Lake Garda - September with a toddler

[Monstermunch456]

We are planning to book a last minute holiday in September to lake Garda with a 2 year old and 5 month old. Originally we were planning to hire a car and drive to different towns, but due to cost I’m considering not hiring a car. Car hire is coming up to almost £500 when you add car seats etc.

Any tips on where to stay if we don’t hire a car? Or is hiring a car really necessary? We are just looking for a nice relaxed lakefront town to potter around in, some lakeside walks, and somewhere with a bit of space for our toddler to wander round and explore. At home he’s happy in the park watching ducks or playing with leaves and flowers etc so he probably won’t benefit from the amusement parks.

We were thinking about staying in an Airbnb in bardolino / cisano. Would that be suitable for the kind of holiday we want? Would we be ok without a car there?

Any way you can drive? We would always drive down to Italy when the kids were small.

We’ve just come back from Bardolino and wished we’d had a car. Getting around by ferry was a bit of a nightmare to be honest. To get to the decent towns the ferries left early and also took a good couple of hours etc. Bardolino is lovely but not sure there’s much to do for little ones.

Bardolino would be perfect. It’s linked to Garda, Cisano and Lazise by a beautiful, flat lakeside path that is ideal for walking with a pushchair. It has a small pebbly beach and there’s a small play area behind the church. It’s also on a couple of ferry routes.
I think that Lazise has a sandy beach and I know that it’s got some very good play areas for little children.
If you have a spare day, Gardaland has an aquarium and Peppa Pig area with rides and attractions for very small children. There’s a bus that goes right past it.

Bella Italia - Eurocamp. Taxi cost about €60 from verona airport. Great base

I follow this lady on Facebook and read her website postings. She writes from personal experience.

This may be a good read for you.

https://www.northeastfamilyfun.co.uk/2024/06/del-garda-village-and-camping-lake.html

Desenzano is really nice and also on the train line so easy for Verona/Milan. We stayed in Hotel Vittoria across from the boat dock and did trips to Sirmione and Garda. We had a car but left it parked apart from one day where we went to an animal park.

I love lake Garda and have been several times, never with a car. The ferry times are a bit hit and miss, though I like using them. The buses are more frequent (and cheaper). Around Bardolino is lovely with the path along the lakeside. I’ve also stayed in Peschiera which has a train station, 20 mins to Verona etc and a pretty centre bit not as nice as Lazise or Bardolino.