Stayed in Peschiera, Desenzano and Sirmione. I would choose Peschiera if I were you.

See more...

Would agree with this. This is where the train station is 15 min to verona.
You can get busses all around the lake (as well as the ferry)

Easy to explore Sirmione and desenzano from here too.

Dont miss Riva del Garda, my favourite town on the lake.

Can't help. With where to stay as I was last there in Peschiera a fair few years ago...

[LOU LOU DISNEY]

Originally Posted by jontybfc

We got married and stayed in Malcesine. Such a gorgeous place. We loved our hotel too. Hotel Castello Lake Front.

See more...

We plan to head there & do the cable car ride!

[LOU LOU DISNEY]

Originally Posted by tiggertastic

Would agree with this. This is where the train station is 15 min to verona.
You can get busses all around the lake (as well as the ferry)

Easy to explore Sirmione and desenzano from here too.

Dont miss Riva del Garda, my favourite town on the lake.

Can't help. With where to stay as I was last there in Peschiera a fair few years ago...

See more...

Thanks for the info, I have a few of those places on my list.

[LOU LOU DISNEY]

Originally Posted by kathrynmc

We stayed in Garda in 2019 in a hotel b&b, we booked transfers with the hotel to and from the airport.

The standard of hotels in Italy isn’t the same as you would expect in other european countries, they tend to be lower and smaller rooms. We found the food to quite expensive. They have a couple of campsites close to the lake between Garda and Bardolino.

From Garda to you visit most places around the lake either via boat or bus. Swimming in the lake was fantastic, the girls also had a go at paddle boarding

We would visit again

See more...

Looks gorgeous.

[porridge]

Hello 👋
We went to Lake Garda in August last year - we were so lucky to get away. It was our first time. We’re a family with 2 children - 18 and 20, plus my daughter’s boyfriend came too. We stayed in the perfect place for us - Bardolino. I suggest you look at what you would like to do in Lake Garda, and base yourself in between the places you want to visit. For us Bardolino fitted the bill.

We wanted to visit both the north and south of the lake, plus limone (across the lake and up a bit). You need to bear in mind that taxis around the towns are very expensive (we found this out after we missed the bus!), and it takes a long time to get around - the lake is huge. Bardolino is on the right hand side, about a third of the way up, if you stand at the bottom of the lake. It was about 45 minutes bus ride to malcesine. An hour bus to torbole (right at the top). Limone was about 20 mins boat from malcesine. Sirmione was about 50 minutes (?) on the boat. Movieland and Caneva water park were 20 minutes or so on the bus. Verona was I think about 50 mins on the bus. If you take the ferry from sirmione to torbole, I think it takes 4 hours each way!

We flew to Verona, and pre-booked a taxi straight to our hotel in Bardolino. I’d highly recommend doing that. From memory it was about 50 euros, and the driver gave us cold bottled water too 💦
Another alternative is to take a bus from the airport to Verona city, and another bus to the lake. There aren’t any direct buses at the moment from the airport to the lake.
Thirdly, you could take the train to peschiera, then the bus. But there weren’t that many trains to the lake per day when we went.

With the buses you must buy your tickets in advance from a tourist info centre or the bus app. The app didn’t work for us. They don’t sell any tickets on the buses anymore. Also, the last bus when we were there left at like 8 or 9 pm, so you need to stay within walking distance of restaurants etc.

Bardolino had a great vibe. Dozens of restaurants, and lots of little beaches. I really liked it there. Garda was much much quieter, and didn’t seem to have much going on. But all the towns are pretty. Sirmione was lovely, but more touristy and expensive, but the ice creams were definitely bigger in the south than the north!

We stayed in a hotel (Hotel Gardenia) and had two rooms. It certainly wasnt cheap, but was much much cheaper than other hotels. We’d stay there again. The buses left from just outside, so it was convenient, and it was about a mile walk to the centre if town. We had breakfast included.

As far as day trips etc, we would recommend (assuming you are staying near Bardolino) movieland - very cheap and quiet. Rides not very scary, but a few were quite fun - the jet boat, the drop tower, and the jungle jeep ride, and the hanging coaster. Caneva water park exceeded my expectations - TripAdvisor reviews weren’t great, but we had a really good day. Very quiet, loads of slides - some very scary. We went on them all I think. We got a combo pass for movieland and Caneva world for €38 each (one day at each park) which was great!
Other places - sirmione (we went on the boat). Malcesine - Monte baldo cable car (buy tickets in advance). We walked to Garda (an hour). Limone. Torbole (nice mini golf there).

We had a day in Verona (got the bus). Lovely city. Unfortunately it lashed it down with rain, so some attractions were closed.

The last night we spent in Venice (our return flight left from Venice - it was cheaper with BA to fly into Verona and out of Venice). So to get to Venice we could take the bus to verona station, then get the train. Or the bus to peschiera station and get the train. We opted to get the train from Verona for several reasons - only two trains per day (last august) from peschiera to Venice, and you had to get off at Verona and only had 3 minutes to make the next train! Getting the bus to Verona meant we could choose from maybe four trains an hour, plus we could get a direct fast train.

The train was really easy. I bought the tickets in advance and the hotel printed them off. I can’t remember the price, but it was very cheap €12 each? When we got to Venice, our hotel was 5 mins walk from the station. So we dropped our bags, and went to have lunch. Venice is truest amazing. We all loved our day there. It’s totally worth going to. I’d recommend if you go, you get an early train, and go back late. There’s so much to see. We managed to go up the bell tower, into the basillica (it said it was shut, but really you just can’t go in the ground floor, but you can see the ground floor from the balcony), gondola ride, lovely lunch and dinner. The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel then wandered around for a few hours, before heading to the airport.

It really was such an amazing holiday. It totally exceeded our expectations.

Also, just to let you know, the food is really cheap - however, they add a ‘cover charge’ of €1-2 each to the bill. Also, the drinks are very expensive - coke €4 and you have to have bottled water (not tap water). Pizzas you can get a margarita for €6 - and they are big.

Sorry for waffling!

[LOU LOU DISNEY]

Originally Posted by porridge

Hello 👋
We went to Lake Garda in August last year - we were so lucky to get away. It was our first time. We’re a family with 2 children - 18 and 20, plus my daughter’s boyfriend came too. We stayed in the perfect place for us - Bardolino. I suggest you look at what you would like to do in Lake Garda, and base yourself in between the places you want to visit. For us Bardolino fitted the bill.

We wanted to visit both the north and south of the lake, plus limone (across the lake and up a bit). You need to bear in mind that taxis around the towns are very expensive (we found this out after we missed the bus!), and it takes a long time to get around - the lake is huge. Bardolino is on the right hand side, about a third of the way up, if you stand at the bottom of the lake. It was about 45 minutes bus ride to malcesine. An hour bus to torbole (right at the top). Limone was about 20 mins boat from malcesine. Sirmione was about 50 minutes (?) on the boat. Movieland and Caneva water park were 20 minutes or so on the bus. Verona was I think about 50 mins on the bus. If you take the ferry from sirmione to torbole, I think it takes 4 hours each way!

We flew to Verona, and pre-booked a taxi straight to our hotel in Bardolino. I’d highly recommend doing that. From memory it was about 50 euros, and the driver gave us cold bottled water too 💦
Another alternative is to take a bus from the airport to Verona city, and another bus to the lake. There aren’t any direct buses at the moment from the airport to the lake.
Thirdly, you could take the train to peschiera, then the bus. But there weren’t that many trains to the lake per day when we went.

With the buses you must buy your tickets in advance from a tourist info centre or the bus app. The app didn’t work for us. They don’t sell any tickets on the buses anymore. Also, the last bus when we were there left at like 8 or 9 pm, so you need to stay within walking distance of restaurants etc.

Bardolino had a great vibe. Dozens of restaurants, and lots of little beaches. I really liked it there. Garda was much much quieter, and didn’t seem to have much going on. But all the towns are pretty. Sirmione was lovely, but more touristy and expensive, but the ice creams were definitely bigger in the south than the north!

We stayed in a hotel (Hotel Gardenia) and had two rooms. It certainly wasnt cheap, but was much much cheaper than other hotels. We’d stay there again. The buses left from just outside, so it was convenient, and it was about a mile walk to the centre if town. We had breakfast included.

As far as day trips etc, we would recommend (assuming you are staying near Bardolino) movieland - very cheap and quiet. Rides not very scary, but a few were quite fun - the jet boat, the drop tower, and the jungle jeep ride, and the hanging coaster. Caneva water park exceeded my expectations - TripAdvisor reviews weren’t great, but we had a really good day. Very quiet, loads of slides - some very scary. We went on them all I think. We got a combo pass for movieland and Caneva world for €38 each (one day at each park) which was great!
Other places - sirmione (we went on the boat). Malcesine - Monte baldo cable car (buy tickets in advance). We walked to Garda (an hour). Limone. Torbole (nice mini golf there).

We had a day in Verona (got the bus). Lovely city. Unfortunately it lashed it down with rain, so some attractions were closed.

The last night we spent in Venice (our return flight left from Venice - it was cheaper with BA to fly into Verona and out of Venice). So to get to Venice we could take the bus to verona station, then get the train. Or the bus to peschiera station and get the train. We opted to get the train from Verona for several reasons - only two trains per day (last august) from peschiera to Venice, and you had to get off at Verona and only had 3 minutes to make the next train! Getting the bus to Verona meant we could choose from maybe four trains an hour, plus we could get a direct fast train.

The train was really easy. I bought the tickets in advance and the hotel printed them off. I can’t remember the price, but it was very cheap €12 each? When we got to Venice, our hotel was 5 mins walk from the station. So we dropped our bags, and went to have lunch. Venice is truest amazing. We all loved our day there. It’s totally worth going to. I’d recommend if you go, you get an early train, and go back late. There’s so much to see. We managed to go up the bell tower, into the basillica (it said it was shut, but really you just can’t go in the ground floor, but you can see the ground floor from the balcony), gondola ride, lovely lunch and dinner. The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel then wandered around for a few hours, before heading to the airport.

It really was such an amazing holiday. It totally exceeded our expectations.

Also, just to let you know, the food is really cheap - however, they add a ‘cover charge’ of €1-2 each to the bill. Also, the drinks are very expensive - coke €4 and you have to have bottled water (not tap water). Pizzas you can get a margarita for €6 - and they are big.

Sorry for waffling!

See more...

Wow! Thank you for this, this is amazing report & just what I wanted to hear! I’ve really only heard good things about it.

We’ve booked! Booked yesterday as our local travel agent had a great deal on with a book with confidence protection on it.
We opted to stay in Peschiera purely because of the train station to get to Venice & Verona for 2 separate day trips. Also to be close to Gardaland & I like the sound of the movie land & water park now that you’ve mentioned it. Hope were not too far away!
We’ve 10 nights now so hopefully enough time to include a few trips to other parts of the lake, so probably do 2 places a day would you think?
We’d love to check all the main places out & id love to do the cable car ride too so hope we can fit it in.
We’re out of our depth with this trip as we’re so used to going to the states, we’ve never holidayed in Europe before apart from the odd city break, & ive never been to Italy before so I’m quite excited now as we are getting about 4 holidays in one, as the kids still get their theme park fix & we get to go to 2 amazing cities & a beach too somewhere round the lake!
I really hope we can get there by July, I’m in the process of moving our Florida trip to next summer but need to wait till the prices are available!
Thanks so much for your reply, I really enjoyed reading that, & you didn’t waffle at all 😊
I’m so glad you had a great time😊

[porridge]

Originally Posted by LOU LOU DISNEY

Wow! Thank you for this, this is amazing report & just what I wanted to hear! I’ve really only heard good things about it.

We’ve booked! Booked yesterday as our local travel agent had a great deal on with a book with confidence protection on it.
We opted to stay in Peschiera purely because of the train station to get to Venice & Verona for 2 separate day trips. Also to be close to Gardaland & I like the sound of the movie land & water park now that you’ve mentioned it. Hope were not too far away!
We’ve 10 nights now so hopefully enough time to include a few trips to other parts of the lake, so probably do 2 places a day would you think?
We’d love to check all the main places out & id love to do the cable car ride too so hope we can fit it in.
We’re out of our depth with this trip as we’re so used to going to the states, we’ve never holidayed in Europe before apart from the odd city break, & ive never been to Italy before so I’m quite excited now as we are getting about 4 holidays in one, as the kids still get their theme park fix & we get to go to 2 amazing cities & a beach too somewhere round the lake!
I really hope we can get there by July, I’m in the process of moving our Florida trip to next summer but need to wait till the prices are available!
Thanks so much for your reply, I really enjoyed reading that, & you didn’t waffle at all 😊
I’m so glad you had a great time😊

See more...

Some places you could do 2 towns in a day. Gardaland is really close to peschiera, and the other two parks are too. The buses are easy, as long as you look at the timetable beforehand (ditto for the ferries). The mistake we made, was not checking out the bus times after our day at the water park. We stayed until it closed, and needed dinner. No restaurants nearby (apart from an overpriced show/restaurant next door). We’d just missed the bus, and it was an hour until the next one. The taxi was €25 for a ten minute journey!

We did the torbole and limone in a day, and you could do Bardolino and Garda in a day (walk between them). I’d also recommend ‘the explosion of joy’ land train - it does a circular trip from bardolino (near the water) - €5 each. Great fun! Also the mini golf course (opposite the tourist info centre there) is fun and cheap.

The cable car is lovely. It was cloudy when we reached the top (check weather before you go). The whole holiday was amazing. We’d never been to Italy before either, and don’t speak Italian, but menus are in English and German (lots of Germans around). Also, the ice creams are amazing - so many flavours. It’s not a cheap holiday, but we’d go back in a heartbeat. The sunsets were so beautiful, and also gardaland had fireworks which you could see from the south of the lake.

I’m sure you’ll have a lovely time! We are super-grateful to have been able to go last year. I really hope things get better soon x