Lake Garda honeymoon - your recommendations please!

[MaudBaileysGreenTurban]

Where around Lake Garda would be the best place to spend 5 nights, or thereabouts, of a honeymoon (next August)?

Budget around £1000ish?

It's a part of Italy I don't know at all so I need the wisdom of MN to help me pick somewhere lovely. Ideally with a pool, wonderful lake views and walking distance (we probably won't bother with a car) to a town with lots of good restaurants nearby.

Any suggestions happily received!

[SaturdayNightInTheSummer]

I'd suggest Bardolino, although I've never stayed there myself. All the chic Milanese come down for the weekend, lots of places to eat and you definitely won't need a car.

August will be heaving though, especially the first two weeks. There's a huge festival on around the 15th August every year.

At the complete other end is Limone, which is tiny and very quaint, but harder to get to and prone to more rain because it's nearer the mountains.

[mumsiedarlingrevolta]

Be careful as we drove round Italian lakes on honeymoon and ended up in a hotel full of Saga holiday makers on coach tours. Not really ideal for honeymoon

[MaudBaileysGreenTurban]

I'd looked at Bardolino - good tip about the festival, thank you!

[ineedaholidaynow]

We stayed at Riva del Garda, which is at the top end of the lake. We stayed at Du Lac et Du Parc Grand Resort. We did a day trip to Venice. Verona is also close by.
We didn't have a car. There are also boats on the lake to take you to other towns.

[Ronia]

We stayed just outside Sirmione. We were just at the bottom of the peninsula so could stroll in in the evenings for meals or have easy access to other towns outside the peninsula

[ErrolTheDragon]

We stayed in Riva del Garda years ago, it's easy to get around the lake by boat and iirc there are local buses too. It's high on my list of 'must return' locations.

I'd avoid a day trip to Venice - it's quite a long way, there's loads of things nearer for 5 days, a day isn't long enough to do it justice and August is a crap time for Venice anyway. Save that for a trip of its own in eg early spring when it's cooler and not heaving with tourists.

[gutrotweins]

It's really easy to boat hop around the lake, wherever you stay.

[stucknoue]

I would give Venice a miss, it's so hot in August. Further into the alps is quieter for a honeymoon but Lake Como was amazing, but we went off season

[Percypigparade]

I'm struggling to see how the SAGA holiday makers had any negative impact on a pair of honeymooners

[TheCatThatDanced]

Riva and just outside Sirmione are both great in my experience. Had a car one time and other relied on buses etc.

Venice is nice but busy. Verona is nicer, not as busy as Venice but still busy.

Limone is nice from experience but I did recall it being a bit remote as someone else said.

[ErrolTheDragon]

I'd have thought the saga louts would tend to go more out of season anyway?

[MaudBaileysGreenTurban]

We're not bothering with Venice - both of us have been several times and I agree August is stifling and waaaay too crowded.

I'll have a look at Riva del Garda and Sirmione, thank you. What about Malcesine - anyone got any thoughts?

[TheCatThatDanced]

Oh, friends of ours stayed in Malcesine and liked this old town/hamlet. Easy to get to other areas from etc they said.

[SkiingIsHeaven]

We love Lazise the best.

[gabsdot45]

Salo is lovely. We didn't stay there, we just visited but it was really nice

[Foxyloxy1plus1]

It’s a long time since I went to Garda, but I have a recollection that it rained frequently in Malcesine because of its proximity to the mountains.

We stayed in Riva del Garda. We took boat trips round the lake, could walk into town and found some lovely restaurants.

[RaphaelsWings]

I didn’t like Malcesine tbh, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. Very hilly.

Loved Riva although it is expanding rapidly- huge new shopping center built last year. But the old centre is so pretty among the mountains.

Sirmione was gorgeous. Also liked Lasize and Bardolino.

Perfect place for a honeymoon.

[probstimeforanewname]

Lasize is really lovely.

If you are not going to hire a car I would suggest staying in Desenzano or Peschiera as they have railway stations and both Verona and Breschia are very close (and you can get boats to various other places).

Agree, perfect place for a honeymoon. We spent the second half of ours in Verona and had a day trip to Lake Garda.

[Thistimetomorrow]

I have stayed in Riva (14 years ago) which we really enjoyed. Also Malcesine, enjoyed it but wouldn’t return.
Last year we stayed in Pescheria with our 14 year old. We picked Peschiera primarily to visit Gardaland.
We had a fantastic holiday and would definitely recommend staying here. It has a beautiful lakeside setting, close to the ferry for visiting other towns and to the railway station for Venice.
Although we didn’t stay in this hotel we passed by it and thought it was beautiful. San Marco, on Hotels.com although book able on other sites.
Lake Garda is one of my most favourite places in the world, so relaxing, beautiful scenery, lovely restaurants, romantic

[Thistimetomorrow]

Hotel San Marco,
uk.hotels.com/ho346647/hotel-san-marco-peschiera-del-garda-italy/

[Lindy2]

We had our honeymoon at Lake Garda. We stayed in Limone. It was absolutely wonderful.
We did trips to Verona and Venice and also did a coach trip around the Lake stopping at several other villages. There was also a boat trip to Malcesine to go up the mountain.
Have a wonderful time. It is a lovely place.

[suziedoozy]

I’ve been to Lake Garda a few times & would recommend Villa Nicolli as a hotel - my family have been staying there for decades, it’s family run & members of the family run most of the different parts, it’s slightly out of town (only 10 min walk) so slightly quieter. They have a lovely large galleried suite upstairs in the main hotel plus small but decent spa & adults only area.

www.hotelvillanicolli.com/

I love the area & am currently trying to convince DH we should go in Sept!

[Bodicea]

Salo is so beautiful as you have something to look at across the way. It’s very chic.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

I also didn't like Malcesine. We were there for just a day in August, and it was horribly busy. Riva was nice, and so was Garda.

[MaudBaileysGreenTurban]

Brilliant, thank you everyone

I think I might have narrowed it down to the east side of the lake...but that's about it! Loads of suggestions though, have now got lots of research to do!