Lake Garda with teenagers

[Boysnme]

Hi all thinking about doing one of the Eurocamp at lake Garda next summer with the kids (14&12).

There looks like there is loads to do for them as well as plenty chill out time.

I wondered if anyone had been and had any participant tips or best places to go or recommendations of which site to stay at. Currently swaying towards the Bella Italia one.

Also, is it practical to get around without a car? We’d be flying to Venice/Verona/Bergamo depending on who is flying from our local airport at the time.

Thank you!

Peschiera has a station, and it's otherwise easy to get about by boat - boats aren't that cheap though. Dd liked the Grottes de Catulla and the castle at Sirmione and the massive market in Desenzano. We drove to Parco Natura but I think it's possible to get there and to Gardaland by bus.

We’ve been to Bella Italia a couple of times. It’s pretty (pathways are lined with flowers) and well laid but a bit faded in places.
There are about four exits from the site that are right on the lake. You can easily paddle, swim, hire boats etc…. We watched the sun set over the water every evening.
We were in a Eurocamp Esprit, the most basic mobile home they have. It was fine – nothing special, but not awful. The beauty of holidaying in Italy is that you can be reasonably sure you’ll be spending all your time outdoors – on the deck of the mobile home, at the pool, around the campsite or on day trips. For us, the mobile is just the place you sleep.
The pools were quite crowded but the children loved them - there was a good selection of slides.

Outside the pool, there was so much for the kids to do. We tried something different each day and the kids were never bored. We did find it hard to get bikes for us all as a family. Make sure to book these as soon as possible.
There are a few restaurants on site and you can order excellent takeaway pizza if you want to relax on your own deck. We also had external restaurant options within walking distance, and it really made the holiday. Just outside the campsite there’s a restaurant with a stunning lakeside setting. Go there for coffee, ice cream, lunch, dinner, or cold drinks after a day on the water. The food is great, and the overall atmosphere and setting is even better. You can also walk to Peschiera where there’s a huge choice of eating options.
There was entertainment every night in the arena area, we went a couple of times. The Foam Party was fun and the musical was enjoyable too, the gameshow night was less enjoyable.

Watching as We’re going in August. Family with 18 yo and 15 yo DDs. Staying in rural apartment a few miles from Sirmione. Hoping to see all the lakeside towns, visit Verona, maybe Milan and Venice of not too hot. Swimming in onsite pool and eating pizza and ice cream!
I can let you know more when we get back OP.

We have stayed at Camping del Garda twice. Booked with Alfresco. It has two pools insite and cars aren't allowed near the mobiles so very peaceful.
We visited Sirmone and a couple of other villages around the lake travelling by boat. But the best day was when we hired bikes and rode to Cizano (sp) with our teenagers. We hired our bikes from the shop near the roundabout in Pesciera. We did a day trip by train to Verona which was lovely and also spent the day at the water park. Other people on the site did a day trip to Venice but we visited there before we got to Lake Garda. Most days we relaxed by the pool. I loved our holidays in Lake Garda!

Thank you all thats really helpful.

@KeepScrapingBy I’d definitely love to hear how you get on!

We did a day trip from vencice when DS was 3/4, the transport system in Italy is amazing, it’s also v.cheep to hire a car once over there but we have never bothered on our numerous trips because we find the train much easier.

I would love to tail the whole of Italy

If your kids are theme park types Gardaland is great. Easy to reach from BI. Get cheaper evening tickets to avoid the queues and heat.
Movieland/Caneva waterpark also close by.

I'm planning on staying at the gardaland Hotel, doing gardaland and the lego water park, then driving to the North end to riva del garda or malcesine

We've stayed at Bella Italia and had an amazing time. Our dc were about 4,8,12 when we went and all enjoyed it. Plenty to do on the site, pools are fab, shop prices are quite reasonable too but there is a Lidl within walking distance too. We flew into Verona and managed without a car. There were a few stray cats about, which stressed my animal- lover ds out but they weren't pests.

The only downside for me personally was that my hay fever was horrific the entire time as there is so much greenery and flowers throughout the park. We had to em out a route back to our accommodation that avoided the worst plants 😂
We will definitely be back.

I was going to suggest gardaland as another PP mentioned too. We travelled to Lake Garda as two theme park loving adults and thoroughly enjoyed a day there! We loved Lake garda overall too.

Thanks everyone, I think we’ll go for it! Jiddah would love gardaland and also just chilling near the lake!

@Boysnme
The Italian trains (local ones) are very unreliable in Italy. DD lived there. The intercity ones are very good. Venice will be horribly hot in August. Milan is often overlooked but is a great place to visit.

Hi, a lot of my friends with older children go to La Quercia in Lazise. It's a big campsite between Lazise and Peschiera and close to both Gardaland and Caneva Waterpark. It also has one of the few sandy beaches at Lake Garda and there is a bike path connecting peschiera and bardolino (maybe you can go even further).

Thanks @Jomijo , that looks a great site too! Water park looks excellent for the kids

We’ve just returned with dds 15 and 18
Grotte do Catullo was fascinating, just get there before 9 or you can’t park in Sirmione.
Jamaica beach is right there. Rocks very slippery near the water though. Scenes from the film Call Me By Your Name were filmed at the Grotte and Jamaica beach.

This film has a cult following among teens and a lot of it was filmed at Crema, about 1 hours drive away. The main square with the colonnades and the door covered in graffiti down a side alleyway had a few teens taking photos. Otherwise Crema isn’t touristy at all.

There’s also the war memorial at Pandino a few miles from Crema.

Verona: Juliet’s balcony hardly worth bothering with. There are lots of museums if your teens are interested.

We were really glad we had use of a private pool as it was somewhere to relax when we couldn’t agree on what to do or we were waiting for them to emerge from their beds in the mornings …

We are staying currently near a campsite near Pesciera - it's next to Gardaland. But I would say a car is essential if you want to do much where we are.

I’m heading back to this area for the second time next week, we have a car so are staying at a eurocamp near peschiera (altomincio) however when I researched it last time it seems Bella Italia is the only one in that area on bus timetables and is accessible without a car, if you wanted to go car free you can get their from verona airport by bus.

for eurocamp book early to get a good price
we go end of august, it’s cheaper than july

Peschiera was also quite small and we won't be walking back - took 45 minutes each way so choose your site carefully. I'd say to have a car definitely (again). Supermarket is huge but we could only buy what we could carry. Fine for hotel but would be annoying for self catering.

Thanks everyone and @KeepScrapingBy for coming back and updating. Can I ask where you stayed? I’m thinking we will hire a car. 1st week in August is the latest we can go unfortunately (tied to Scotland school holidays) otherwise would have looked at a bit later

How was your trip?

We couldn’t go this year in the end so one for next year!

Ahhhh thank you for replying anyway!