Italian lakes in April - travel with teens

[bookwormsforever]

Hello! We’re thinking about lake garda next April. We did Venice and lake Como this Easter and it was fabulous.

So, can anyone recommend things to do and places to stay? We’d like somewhre lively but not too busy. We like walking, Roman ruins, castles, spas/hot springs, nature and sight seeing. Dc may want to do surfing or water sports.

How warm is the lake that time of year? I’m thinking not warm...

Where would you recommend we stay? I’d prefer an apartment or quiet hotel with a lake view.

Thinking about Sirmione and Riva del Garda. Anyone been?

We’re travelling by train. Do we need to hire a car?

Thanks!

I've stayed in Riva - very nice town, castles nearby in Malcesine (reach by boat) and Arco (bus). I think that end of the lake is good for watersports too. You can get the bus to Lake Ledro (a nice walk round, very pretty), and north to Trento for interesting sightseeing and even a Roman bit. It doesn't have a train station, so you'd need to change to the bus from whichever station you finished at - I think Rovereto is the closest, but Verona might be better for your connection.

Sirmione is beautiful too and would be better placed for a day trip to Verona (Roman remains).

Have you thought about combining with a few days actually in Verona?

You can get around by public transport, but a car does give you more flexibility.

Sirnione is lovely and has Roman ruins and castle but heaving with tourists during the day. Riva is the opposite north end and it takes hours to get between by boat so not a realistic daytrip. Verona is an easy day trip from the south of the lake and has a great Roman amphitheatre staging opera during August.

Watersports are better at north end as wind is stronger. Alternatively look at Salo which has an enclosed bay with sailing school.

How about staying in Garda? Both Sirmione and Riva can be reached by ferry. and Garda town itself has a lot to offer. I can't comment about the weather in April as we went in August.

While the ferry does take ages, there's a bus from north to south which is only about an hour.

Although now I think of it I may be getting mixed up with Lake Como.

We only used the ferries on Lake Garda, but I agree that they can be slow. We once took the slow boat from Malcesine to Garda. It criss crossed the lake and stopped at every town. It took three hours. The fast boats are very fast, but cost more.

We’ve stayed in Peschiera at the south of the lake. It’s a nice sized town and the station has trains direct to Verona for day trips - only about a 20 minute train ride. There’s lots of day-trippable places - Sirmione by boat, Gardone Riviera is about an hour in the car to see some amazing botanic gardens with Andre Heller sculptures and the super weird house and grounds owned by Gabrielle D’Annunzio, a National Trust style garden about 40 mins drive south called Giardino Sigurta and an easy drive north of about an hour to Monte Baldo where the you can go up the mountain on a cable car. It’s a great base!

We loved Gardone. Not many mumsnetters seem to visit it.

Ooh, thanks. Some good ideas there!

I would check the winter timetable dates as the ferry service is more limited off season. May restrict watersports too.

Think the water will be too cold for watersports! We want to do mroe walking/hiking/sightseeing.