Lake Garda with 3yo

[dullandgrey]

Hi all. We are planning a short trip (3/4 days) in September to Lake Garda and looking for recommendations of best area to base ourselves! Travelling with a 3yo so criteria would be that it is child friendly with play parks and easy to navigate with a stroller. Won't be visiting any of the theme parks so this isn't a consideration. Mainly looking for lovely beaches, beautiful scenery (it all looks beautiful to be fair) and stuff to keep the toddler occupied with! Thank you.

I think Riva del Garda is the best for families. There’s a lovely flat path along the lakeshore and you can walk all the way to Torbole. In Torbole, directly on the beach and with a magnificent view of the lake, there is a decent playground with a nice seating area next to it! In Riva, Sabbioni Beach is the most "family friendly" - it has a playground, trampolines, cafes and toilets. There’s even a small corner especially for the little ones to splash around. There’s also a little tourist train that departs from next to the playground.

And on Saturday you can take the boat to the market in Montecine

Oh this is wonderful, thank you!

If you fly into Verona the southern end around Peschiera is more accessible and family friendly. Sirmione is a lovely town to get ice cream and wander out the Roman remains on the peninsula and there are theme and waterparks nearby.

Malcesine is about half way up the east side and has a cablecar which accesses a mountain area with petting zoo, restaurant and play area. You can get boats or buses between towns.

The north end of the lake (eg Malcesine, Riva del Garde, Limone) has the most dramatic and beautiful scenery as the mountains rise up either side of the lake. The south (Garda, Bardolino, Lasize, Sirmione) is flatter. However, this does mean the weather is more unpredictable as the mountains bring rain. When we went in early June it was beautifully sunny in the south but cloudier and rainier in the north. Lake was colder there too. It might be worth looking at historic weather for a few of these locations and see if there tends to be a big difference in September.

Anyway, I would recommend Bardolino. There are small but cute beaches (partly stony so bring beach shoes for toddler), lots of lovely restaurants, and there is a lakeside boardwalk that goes all the way to Garda in one direction and Lasize in the other. Also boat connections to these towns plus Sirmione. Malcesine also looked lovely (but less good weather during our stay as I say).

We stayed at Du Lac et Bellevue in their linked apartments which was great if you want s/c facilities and space but hotel benefits.

@minipie thank you, this is all very helpful!

Hi @dullandgrey we are looking to plan a week away next summer with our 3yo and 18mo. Im looking at Lake Garda and wondered how you found the trip?
I wondered if you ended up going and have any recommendations of areas that are the best for toddler activities?
Xx

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We stayed here at Moniga del Garda when our children were smaller. Always preferred an apartment to a hotel when kids were small.
http://www.relaisrosadeiventi.com/

Easy walk to the shores of Lake Garda (minutes), as well as to the little town. Plenty of restaurant options.