Lake Garda in August. How crowded is it going to be?

[KeepScrapingBy]

We’re going to be staying on the South side of the lake, near Sirmione. Self catering apartment with pool. Family of 4 with teens aged 15 and 18.
We’re fine with busy places as long as we know what we’re doing and we get there early. What we hate is being stuck in an overcrowded tourist honey pot and just wandering around aimlessly.
Will probably skip Venice for that reason…
Are there some quiet-ish places that you know of? Eg lakeside villages, country walks, museums, castles,
Bearing in mind we chose to go at the hottest and busiest time of year …
I speak rusty Italian if that happens? Would appreciate any helpful suggestions! 🇮🇹

We went in 2019. Inland Valeggio sul Mincio is lovely in an evening. Further away Mantua/Mantova is a fab town. Ron’s the lake Peachiera wasn’t too busy. Sirmione was crowded and not particularly enjoyable.

Pretty much all of the organised tours stop in Sirmione, so let’s just say you won’t be alone….! Explore it early it in the morning or late in the evening.
Salo is absolutely charming but doesn’t get nearly the amount of tourist attention that it deserves. We felt it was very much a local’s town.

Riva del Garda is more catered toward tourists than somewhere like Salo, yet it is large enough to be able to avoid huge crowds and hordes of day-trippers, unlike Sirmione. It’s got a funicular that gives some fantastic views over the lake.

Thanks both of you. Some good tips there!
I’ve added Salo, Riva and Valeggio to our list.

Peschiera has an amazing gelataria and walls you can walk around.

Thanks Tsuipen. Looks like we should avoid Sirmione!

Sirmione would be lovely in an evening or early morning. It was rammed when we went in the middle of the day.

Gardone Riviera is a bit quieter and has a villa with some odd features in the gardens. Sirmione is less crowded out by the headland and Roman ruins.

We are also going to be in lake Garda in August. Resigned to it being very very busy! We are also there week of ferragosta so possibly the busiest week in the entire year!

It was busy when I was there in June. It’ll be rammed, absolutely rammed in August. Everywhere you go, you get gelato (and limoncello and hideous leather bags and pizza). You’ll just have to go with it.

European summer school holidays.

It is packed everywhere.

Enjoy! I have lovely memories of childhood family holidays to Lake Como. By car!! 😯

Not sure if any help but we were in lake Garda yesterday and I couldn't believe how quiet it was considering it's the holidays, perhaps the heat putting people off.

That’s interesting cunning. I think we’ll avoid tourist hotspots like Venice.

We go to LG every couple of years, it can get very busy in August.

I would suggest that you pre-book as much as possible - ferry trips/monte baldo cable car, any restaurants you want to go to

We got back a couple weeks ago and I was glad I'd made reservations in restaurants for a few of our evenings, we saw many people being turned away.

Definitely don't go to Venice in august! It will be absolutely heaving and roasting.

Just an update to this. We were in Brescia yesterday and absolutely could not believe how quiet it was. The major sites (city museum Santa Guilia and the castle) were completely deserted so much so we assumed they were closed when we arrived. No idea why other than it was a hot day but 'only' 35 degrees

An update on this!
The big resorts like Peschiera and Sirmione were choc a block by 10 am. In fact the police were turning cars away at Sirmione! But we found if we got there before 9 or after 5 it as easy to get a parking space and more pleasant to walk around. It then got busy again after 7pm.
Really enjoyed the Grotte di Catullo Roman site and Jamaica beach.
Away from the tourist spots it really wasn’t crowded at all. I think we were the only British people in Solferino!
We went to Verona by train from Peschiera, 20 minute journey. Face masks compulsory but only about half the people wearing them.
Juliet’s balcony: 5 minute wait to get in. No big deal. Very busy around that area but the museum of Greek and Roman artefacts was empty!
Crema: we visited the film locations from Call Me By Your Name. Again not crowded, just local people and a few teens doing TikToks …
Thanks for all your feedback!

@KeepScrapingBy - thanks for your update, we are going next week. We went to sirmione when we last visited in august 2019 and didn’t find it so crowded but we may give it a miss next week.
sounds like you are driving - we drove to malescine and took the cable car up - it was lovely!

Apart from hideous bags, what's not to love 😂