Some Lake Garda advice please...
 

Planning on a trip to Lake Garda first week in September. Having never been to the Lakes, wonder if anyone could suggest which town may suit us best? We are a 30 something couple with no children, who like to lounge around in the daytime maybe by pool or lake, and stroll around a smart town in the evening, and enjoy some great italian food and wine. We would like to do a little sightseeing, and do not plan on hiring a car. If choosing which airport to fly to, would Milan/Bergamo and Verona/Brescia both be suitable and what are the public transport systems to Garda from these airports like please? Any help greatfully appreciated.

We are very fond of Sirmione.
You don't need a car, you can travel much more easily by boat.

Hi B,

I like the north the best. Riva, Limone and Malcesine. Not as smart as some other areas but there is lots to do - Wind surfing, easy access to the Dolimites and lots of ferries to other towns.

I flew into Verona airport but it wasn't Brescia so I really can't help there.

Not sure when the Opera in Verona finishes - might be the end of August but if it is still on in September - recommended as of course is a day trip to Verona itself.

Have a good trip

The north end is so beautiful and the south end is flat and more crowded with families. I would stay in Riva and boat the rest of the lake.

We recently had the same decision to make for our trip to Northern Italy. We decided on staying in Torri dei Benaco, on the eastern show above Garda. The hotel (Hotel Gardesana) was wonderful, facing out on the small marina, and the town is delightful. Each night, when we returned to Torri, we walked around, chosing a restaurant on the lake. The hotel restaurant is excellent and the staff very helpful. We did have a car, and also used the ferry. There are ferrys that go between most of the towns. We chose Torri because it was near Verona, which, in the end, we did not visit because of crowds expected due to a German holiday. Although the northern end is more beautiful, we felt that Torri was a great choice and I would recommend it as a base.

We met people who had used both Verona and Bergamo airports. Milan is farther away, but still OK.

You definitivly need a car at Lake Garda. The landscape is so fantastic. Nowhere else on earth you will see such a dramatic meeting of mountain and lake as in the northern section of Lake Garda. And the only way to see it is driving by car. Taking a bus is a nuisance, because the tunnels are so small that buses have difficulties to go through.

Think about renting a car. The most beautiful section of Lake Garda is the north. My favorite town is Limone which is most picturesque. It is an authentic old town, of course touristy, but not as touristy as Sirmione (which is nice to visit). Riva is one of the bigger towns with a Riveria feeling.
Lake Garda is also excellent for hiking. There are breathtaking trails hundreds of yards above the lake. But again, you need a car to go to the trailheads.

Let me add a comment about driving through the tunnels, which are called “galerie”. I purchased a pair of flip-up polarized sunglasses. These worked very well. When the sun was out, I flipped them down when in the open, and flipped them up when entering a tunnel. Indeed, at one point, we were delayed at the site of a chain-reaction collision involving several cars that had occurred at the mouth of one of the tunnels. When going from the sunlight into the relative darkness of the tunnel, one really can’t see very well for a while.

There's a report on our recent trip to the lakes at:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34821416

- Larry

Can I recommend staying at Garda? it has the advantage of being quite a big town ,so has lots of shops, restaurants, nightlife etc. also it is on the Verona side of the lake so getting there is easy; also getting to Verona for teh opera if you decide to go.
The biggest advantage, however, is that it is it is one of the hubs for the boats, so that you can get up and down the lake easily and access the quick boats which don't stop everywhere.
If you stay at either end of the lake, it is almost impossible to get to resorts at the othe end in a day, whereas if you stay in the middle, you can get everywhere.
If you are just going for a week, there is so much to do, you'll never need a car.
Have fun!

We have been to Lake Garda and hope to get back sometime. We stayed in Riva del Garda. Beautiful scenery/setting.
We stayed in the hotel Europa (a Best Western) which looks over the lake and boat dock (They have a large roof jacuzzi. I don't think that they have a pool.)

If you do not have a rental car, then train service for that area is only to the very southern end of the lake (Desenzano I believe.)

Two years ago we drive from Florence and stayed on Lake Garda at the Villa Feltrinelli in Gargnano, a beautiful little town. We walked into town each night for dinner. During the day we boated on the lake (wonderful) and lounged by the fabulous pool at the Villa. This was a world class hotel, expensive, but worth every penny. I think a car was great as we drove up into the mountains during the day and a few times out to dinner at night to really local restaurants there were wonderful and inexpensive. September should be the best weather too. Have fun! p.s. we then drove to Venice and dropped out car there.

So, bigbum, have you decided where to stay?

I finally posted my pictures from our last trip. There are over 200 photos, but the photos of the Lake Garda portion of our trip start with photo 83. You can find them by clicking on:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&y=-jcjeim

Scroll back a little bit in this thread for a link to my trip report on the lakes. The pictures follow along in the same order, so they start with Maggiore, then Como, then Garda.

My Italian teacher, who's originally from Verona, recommended getting a car and driving all around Lake Garda, although we ourselves didn't do that. We loved our stay in Torri del Benaco.

- Larry

Another vote for Garda itself - - and check out Graspo's (restaurant)!

See http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34636241

Best wishes,

Rex

Got back from a few days on Lake Garda only a couple of weeks ago. We stayed in Malcesine. Very easy to get around by ferries. Definitely the northern part is much more beautiful.

Stayed at Punta San Vigilio a while back (east side of lake) and found it beautiful. Right on the lake with water hitting the foundations. Cafe on the jetty and sandy beach.

Beautiful rooms with lake view and a wonderful restaurant.

See:

http://www.punta-sanvigilio.it/index_eng.asp

Enjoy

Cassparker

Topping an old post, with a new question...

Does anyone know if there are cars available for a one-day rental in Riva del Garda? Googling makes it seem like there is an Avis there, but there is no availability for July. Guidebook entries on Riva are quite sparse.

We are planning on taking the tourist buses from Verona to Riva and then from Riva to Venice (5 days later).

We would like to take a day trip to either Bolzano, Castelretto, Isera, or somewhere else, but otherwise we plan on staying in Riva and will not need a car.

Thanks!
Liz

Hi liz - Bolzano would be easy enough by public transport from Riva - is that not an option?

Steve

Liz - Besides Avis, Yellow Pages lists SixT and also a couple of local companies in Riva:

http://www.paginegialle.it/pgol/4-au...%20del%20Garda

If there's no one-day availability from Riva I'm sure you could pick one up elsewhere for a day.

Steve