Lake Garda ideas

[mamaduckbone]

I love the look of Lake Garda for our summer holiday this year (me, Dh and 2 teen ds), but have never been so wondered if anyone has any great recommendations.

Ideally we'd like an apartment with a pool (shared is fine, but an essential for the dc), within walking distance of the lake and a town for restaurants etc.
We won't be driving but it looks as though trains, buses and the ferry are pretty good?

The only place I've found so far that isn't extortionate is 1.5km from Garda and would mean relying on taxis and a shuttle bus. Am I kidding myself that we'll find something affordable (ie not 2.5k just for the apartment) that's in a town rather than out in the sticks?

Also, any recommendations for which town is nicest and preferably not completely rammed in summer. I know they will all be busy. Dc like good food, swimming, aren't massively fussed about water sports but would probably quite like access to a couple of activities. Dh and I also love good food, and would like somewhere pretty for a drink and a walk in the evening.

everywhere is rammed in the summer. I like Peschiera, it’s on the lake, close to Caneva and Gardaland and you can take boats to Sirmione and other towns. It’s 20mins from
Verona airport. Have you looked at bungalows on camp sites? Some have pools too.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/31274992?adults=2&children=2&infants=0&location=Peschiera%20del%20Garda%2C%20Italy&check_in=2024-04-25&check_out=2024-04-30&source_impression_id=p3_1706735489_ZsF%2FptxWwo21aMgN&previous_page_section_name=1001

https://www.delgarda.it/garda/bungalow-en/?lang=en

peschiera has two or three similar campsites, you can easily walk to centre of town or hire a bike.

That looks gorgeous @Sonora25 but sadly booked for the dates we need. Unfortunately summer holidays are our only option.

Thank you - I hadn't thought about that option (we camped all the time when the dcs were little)

The medium size ones are €200 ish per night in the summer so you would be within your budget. I would book soon, Lake Garda gets booked up quickly. And yes it will be busy (everywhere!).

Have a look at quietish Hotel Bella Italia, they have some own pool and apartments separate to the (very busy) Bella Italia campsite. There are some restaurants on the campsite and you can walk alongside the Lake into Peschiera del Garda which has many restaurants, lots to do in the town and easy access to train (for Venice and Verona), bus to Sirmione and beyond and Gardaland which your teens will love. Book a day trip to go round the lake bus, boat, bus again including Limone and Riva del Garda

To be honest, we stayed in Lake Garda without a car and ended up not really visiting many places - it was hot waiting for the bus, hot and crowded on the bus, heavy traffic, ferries only ran certain routes and took ages unless just hopping to the next town. This was in May!

We enjoyed the place we were staying (Bardolino) and managed a trip to Lasize but did slightly regret not hiring a car as we didn’t visit that many places round the lake.

I stayed in Peschiera too and got the ferry to Simione and Garda and the train to Verona one day. It's easy to get to from the airport and I believe the train also goes to Venice (but a longer journey).

We did this last year and it was wonderful! We stayed in an Airbnb with a big pool within walking distance of Lasize. Lots to do for everyone and the public transport was very easy to use. Will see if I can find a link to where we stayed

abnb.me/rwZLs68tPGb

We stayed in little maisonette/bungalows in Peschiera very close to campeggio Gasparina and it was the worst holiday for wandering into town or seeing things.
Very close to Gardaland but the lake was useless for swimming round there, the long hot walk to the town was horrible and it was a small uninspiring place. I would stay the other end - Limone, Malcesine, Garda, Riva. We've stayed in apartments which were much more central when staying in those places and the towns were more interesting.

We stayed outside peschiera last summer and got a mobile home through airbandb. It was on a small site had a restaurant and pool and right on the lake. Was about a 20 minute walk along the lake to town. It was perfect for us and ds16. We did have a car, but the bus stop was very close and was well used. There is so much to do and see and one of our best holidays.

We were intending to go to Peschiera this year, was really looking forward to it and found lots of reasonable apartments on booking .com, but we ended up cancelling because the flights to Verona are so expensive this year (from Dublin). We are going to Croatia instead. Peschiera del Garda sounds fab, hope you find something.

Desenzano is nice, and on the main railway route from Milan - you can also get a direct train to Verona. Everything in the town is within walking distance, and you can get boats to access other towns on the lake.

Thank you so much for all the recommendations - lots to look at!

Just FYI: The north end of the island has more dramatic and beautiful mountainous scenery than the south (though the south is still pretty of course) BUT the mountains also make its weather more changeable and stormy. When we were there it was sunny and hot at the south end but colder and cloudy at the north end - that was in May half term but I think there is still a bit of a divide weather wise in the summer, though it may be less.

We stayed here last summer https://www.sansivino.com/ 3 kids (10 12, 15) all loved it. We went via train so didn't do much travelling around the lake, but the staff said they would arrange to drop us to places we wanted to go to - they were super helpful. Would definitely reccomend