Lake Garda help

[StartingOverInMy40s]

I'm after some advice. 😁

We're off to lake Garda in a month and I'm after some recommendations of where to go and what to see.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Where are you staying? The lake is quite a big place.

It will be warm in October. Gardaland is fun !
Limone and sirmione are lovely.

We've hired a car so happy to drive to any where around the lake if it's worth visiting x x

Do you have Dc?

If you're at the bottom of the lake, then Garda, Bardolino and Malcesine are all lovely. Also Venice and Verona are not too far away for day trips.

What do you like doing and what ages are you all?

The northern end of the lake (Malcesine/Limone and north of there) has more dramatic scenery, but also more unpredictable weather.

We stayed in Bardolino and liked it a lot. Pretty, nice size, good restaurants, easy to swim in the lake from there.

I would recommend hiring a car if you want to explore different towns round the lake - we didn’t and thought we’d use boat and bus but these were slow and infrequent. Hiring a boat for half a day also highly recommended.

Lazise is gorgeous

Where are you staying? It does make a difference as to what I would recommend visiting. It can take hours to travel all around the lake!

Sirmione (busy but lovely vibe) and Desenzano (more chilled but lovely restaurants and fab ice cream shop!). Day trip on fast train to Venice or Verona (if you have less time).

We stayed in Desenzano (lovely with lots of restaurants and Roman ruins) and did boat trips to Sirmione (castle and fabulous views from Grotte di Cattulo), Bardolino and Garda town. We drove to Parco Natura which was a great day out. And Parco Giardino Sigurta.

OP, I’ve just returned from Lake Garda. We had a car - even with a car, it takes hours to get places!!! You need to tell us the location so we can recommend where to go. I had planned 2 trips that we couldn’t do as the travel element was 2 1/2 hours each way !

Where exactly are you staying

Depends if you have children with you. If not, then a boat trip up the lake is very relaxing - we did Sirmione to Riva, spent the night in Riva and bus back with some hops on and off the next day.

Bardolino for good restaurants (I think their wine festival is early October - great fun).

Sirmione is very pretty - we found a nice bar for an aperitif every evening just below the castle on the waterfront - la Torre, I think.

Brescia is a beautiful city - less frenetic than Verona, and without the tacky Romeo and Juliet vibe.

South of the lake feels more Mediterranean and the north feels more Alpine.

There's a nice lakeside walk that goes from Bardolino to Garda Town.

@StartingOverInMy40s can you post again when you have time?

Thanks so much for the replies so far.

We're staying in Desenzano but honestly travel
Isn't an issue if it's somewhere worth seeing.

We're get out and explore as much as we can people ha ha. We have a day trip to Verona and Venice planned already x x

Thank you again

I would suggest doing the public ferry to island hop , it's very easy once you work out when and where. Malcesine had a great cable car when we went (very cold at the top) which was fun to do as something different. Peschiera del Garda was grim but that's where the theme park is located if you want to go there. That's fun kind of like if chessington and Alton towers had a good looking baby.

Riva is worth visiting, possibly the Dolomites if you fancy driving that far. Sirmione is lovely but gets busy.