My husband and I are off to Lake Garda next week and we will be staying in Garda. We will have a car and while we expect to mostly be using the ferry, are there any cute little villages that you might recommend we visit with a great lunch recommendation as well? Or any restaurant recommendations for that matter.

Thanks very much.

Use Google translate for this article and the specific recommendations at the end

http://www.gamberorosso.it/it/food/1...-pesce-di-lago

Depends what you mean by great lunch. Meal for a couple of hours, or good food in a nice place?

There are two in Bardolino that I'd recommend, just along the road from Garda. There's the La Porta and close to it there's the Osteria Due Nani. The second one was very good.

There are a number of good restaurants facing the lake along the newish promenade and we've eaten at several over the last few years.

If you fancy the drive up to Riva, then again there are a number of restaurants facing the lake for a leisurely lunch.

Thank you very much. I actually mean all of the above, if possible, meal for a couple of hours with good food in a nice place. Thanks for the recommendations.

I've save the link given above, because we're planning a few days on Lake Garda ourselves. Here are some historical tidbit:

<i> Villa Fiordaliso (Gardone Riviera)plendido scenario, l’ex residenza di Claretta Petacci accoglie gli ospiti nel verde di una villa sul lago. </i>

Claretta Petacci was the lover of Mussolini and was executed by partisans along with him on the shores of Lake Como in the final months of World War II, as they were trying to escape to Switzerland.

Salò, also on Lake Garda, was the headquarters of the puppet Fascist government set up by the Germans after they released Mussolini from his prison on the top of the Gran Sasso mountain, in 1943.

I can't add a lot to this, but if you walk or drive up il Vittoriale, there is a tennis club about ½ way down [near the garden which is open to the public] which does excellent pizzas.

Also we had a lovely meal in a restaurant at the top of Monte Baldo [reached by cable car from Malcesine] - long pasta with rabbit ragu I seem to remember.

Many thanks.