Riva del Garda

tagoat

heading off next week to Riva del Garda. any information on this resort greatly appreciated

BBDBB

its many years since Ive been, so my info is out of date, but it is beautiful, you are at the foot of the dolomites so the scenery is spectacular, take the ferrys around the lake, the towns are lovely and its the best way to get a great view of the place. Food & wine is fantastic especially if you can eat overlooking teh lake and the people were very friendly and stylish.

You can get a train from the south of the lake, near Sirmione (I think) to Venice and Verona, both are well worth it if you havent been

Riva is quite windy and a haven for windsurfers

Im sure you will love it

tagoat

tagoat wrote: »

heading off next week to Riva del Garda. any information on this resort greatly appreciated

BBDBB has it summed up quite well.

Just got back on Saturday from Lake Garda. We didn't stay in Riva d/G, but we took a spin up there last Thursday and liked it. There are plenty of places to eat, drink and shop, and the scenery there is dramatic.

Post and say if you'll be driving or not, and I'll get back on with some more information if you like.

Cheers.

tagoat

Thanks, appreciate all the above information, will not be hiring a car. Do hope to hire out bikes though. Would like to visit Milan or Venice or maybe both, but they appear to be a long journey for a day trip.

munchkin_utd

aparantly the local travel agents in Riva offer day trips to Venice for about the 50 or 60 euro mark. Alternatively theres a bus to Verona (2 hours) and then youre 1 1/2 or 2 hours from Milan or Venice.

Maybe limit yourself to a day trip to Verona itsself. I've heard its ok.
Also, you can get tours around the lake by boat, or better still - hire a speedboat and potter about yourself! We did that a couple of years ago and it was brilliant.

dingdong1234567

Ooooohh....sorry to butt in here, the good lady and myself hopefully will be going to Lake Garda in Sept for a few days. Hopefully doing some cycling and a day trip maybe as well.

Would there be any tips on where to hire out Mountain bikes or bikes in general that could be referenced to? We went to Lake Como a few years ago and loved it!

phog

BBDBB wrote: »

its many years since Ive been, so my info is out of date, but it is beautiful, you are at the foot of the dolomites so the scenery is spectacular, take the ferrys around the lake, the towns are lovely and its the best way to get a great view of the place. Food & wine is fantastic especially if you can eat overlooking teh lake and the people were very friendly and stylish.

You can get a train from the south of the lake, near Sirmione (I think) to Venice and Verona, both are well worth it if you havent been

Riva is quite windy and a haven for windsurfers

Im sure you will love it

A few years back we stayed further south on the lake but I'd recommend all of the above. We hired a car so we did a day tour of the Dolomites, took the train to Venice and drove to Verona for a night at the outdoor opera and a day tour around Verona. Highly recommend the area.

Some photos from our visit.

BBDBB

whereabouts were you phoq?

I ask cos I also have been to Bardolino, by chance it was the wine festival which meant there was lots going on

tagoat

tagoat wrote: »

Thanks, appreciate all the above information, will not be hiring a car. Do hope to hire out bikes though. Would like to visit Milan or Venice or maybe both, but they appear to be a long journey for a day trip.

Milan or Venice will be a long trip from Riva if you're trying to use public transport. You'd have to get yourself down to Peschiera and then take the train. The express train to Venice takes about an hour and a half - Milan is closer to 2 hours. You should get operators in Riva offering tours to Venice, which would be an alternative.

There are buses from Riva to various places around Lake Garda - this page has some timetable links. Note that the buses don't run late, and taxis are expensive.

http://www.lagodigardamagazine.com/bus-garda-lake.aspx

And there is a bus link to Verona - but the journey takes over 2 hours (it's about 125 kilometres). Here's a timetable. Verona really is well worth a visit.

http://tech.atv.verona.it/atv_www/orari_extraurb/pdf/62-64.pdf

It's worth getting one or two of the ferries around the lake, but bear in mind that Riva is right at the top of the lake, so even the fast ferry to Sirmione or Peschiera takes two and a half hours - and it's more than four hours on the slow boat.

Take a spin to any of the towns and villages around the lake - the bus routes cover pretty much all of them. Limone is only 11 km away, and Torbole is right beside Riva (about 1-2 km). Sirmione is lovely, but it's very popular with day trippers and can get very crowded. On the eastern side of the lake you can stop off at Lazise and Garda. None of these towns (except for Peschiera and Riva) are all that big, so all you'd be doing is pottering around and maybe finding somewhere to eat or drink.

It's also worth setting aside a day to get yourself down to Malcesine (about 14 km, 25 minutes on the bus), from where you can get the cable car up 1,700 metres (5,400 feet) to Monte Baldo. You can walk, climb or even take your mountain bikes with you up there. Here's a link (might be in Italian but there's an English version available as well).

http://www.funiviedelbaldo.it/

Bike hire is very common, and you'll have no trouble finding somewhere to rent bikes.

Hope this is of some help.

dingdong1234567

dingdong1234567 wrote: »

Ooooohh....sorry to butt in here, the good lady and myself hopefully will be going to Lake Garda in Sept for a few days. Hopefully doing some cycling and a day trip maybe as well.

Would there be any tips on where to hire out Mountain bikes or bikes in general that could be referenced to? We went to Lake Como a few years ago and loved it!

I saw loads of bike rental places, you should have no trouble finding bikes to rent.

I forgot to mention the highly recommended Parco Giardino Sigurtà. If you like your gardens, this is one of the best there is.

It's in Valeggio Sul Mincio, which is about 8-9 km to the south of Peschiera at the southern end of the lake. It's easier getting there by car, but there are buses from Peschiera and from Verona.

http://www.sigurta.it/index.php

tagoat

Thanks a million folks for the information, looks like i will not get bored. will report how the trip went when i get back. hope to get around to doing as much of the above as possible. again many thanks, much appreciated.

munchkin_utd

tagoat wrote: »

Thanks a million folks for the information, looks like i will not get bored. will report how the trip went when i get back. hope to get around to doing as much of the above as possible. again many thanks, much appreciated.

i'd just add, the fast ferry on the lake is a 30 year old airfoil without any outside viewing deck.

The normal slow ferry is much more pleasant if the weather is good and worth sitting in the open air!

tagoat

thank you all for the information. We had an amazing time, very relaxing and so much to do. We were put off by the length of the day trips, most of them were early starts and a late return time. The walk from Riva to torbelo was very beautiful, very scenic with many ice cream stops along the way.
We did however take a trip on the ferry to Melcesine, and from there went on the cable car up Mount Baldo. Melcesine is a fab place with loads of windy cobble narrrow streets, perfect for wandering aimlessly around.
you will have a great time Dingdong1234567, i envy you. Riva is very popular among cyclists and you will have no bother hiring bikes. Your hotel will point you in the right direction.

markel

Tagoat - we're looking to book a similar trip. What airport did you fly into? what was transfer time to lake garda?

tagoat

Hi Markel. Flew into Verona. I stayed in Riva del Garda which was a two hour transfer. There are many other towns on the lake, which would have a shorter transfer time, I think riva was furthest from Verona.
The only other town we visited was Melcesine, which was beautiful but not as large as Riva.

markel

thanks for that tagoat:)

munchkin_utd

tagoat wrote: »

Hi Markel. Flew into Verona. I stayed in Riva del Garda which was a two hour transfer. There are many other towns on the lake, which would have a shorter transfer time, .

course there are.
Riva couldnt be further away!

I stayed over Easter in Peschiera right at the south of the lake which is only 2 or 3 motorway junctions from Verona Airport and would be a much handier option to get to to be honest.

Great town. Picturesque, plenty going on and lots and lots of reasonably priced restaurants.