Lake Garda

[OnebusyMum]

Can anyone recommend the best place to stay in Lake Garda?
We did have Bardolino booked, but got cancelled three times due to covid!
I'm looking to book for next year. I'm not too sure on Bardolino now, I'm wondering if South of the lake is a better option?
Although I've just read that the lake is cleaner for swimming away from the South!

Malescine is glorious

If you want to travel round the lake, you need to look at ferry timetables as well. Some ferry ports have more regular stops than others.

Can I ask, do you need a car to travel around in the area? We are thinking of going this summer (will follow these suggestions!), but would prefer not to drive. We have 3 children aged 7-14 so just wondering how practical this would actually be. Thank you

I stayed in Garda Town- beautiful and you can catch the bus to Verona and to the top of the lake which is cheaper than the ferry

We have stayed in both Garda and Bardolino . The hotel in Bardolino was lovely but I preferred Garda for the atmosphere. At night bands played in the streets and it was just lovely.

There is a walkway/cycle path linking both towns. You can also cycle further along the lake.

We went to Sirmione which was also lovely but much busier.

In terms of transport, there is a bus from Garda that travels through Bardolino and all the little towns until it gets to Verona. One tip is that it can fill really quickly so the earlier on the route you get on the better.

You can get the bus to Peschiera del Garda, it stops at the train station and there is a train to Venice. We flew from Edinburgh to Venice, spent a few days there then got the train and bus to Lake Garda and flew home from Verona. All very straight forward.

Wherever you decide to you will love it, it is just beautiful although take bug spray, I’ve never been bitten so badly in my life but that was in July.

I thought Garda and Bardolino both looked lovely and overall, the best two towns for access to ferries, theme parks, other towns. We picked Bardolino mainly as we found a hotel we liked. However it’s just on the north side of Bardolino so only a 40 min lake side walk to Garda as well. We have hired a car but that’s because we like the flexibility and because we are staying in two different areas. In summer, I think ferry and bus timetables are pretty frequent etc. We are not going until august but I’m stupidly excited.

You’d have to be very confident driving abroad if you hired a car. It’s a narrow two lane road filled with bikes, coaches and mad European driving. It can get really, really busy in peak season too.

Love Bardolino but also like Garda. The bus station is there and the buses were really cheap and mostly reliable. Ferries are good fun.

Traffic aside it’s my favourite place on earth. Many happy memories there.

Riva and Limone are just stunning but prone to rain.

We took our car, but only used it once in 10 days - to go to a wild animal parc. Otherwise from Desenzano it was easy by train/ferry. We went to Verona, Garda, Bardolino and Sirmione from there.

I've had several holidays on Lake Garda. Although the lake is prettier in the North, I would recommend staying at Lazise or Peschiera if you are visiting with children or if you are wanting to travel to other places .

There is a train station at Peschiera.
Lazise is not too far away and I think it's prettier . There are buses running between the two and the road between Lazise and Peschiera also has Gardaland theme park and plenty of camp sites .

Dezanzano is a bit more of a town and not so pretty although it's a good base and has a good weekly market.

The lake road can be very busy during the main summer period so it can take longer to drive to eg Malcesine than you may expect although would definitely recommend a visit and taking cable car up Monte Baldo for stunning views.

Venice and Verona definitely worth a visit - I wouldn't bother with Milan though .

We also had a stay at Bardalino cancelled due to Covid - must look at visiting the area again soon.

Thanks everyone for your replies 🙂 I think we are going to look at re booking in a few years time, save up and enjoy what it has to offer better.
It's my 50th and daughters 16th on the same year, so a good excuse.
Also my son has now said him and his girlfriend would like to come, so they really need to save.
I'm going to look at Garda/Lazise/Bardolino area and keep in mind a nice hotel/apartment.

We stayed in Riva del Garda which is at the northern most point of the Lake a few years ago. It was beautiful up there. Bit of a drive but easy enough.
We did a long uphill walk from the hotel with wonderful views and ended up in a quiet village where we saw a local wedding happening. We also drove further North to Arco and to another lake (I forget the name) which was bright blue and great for swimming.