Lake Garda - do we need a hire car? Any other tips?

[FusionChefGeoff]

We’re heading to a campsite near Peschiera del Garda this summer and realised I’ve done no research into what we’re actually going to do! DS(14) and DS (11) generally like roaming the campsite and spending every minute in the pool but I like to explore a bit

I’d love a day trip to Venice which looks like an easy train ride.

Do we need a car for a few days to explore further or is there good buses / Uber networks??

Plus if you’ve got any recommendations I’d love to hear them!

Which campsite and where are you flying to? I wanna do this!

So I went to Lake Garda but not where you are going. We didn’t hire a car but got around quite well.

We had a great time, spending time paddle boarding on the lake and hanging around our swimming pool.

The ferry is goes to all different parts of the lake and there are quite a few docks around.

There is an app called Ticket Bus Verona and it’s really good for getting the bus - with live updates of when they are coming and a route planner.

When we went up the mountain in Malsciene we got the bus there and a taxi back because I couldn’t be bothered to wait for a bus when I wanted to get home.

We also rode bikes around but my children are a bit older so it was still a bit hairy in the town but there was hardly any cars in the countryside.

Where we were you could get around to a few different towns riding alongside the lake and so you didn’t need to go on the road.

It was one of my best holidays. Lots of beautiful things to see and do. Have a wonderful time.

I don’t think you need a car. There is a good and cheap bus service down that side of the lake. You can also get ferries to different places on the lake but they worked out quite expensive. I don’t think there are Ubers round there. You can get taxis from a taxi rank but quite difficult to call one and they were expensive. Bus is best.

Lazise, Bardolino and Garda are all on that side of the lake and are all nice towns with lots of restaurants. We hired electric bikes and cycled from Lasize to Garda, had lunch and cycled back. My kids absolutely loved this. We also had a day out at Simeone which is lovely, we went by ferry.
There's also various theme parks near there that you could get to by bus.

Venice is a bit of a trek. We went there by train but we stayed for 3 days.

It’s only 1hr 45 by Italrail. Not too bad.

We stayed in Garda. We hired bikes to explore around the lake including lazise, bardelino and other areas close by. It was brilliant. Got a train to Venice via Verona. A long day but well worth it. Got a fast ferry to Sirmoine. Enjoy

These are all fabulous ideas thank you so
much and I can stop panicking about hire cars now!

Ferries are brilliant, buses are rubbish. You can get to all the towns and villages around the lake by ferry, and it's such a lovely way to hop about.

We stayed in Sirmione but had a couple of nights in Riva and the ferry trip up the lake was one of the highlights of the holiday.

We found the buses unreliable to the resorts around the lake. They didn’t turn up on time and were very full a lot of the time so didn’t stop. Therd weren’t many of them - like every one and a half hours and stopped at 9pm. There is a timetable but I can’t remember the company.