Lake Garda - October Half Term

[rp88]

Hello everyone,

I'm planning a surprise trip away for my mum's 60th. I love the look of Lake Garda (Riva) and wanted to hear perhaps from anyone who has been that time of year to how the weather was and what was still open / running at the end of October (from 23rd, 5 nights. Has to be in the half term because she works in a school).

On our UK holidays We pick places for walking / easyish hikes (peaks, lakes, North Wales, west Scotland etc..). We love visiting gardens too. Places of geographical and historical interest.

We are not into cities. Lots of people. Lounging on a beach and swimming.

Also, I do not do well with heat. Love it sunny but ideally if it can stay 14-20C that's would be perfect.

Please do let me know your experiences.
I've asked elsewhere and people kept pointing me to the Sorrento / Amalfi or Sicily areas, but I'm not sure they are what I'm really looking for.

Will be too cold and a lot of places will shut after the season. You can also have a few days of rain. Sicily will definitely be milder and better weather.
there is more of historical and geographical interest in Sicily for sure.

Riva is actually very windy and chilly compared with some of the other places in Garda. There's a reason why it's popular with windsurfers! Supposedly the latter part of October is wetter and cooler, so you might want to re-think. Malcesine and Limone are more sheltered than Riva but I'm still not sure you would want to risk it.

I'm just worried that Sicily might be too warm for walks (for me)? I get really uncomfortable when too hot and a bit moody in all honesty lol.

I'm looking for Jacket wearing weather, not t-shirt and shorts. (In fact, days like today would be perfect, sunny 13C.)

I looked at Hotel Sonia in Sicily which how amazing views of Etna. Tempted, but still unsure really.

Are you looking at Taormina? That’s on a hill, it really won’t be hot in late October. Maybe 15-18ish. it’s cold and windy on the Etna. Inland will also be cooler than in the coastal towns. You could visit temples and gardens eg Bellini’s garden.

I find Sicily 10 times more interesting and beautiful than Lake Garda especially in late October. It’s so miserable there when it’s rainy and foggy.

We looked into this last year, and agree with everyone that October isn’t a great time because a lot of things will be shut, ferries will be running less often, etc. weather would be fine for me, but apparently not for enough other tourists. Same issue in Greece - I’d love a nice out of season trip to an island but obviously not if half the restaurants and hotel are closed.

June would be a better option - more open but still not that hot.

Yes it's above Taormina, Castelmola. Reading through more reviews of Villa Sonia, actually there's a few negative ones that stand out, noisy rooms, lack of sockets, dated... (old buildings so I guess not soundproofed). I think I'd be looking for a bit more modern. The views look amazing though!

I have been to Riva del garda in October half term. We had some lovely spring like days and then other very rainy days. We absolutely loved it, but were lucky to have an indoor pool for the rainier days.

I’ll be a dissenting voice, we went to Lake Garda around that time and had a lovely time. We went at various times during the year and I’d say it’s only November-February that it’s actually cold. I’d say it’s a bit cooler than your ideal temperatures, but definitely “sunny with light jackets” which to me is better for walking. I personally hate the heat so it suited me perfectly.

We went to Peschiera del Garda. A lot of things will be shut, but if you just want a kind of local, small town experience you’ll be fine. Nowhere near as much stuff as in high season, but perfectly nice.

Northern Italy is really accessible by train, so if you did turn up and think you’d made a mistake, it would be very easy to turn your trip into a little tour of other places.

OrdinarySloth this is exactly what I was looking for, thank you. I'm just so worried about picking the wrong place to go for a special trip. As long as we have things to do/places to visit that's great. Now, I really liked the look of The Du Lac Grand hotel in Riva, and people have suggested to stay in Riva but if it's likely to get dark quickly, would it be better to stay in Garda? It's just a shame it's not as special views. But we could to trips to Malcesine, riva and lime I guess if the busses still run ok?

We also stayed in Peschiera one October half term and our experience was that it was pleasant in the day time, light sweater weather, but a lot colder than I expected in the evenings and early mornings. Peschiera isn’t my favourite place on the lake (and well away from the mountains at the north) but it’s useful in that it has a railway station so you can visit Verona and Venice if you wanted to. I think we also went to Bologna on the train from there. We went on the bus to Sirmione too.

We also stayed in Peschiera a couple of Octobers ago. It's a good base for a holiday with nice restaurants and boat trips and buses/ trains. A few things were closed but there was still a pleasant buzz about the place. Weather was cool but sunny and pleasant. Would really recommend where we stayed - Hotel San Marco by the lake. The most immaculate hotel I think I've ever stayed in. Fantastic breakfast overseen by an Italian Nonna.

Lovely having an evening drink sitting in the sun here https://maps.app.goo.gl/GLgYmGfk9oLEUTzp7

Peschiera looks great for the travelling options, but it really misses out on the mountain views I'm after straight from the hotel (or apartment). I'd like to be more on the East side of the lake for the potential of nice sunsets.

Ideas in my mind for days out are some walks with photographic wonderful views. Visiting a few interesting places around the lake, Limone looks nice. Maybe one day out of the lake somewhere, I'd love for us to find a really big botanical gardens - there is one I think by Bergamo that said on google maps 900acres but I've not properly looked into it. If we had an evening departure, maybe there might be enough time to do that before we go? Or maybe that would be too much.

Flights-wise: Stansted is our closest and most easy to get to 1.5 hours away from P'boro, straight down the A1 & M11, but it's Ryanair landing in Milan Bergamo. To get straight to landing in Verona, It's got to be from Gatwick, which is 2.5 hours from us and means tackling a bit of the horrid M25. But then the trip from Verona to wherever we're staying on the Lake will be shorter - I'm not sure which is best. 1 positive though is Mum loves Michael Portillo's great train journey's, and the train that runs from Verona to Rovereto looks like it could be very scenic :)

I'm not sure how safe it would be to book with them, but I've had a look on LastMinuite as they have lots of options not listed on others and there's some lovely Apartments in Torri del Benaco, which is a bit up from Garda. It's room only though, which would be fine but it looks a small place so perhaps nothing will be open there for an evening meal? Not sure how often the busses would run through there and up to what time.

I like the idea of Malcesine too, if I could find a nice place there - again, will there be a few restaurants open there?

I still like the Du Lac Grand Hotel in Riva, it's still an option, but thinking about the time of year and the imposing mountains, I do think it could end up being in darkness quite early, whereas further south on the east side, might get a bit longer daylight but still have some mountain views across the water.

I also went to Peschiera Del garda in October half term . It was nice but nippy in the evenings. We swam a few times at Parco termale del Garda, the thermal spa which was really nice .

I think you may have got this wrong, Taormina and Sicily would likely be low 20s in October. Last year that week was 25-30!

I went to Verona in the 2nd half of October and it was mild. When the sun was out it felt mildly warm but not hot, we did have some unsettled weather. There are some nice hot spring spas in that part of Italy which are a nice option on a grey day.

Onlyontuesday that was my thinking, it said online could be around 25 that time of year, bit on the warm side for me, for walking.

We're not really into like spa days and pools, but hot springs could be interesting to try out , especially on a colder/rainy day. I'll look into it