Lake Garda - camping with kids - anyone been?

[emsiewill]

Just been pricing up a holiday for next May half-term. It's with Alan Rogers (used to be Mark Hammerton - not sure why the name change!), and it's a week camping on the shores of Lake Garda. The whole thing for 4 of us, including car hire and flights to Milan only comes to approx £600. I think this seems like a real bargain (thanks Ryanair), but was wondering if anyone had actually been to the area with kids, and whether it's a good place to go. Also, has anyone used Mark Hammerton / Alan Rogers before?Obviously the camp site offers some attractions, but we would like to explore the surrounding area, especially as we're paying for a hire car.
It seems like a bargain to me, as the same week in a cottage in most areas of this country cost between £450 - £600.
Thanks.

[clucks]

We travelled there in the summer with DS. V beautiful, lots of families camping, although we were not. Most of the campers though are German/Austrian as they all drive over.

Also, I found it a bit boring for kids if too young for watersports, everyone seems to windsurf etc. Good to drive up to the Tyrol etc and verona is not far away. Great for clothes shopping (verona that is)

Have a lovely holiday.

[Janeway]

I've not been there with kids - I went to the north end on honeymoon - it's absolutely stunning, there were loads of families there (more visitors with families at the southern end though) and I recall warm lazy evenings stitting by the lake watching the local children playing and old couples holding hands - like many places in Italy, the culture is very family oriented.

Verona is in easy striking distance if you're after a bit of culture, and the dolimites and wine growing region of Trentino Alto Adige (please forgive any mis-spelling)are more than worth a visit. Take the ferries up and down the lake to the various villages like Limone and Riva, each has a different feel - Torbole is great is you fancy watersports...

I could gush about this place for a long time, it's highly recomended in my book - only reservation is flying into Milan rather than Verona, seams a fair drive. Anyway, hope you enjoy it even half as much as we did.

[oxocube]

Hi emsiewill, we went a couple of years ago with 2 kids aged 2 and 4 and my mIL and her partner. We stayed for a week in a very small, Italian run site with a private beach and we loved it. There wasn't anything on the site in the way of facilities other than a small bar/cafe and the shower and toilet block, but we had a fab time and used the site more as a base from which to explore. It was lovely and quiet, the owners lovely and we managed to communicate despite them speaking no English and us, no Italian. (We managed in a pathetic but funny mixture of gestures, German and French)

The young guy who worked for them personally took us to a few local restaurants where we ate delicious and reasonably priced local specialities. I guess a lot of it depends what you are looking for: I think the bigger, more organised sites with 4*s tend to be in France and Spain but we had a great time as we love the peace and quiet!

[bells2]

We flew to Milan last Easter and drove the 45 mins or so to Lake Como where we had 4 days in a hotel. It was wonderful and with all the boat rides, it's a great children's destination. The food is especially good and very reasonably priced.