We will be spending 4 days at Lake Garda in October of this year. The first two days will be in Malcesine, and then we plan to spend the rest of the time at the south end of the lake. We are considering either Garda or Bardolino as our base, with a day trip (by boat) to Sirmione and the rest of the time visiting local sites. Is one town preferable to the other as far as accomdations, sites to see, ferry service, night life, natural beauty etc? Any suggestions?

Hi River - If I were you I'd base in the north for all 4 days. Personally I don't think the southern end of Garda has much in the way of natural beauty in comparison.

The furthest south I'd recommend is Torri del Benaco.

Just my personal opinion ...

Steve

But natural beauty aside, Bardolino is one of the cultural highlights of Lake Garda, with two excellent little churches, one Romanesque from the 12th century, the other pre-Romanesque from the 9th century!! And it's only a stone's throw (from either Bardolino or Garda) to S. Giorgio, uphill, which is THE jewel of the region with an amazing 10th century cloister, in fact, the oldest cloister I've ever seen anywhere.

Sermione is a special town on a peninsula. It's a castle keep with a moat and drawbridge. On the tip of the peninsula is Cattalus' summer camp. We were there in 2004 and they were excavating it. We climbed to the top of the castle wall and the view was beautiful! We've had pictures that we took of the coastline and rooftops enlarged, matted and framed. It has charming cobbled winding streets and shops. The language is German, since they are the majority of the visitors. We're returning to Lake Garda for three nights in September. I'm interested in reading about other intersting places on Lake Garda.

Riverfisher - where are you staying in Malcesine? My husband and I are trying to find a hotel in that town or Torre del Benanco for late August. Kelly

Hi Kelly - We are staying at Hotel Castello, which is located adjacent to the Castle and on the lake. I also looked at Hotel Capri, but it was already booked for late September, at least for the two days that I wanted. There are a number of good accommodations in Malcesine, but it is just a question of how much you're willing to pay.