First time to Lake Garda

Replies: 6 - Last Post: Mar 20, 2013 5:43 AM Last Post By: lisaminx76

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Mar 14, 2013 1:59 AM
Posts: 18

First time to Lake Garda

I will be travelling to Italy for a wedding in Udine at the start of July, and would like to take in a few sights beforehand. My planned itinerary is as follows:

29 June - fly to Verona and travel to Lake Garda
4 July - travel to Venice
6 July - Venice to Udine

Can anyone advise me of the main differences between the different regions of Lake Garda, as I've no idea where to stay. I'd like there to be outdoor activities such as swimming, cycling and hiking, but it would be nice to have access to good restaurants in the evening too. I'm not keen on staying anywhere with massive hotels and family resorts, and would prefer somewhere a bit more grown up. I literally have no idea whether there are over developed areas, from the images I've seen online it all looks perfect, but I'd appreciate advice from someone who has been there a few times.

Also, is train travel possible from Lake Garda to Venice, and if so, what are the sort of costs and times involved?

Thanks!

Edited by: lisaminx76

lisaminx76

Mar 14, 2013 3:14 AM
Posts: 18

Bit of an update - I have narrowed it down to Gardone Riviera; Bardolino or Riva del Garda if that helps?

richiavo

Mar 14, 2013 3:30 AM
Posts: 1,868

I replied to your other thread, on this of those three and what you said you would like to do I would go for Riva.

lisaminx76

Mar 14, 2013 8:05 AM
Posts: 18

Thanks again :)

What do you like about Riva?

richiavo

Mar 14, 2013 8:16 AM
Posts: 1,868

To be honest I prefer lake Maggiore than Lake Garda, but on Garda, Riva is probably one of the better places, although touristy every town is! It has a nicer vibe more laidback feel, I suppose that is a lot to do with the fact it is a a bit of sports mecca with good mountain biking and great windsurfing. The town itself is pretty and nice to walk around and there is a good ferry service. Plenty of both lively bars and quieter places with some excellent restaurants.

You can also walk to Malcesine on a nice trail. Of the other two Bardolino is great for the wine festival but the rest of the time does have a bit of a Benidorm feel to it mainly due to the sheer amount of UK customers going there. Gardone for me is very nice but quite small and has a slighly grand feeling with not a great deal to do.

i_cu_jimmy

Mar 16, 2013 9:58 AM
Posts: 72

Hi Lisa

Bardolino sounds perfect for you. The land around is flat enough for cycling and has some attractive scenery off the lake. But it is close enough to the northern mountainous region for you to do some hiking too. The bus will take you to Riva fairly quickly.

But beware the roads in high season, they can be gridlocked as they are not suited to the heavy traffic of the lake, especially at the weekends when many local Italians from Milan etc. descend on it for the day. It'll take longer by ferry but that's fun anyway as the scenery up on the north side is glorious.

Overall Lake Garda is not oppressively tourist and anywhere should be OK. Even the busy towns of Peschiera and Desenzano are not dominated by massive hotels. The campsites are great too, worth considering. But anyway, it sounds like you should definitely stay on the south or east coasts of the lake. They have the most attractions like Themeparks, Nature parks etc. and the best transport links if you want to sample other places like Milan, Mantova or even Bergamo for a day.

More info here......

Guide to Lake Garda

lisaminx76

Mar 20, 2013 5:43 AM
Posts: 18