Which bit of Lake Garda (or Como?)

[Geamhradh]

Have decided this year's holiday will be one or the other.
I'm in Italy but totally the other end and visited Como in 1971 and Garda in 1992 so MN will be my travel guide. Can fly into Verona or Milan (so Verona-Garda, Milan-Como) and will get from airport via public transport. Am leaning towards southern end of Garda as it's easier to get to from Verona and Garda seems to have more possibilities for days out (Verona, Venice etc)
Any favourite resorts or hotels? Willing to go 4*
Thank you!

Malcesine is my favourite town on lake garda by miles!

We go to Desenzano del Garda as it's not quite so touristy and you have the best transport links (boats, trains) Lovely hotels too. We always stay at the Park but Villa Rosa is also good.
Enjoy Lake Garda we can't go this year, first time we've missed in 20 years

Verona Catullo airport is best for the South and East of the lake.

Malcesine, and limone just across the water is stunning

Hotel Capri in Malcesine, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay there 4 years ago. Amazing lake views and short walk into the town centre. We visited Limone by ferry and that seems lovely, but a lot further to travel by public transport.

On Garda we have stayed at Malcesine, Torbole and Gardone Riviera. It rather depends what you plan to do . The north is more rugged and better for watersports and walking. Malcesine is a good mid point for boat trips and has a cablecar up to Monte Baldo where there are activities and a petting farm. Gardone Riviera is quieter but good for trips to islands and gardens. Sirmione is my favourite place but a heaving tourist hotspot and Riva a more bustling town at the top. The south is easier for Verona and north for Venice.

Lake Como is generally more sedate and less bustling. Menaggio is the main area on the west side and a good point to visit other resorts by boat. Como itself is a pleasant city with a couple of high point for walking and views. Quick transfer from Milan.

I prefer Como as my experience of Garda is that you are always quite near traffic. I haven't been for ages either though.

To be honest I don't think you can go wrong on Lake Garda. I find it's cooler (windier) at the top of the lake. Busier at the bottom but it's all lovely.

Bardolino on LG is one of my favourite ever holidays. We stayed here and I'd go back in a heartbeat. There are hotel rooms as well as self catering apartments.

www.parchotelgermanobardolino.it/en/

I've stayed in Limone and Malcesine - both absolutely lovely. Lake Iseo is lovely, much smaller lake than Lake Garda - again absolutely beautiful. Stresa on Lake Maggiore is also stunning, you can visit Isola Bella and Isola Madre from there. I love the Italian Lakes!!!!!

Bellagio on Lake Como

Oh brilliant thank you all!
I'm going to sit and have a pleasant afternoon looking all these places up, sounds perfect, all of it!
Really, I just want a week of meandering, bit of swimming, bit of sight-seeing, lots of eating food I haven't cooked!
Thanks again! I'll let you know!

We had our honeymoon in Malcesine, very happy memories...

Had a wonderful week in Bardolino a couple of years ago.

Stayed in Sirmione 2 years ago. Excellent access to transport links, ferries, buses, trains, plenty of bars and restaurants and gelato shops .

We also had a few days in Riva - completely different feel - Sirmione feels like a med resort and Riva feels like an Alpine resort. Maybe you could have a week at the north end of the lake and a week at the south end.

We visited Verona - beautiful city but the Romeo and Juliet stuff is beyond tacky. Brescia is just lovely and much quieter.

All of the lake towns as mentioned by pp are beautiful and just puttering about the lake on a fine day and hopping off the ferry for coffee or lunch is perfect.

We had 2 standout meals - one surprisingly a fixed price tourist lunch at Salo in a hotel on the promenade and the other at Caprice 1971 in Bardolino, but lots of good food all round.

Favourite part of the day was a stroll around Sirmione in the evening, and an aperol spritz by the lake under the castle walls.

An update and further thanks- for purely practical reasons I've narrowed it down to Desenzano as we'll fly into Verona and can get the train directly from there.
You've all whetted my appetite though and will take trips out to all these other fabulous sounding places.
Now keeping an eye on prices for The Park, the Nazionale and the others mentioned on here as won't book the hotel for another week or so.
Thanks again!

Simone and Malcesine gorgeous and good for hiking if you like that. Torbole much more watersports. Stunning area from north to south though!

The north of Lake Garda is the more scenic. I've stayed in Riva which was nice; you can also do day trips north to Trento etc.

Como is more beautiful, and if you stay in the central area is easy to get around with lots to see. The gardens are mostly more spring highlights though.

Geamhradh I think the Park and the Nazionale are owned by the same people, the Cerini family but the Park is right on the Lake. Try and get a front balcony, the people watching is wonderful.
The hotel breakfast is tdf!

Ooh excellent! The Park seems to be full for my dates but the Nazionale have sent me an estimate. Going to fiddle round on Expedia/LastMinute and Booking to see if I can get it any cheaper. I'm going to wait another week or so to actually book because Covid (shakes fist at sky) but I think we're pretty much decided. May need 10 days with all these fab places to visit

We always go for 10 days so that we can have get the train to Verona for the day. Sirmione is only about 20 minutes from Desi on the boat. Did you try Villa Rosa?
Massive market on Tuesdays. Try Cafe Agora for lunch.
I'm absolutely gutted we can't go this year (husband's health not Covid)

Love LG, Bordolino is my favourite town, but haven’t really been anywhere I didn’t like around there. Have a lovely holiday, so jealous

I'm jealous. Lake Garda is one of my favourite holiday spots. We have stayed in Garda Town and Sirmione, and have visited Malcesine, Gardone, Desenzano, Bardolino and Pescheira. Do visit one of the markets when you go.

If I am lucky enough to go again I would want to stay in Malcesine.

Feeling very jealous. Originally planning to fly to Milan tomorrow, and spend 2 weeks around Garda....
Have a lovely time.

Just cancelled como too difficult to navigate the travel rules

We came back from Desenzano last week - it was marvellous. We stayed at Hotel Vittorio hotelvittorio.it/en/ which is right on the harbour with a view over the lake to Sirmione. We did boat trips easily from there to Sirmione, (Grotte di Catullo definitely worth a visit) Garda and Bardolino. Desenzano has lots of restaurants. We did plan to get the train to Verona but didn't get round to it. We spent 10 nights there and another 4 in Stresa on Lake Maggiore.