Lake Garda

Lash_Alert

Hi,

Myself and my better half are heading to Lake Garda in September for 11 days. We're flying into Verona, and plan on going to a village on the south side of the village first for 2/3 nights (such as Perschia). Then we intend to go another town for a few days, any suggestions?

We want to go Riva for a few nights too and then head down to Verona for 2/3 nights to finish the trip and to fly out of.


We wont be hiring a car, we intend on using ferrys and boats to travel. Anyone done this before? I've read about the baggage restrictions on the boats etc.

Basically any tips on places to stay, towns, methods of transport and things to do during the day would be great./


Thanks in advance

Lash

hunter164

There's a train that goes from Verona to Peschiera, I'm not sure about Riva though.

I was in Peschiera a few years ago now but it's a beautiful spot, having the train there too is excellent. It means ya can get anywhere.

Lake Garda is beautiful.

Lash_Alert

hunter164 wrote: »

There's a train that goes from Verona to Peschiera, I'm not sure about Riva though.

I was in Peschiera a few years ago now but it's a beautiful spot, having the train there too is excellent. It means ya can get anywhere.

Lake Garda is beautiful.

Thanks for the quick reply. I also plan on hitting the waterpark near Perschia too...

Any tips on any other towns around Garda? Wheres worth going/not worth going for a young couple?

hunter164

There's a theme park too I seem to remember?

You can get the train to Milan from Peschiera too and you could also do a day trip to Venice? Ya can book that with someone or do it yourself once again by train. Verona is a lovely spot too. Being in Peschiera leaves you open to getting to so many places. The buses go to various other spots along the lake through Peschiera and as far as I remember it's cheap enough.

littleredspot

Peschiera is lovely and the waterpark is just on its outskirts. You can hire a kayak and travel around the town (it's got a lot of rivers) You could also hire bikes.

The train into Verona doesn't take long and it's definitely worth a visit. Even if you don't like opera you'd be tempted to see it in the amphitheatre there.

Simione is nearby, and despite all the tourists it is well worth a trip.

The best thing we did while in the area was renting a speedboat out for the afternoon. Cost about €100 but you feel like a millionaire (or Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson )

We flew back from Milan bergamo (but we had a car so you'd want to check trains) and far from being some backwater that Ryanair fly into, the old town "citta alta" of Bergamo is one of the most beautiful places I've been to, well worth a day trip.

CarrickMcJoe

Head for Malcesine to the cable car to the top of the mountain. Theme park is Gardaland.

Lash_Alert

hunter164 wrote: »

There's a theme park too I seem to remember?

You can get the train to Milan from Peschiera too and you could also do a day trip to Venice? Ya can book that with someone or do it yourself once again by train. Verona is a lovely spot too. Being in Peschiera leaves you open to getting to so many places. The buses go to various other spots along the lake through Peschiera and as far as I remember it's cheap enough.

Thanks for all the input guys...I'd be happy if you all kept it coming:)

Yea i know about gardaland etc, and they have a shuttle from Perschia (dont tell the gf but its one of the reasons ive picked there).


The boat thing sounds amazing and i priced it earlier, your prices are spot on. Think id be up for that.

As i said, I'll deffo be hitting Verona up, probably at the end though when i can see how much/little money i have left for shopping;)

Lash_Alert

CarrickMcJoe wrote: »

Head for Malcesine to the cable car to the top of the mountain. Theme park is Gardaland.

Heights I'm not good at....Really really not good at...

M three

Lash_Alert wrote: »

Thanks for all the input guys...I'd be happy if you all kept it coming:)

Yea i know about gardaland etc, and they have a shuttle from Perschia (dont tell the gf but its one of the reasons ive picked there).


The boat thing sounds amazing and i priced it earlier, your prices are spot on. Think id be up for that.

As i said, I'll deffo be hitting Verona up, probably at the end though when i can see how much/little money i have left for shopping;)

You sure you wont hire a car? Pain in the nuts lugging bags around with you.
went for a week recently with ryanair and booking a car at the while booking the flight flight only cost 125 euro, diesel cost 50. cheaper than trains, ferrys etc. It had air con too.
Peschiera - hotel aquadolce was good, 5 min walk from the town.
Sirmione was brilliant, if you stay in hotel sirmione you're staying inside the old town walls

Lash_Alert

M three wrote: »

You sure you wont hire a car? Pain in the nuts lugging bags around with you.
went for a week recently with ryanair and booking a car at the while booking the flight flight only cost 125 euro, diesel cost 50. cheaper than trains, ferrys etc. It had air con too.
Peschiera - hotel aquadolce was good, 5 min walk from the town.
Sirmione was brilliant, if you stay in hotel sirmione you're staying inside the old town walls

Ha ideally a car would be perfect, but with neither of us driving yet (i know, lazy pricks), its a no go. We're both light travellers (ie we dont change) so it shouldnt be too bad hopefully.

Thanks ill check them out. Would you recommend staying in Sirmione over Perschia, or as well as? As i could do a day trip to either.

CarrickMcJoe

Lash_Alert wrote: »

Heights I'm not good at....Really really not good at...

Thats bad.... You will be 33,000 ft up in a plane going over

Busses dont exactly stick to timetables. They come whenever.

Smurf1971

Malcesine, Bardolino, Sirmione and Garda Town are well worth visiting. All very beautiful with loads of restaurants and coffee shops.

Was there last year, found the bus & ferry services very useful and easy to use.

Enjoy it, beautiful place.

M three

Lash_Alert wrote: »

Ha ideally a car would be perfect, but with neither of us driving yet (i know, lazy pricks), its a no go. We're both light travellers (ie we dont change) so it shouldnt be too bad hopefully.

Thanks ill check them out. Would you recommend staying in Sirmione over Perschia, or as well as? As i could do a day trip to either.

Sirmione is much nicer, you should go there. its a peninsula about 2 miles long that juts out from the southern shore of lake garda. towards the end of it, it gets narrow enough, and there are fortified walls across, with a castle as part of the walls - you can pay a small sum and climb the walls, great view and great place to take pics. dont miss the wee church near the entrance to the castle, the smallest church i've ever seen and probably hundreds of years old. past the walls you have small narrow streets packed with little shops, cafes, ice cream parlours. very quaint little spot.
Peschiera is nice place too but not a patch on above. interesting old city walls that you can walk along and cheap to hire a boat from there for a few hours too. just remember you pay for diesel on top of the hire cost so ask about that first.

Smurf1971

Sirmione is beautiful. Never visited Peschiera.

I stayed in Bardolino last year for 2 weeks and absolutely loved it. Its a good mixture of bars, restaurants, shopping and walks. And its a good central point for the Ferries and buses that serve both North and South of the lake. If I was to go back, I would def stay in Bardolino again.

M three

Smurf1971 wrote: »

Sirmione is beautiful. Never visited Peschiera.

I stayed in Bardolino last year for 2 weeks and absolutely loved it. Its a good mixture of bars, restaurants, shopping and walks. And its a good central point for the Ferries and buses that serve both North and South of the lake. If I was to go back, I would def stay in Bardolino again.

I didnt get to Bardolino, you reckon its nicer than sirmione?
Will head back there sometime, think end of april / beginning of may is a good time to go to lake garda, after that i'd say the heat and increase in visitors would be a pain in the ass

Smurf1971

M three wrote: »

I didnt get to Bardolino, you reckon its nicer than sirmione?
Will head back there sometime, think end of april / beginning of may is a good time to go to lake garda, after that i'd say the heat and increase in visitors would be a pain in the ass

Wouldnt say Bardolino is nicer than Sirmione, but I think its a great base to explore the entire lake towns.

I was there last June for 2 weeks. I would say we had 1 great week of sun and 1 week of dull/mizzle weather. And when a storm its the lake, it really is spectacular viewing!

Theboinkmaster

I was in Malcesine and thought it was great.

hardCopy

Sirmione is beautiful as others have mentioned, well worth a night or two. Lasize is also a lovely spot.

You could easily get to Sirmione and probably Lasize by bike in a day from Pesciera. Might be worth renting one if you want to get around a bit without a car.

mark11original

Smurf1971 wrote: »

Sirmione is beautiful. Never visited Peschiera.

I stayed in Bardolino last year for 2 weeks and absolutely loved it. Its a good mixture of bars, restaurants, shopping and walks. And its a good central point for the Ferries and buses that serve both North and South of the lake. If I was to go back, I would def stay in Bardolino again.

Going to head to Lake Garda this Summer and just started researching hotels. What hotel did you stay in and how was it? Also did you hie a car anytime over the two weeks?

swn

Heading to Sirmione in a few weeks from Milan Bergamo airport. Anyone have any idea how I might go about getting their from the airport?

Fizman

swn wrote: »

Heading to Sirmione in a few weeks from Milan Bergamo airport. Anyone have any idea how I might go about getting their from the airport?

I was in Malcesine last week, and flew home via Bergamo.

You have a shorter trip than me, but if I retrace my journey.......

-Bus from Bergamo airport to Brescia train station (it was number 14, cost €11 and a little under one hour)
- Train from Brescia to Peschiera del Garda (about 30 mins, we got first class for about €6)
- There is a bus stop right outside the Peschiera DG station front door. The bus we got on went in the Lazise direction, so you will need to go in the opposite direction. I can't say for certain if this stop caters for this route though. You might have the option of getting off at a slightly earlier stop, but Peschiera DG is only 10km away from Sirmione anyway so at least the above will get you nice and close!