I’m off to lake Garda with the wife and kids in 2 weeks and have been trying to enquire about some guided all mountain riding but the companies I contacted stated they needed a minimum of 3 to set something up but did recommend some shuttle services up the north of the Lake (Torbole).

The issue is I’m stay down in Peschiera del Garda which looks to be on the opposite end of the lake to the town of Torbole recommended to get uplift with. This looks to be about an hour’s drive away from me.
Can anyone tell me where the best riding is, and am I the wrong end of the lake?

Also any recommendations for a day out all mountain/enduro style riding. Uplift or pedalling.. Would also need to hire a tidy bike.

Just back from a week in Torbole.
That North end of the lake is definately the focal point for all the outdoorsy stuff. On that basis, yes you’re at the wrong end of the lake.

I’m pretty sure that carpentari in Torbole will be able to sort guiding as well as rental. We met a guy called Alex who’d just been taken on as a guide by them so they must be doing a fair bit. A couple of guys rented the Cube Hanzz from Carpentari, which was a sensible enough choice for the trails around there. If you arrange in advance they’ll happily swap the brake levers over for you.
Luca and Titziana run bikeshuttletorbole from the carpark opposite Carpentari.
Even if you can’t arrange guiding then just ask Luca for some recommendations and he’ll drop you at the starting points from which navigation should be easy enough.
There’s loads of fabulous riding in that area. Don’t waste your time riding UP, you’ll be exhausted enough with the intensity and duration of the downs.

yes, you’re at the wrong end of the lake. I dare say there will be something for you locally, but all the mountain stuff is at the north end.

The riding is amazing…at the north end of the lake. I’ve used the companies about and found them pretty reliable. There are decent maps around and navigation has been pretty straight forwards.

We honeymooned in Limone two years ago and will definitely head back to Malcesine with the bikes. The riding around Mt Baldo looked awesome.

Cheers,
Jamie

Thanks all for the confirming what I thought about my location..

Ecky-Thump, them links are perfect, thanks! will hire a bike and head the bike shuttle in Torbole. Is it easy enough to navigate from the shuttle drop off, or is it marked? How long does it take to get down?

Yes I am afraid you are about a 1.5 hour drive from the north of the Lake (because of the heavy traffic). All is not lost though. There are some sign posted trails around Bardolino and Garda that have some nice descents but just not as long as the north but they are steep and very rocky. There is also a bus service which you can basically stick your bike on the bike rack on the back from Bardolino up to Monte Baldo and there are some cracking descents from there. As for bike hire most of the major bike hire shops are in Torbole or Riva but Lazise and Bardolino have a couple of bike shops that do hire out bikes but not of the quality that you would get further north AFAIK.

Yes, fairly easy to navigate. You will be dropped off with a larger group so there will always be someone to tag along with.
Two uplifts in a day generally works quite well but some (eg 601) will take you all day because of the initial climb up, leaving little or no time for a second uplift (unless you’re quick).

Top trail recomendations:

601 from Altissimo. This was the stand-out trail of the week, a 400m ride/push/carry up from the shuttle to the top, then it starts all nice and flowy with big mountain views over the lake, before turning into a bouldery blast and ultimately a tech-fest towards the bottom. Blooming brilliant. So good that some of us went back the following day and rode the bottom section again in the rain. That was characterbuilding!!! Off the brakes over the rough wet limestone stuff and look for a braking point where you could loose some speed in the wet leaves where there was at least SOME grip.

Skull (Val del Diaol) is a freeride trail built by the guys at Alta Garda Bike Area. Starts from Mt Baldo road.

Veccio Porto Ponale descent from near Pregasina down to the lake is a nice techy section too. Combine it with Val di Pur trail to Lago di Ledro.

Serpente (Anaconda) is a nice flowy loamy trail starting from Santa Barbara.

No 6 trail from Mt Baldo to Navene is a good mix of everything, mega fast and flowy with switchbacks and a nice fallen treetrunk drop.

Can’t wait to go back!

Dan45a, I’ll be there from 9th to 20th, were staying at Bella Italia campsite.
Just working out what bike to take.

We’re driving down there, so I’m also currently planning the route.

Where are you staying?

Cossyrush – sent you an email

We hired bikes in Riva del Garda from this place

http://www.gardabikeshop.com/ – they rented brand new Cannondale Jekyll’s for about 29e/day. They also do guiding, Mr C went on a guided ride with them where they were shuttled to top of Mt Altissimo and then did the huge decsent back to Riva. Quite a few of the people on the ride probably shouldn’t have been there and he said progress was very slow. Think they give a discount of the hire price if you book a guided trip.

He drove me up there the next day and using his somewhat limited description I did the descent on my own and got to the bottom but not the way he described! It was very good anyway. So if you are happy with route finding then suggest not going on a guided ride. A few keen souls were cycling up the road and some keener still were cyling up the descent – waves of Germans appearing up this gully, it was like they were coming over the trenches – quite odd!

A friend sent me this link to rides – not used it, it’s in German but she used it when she went there – might suggest some rides at south end of lake http://www.gps-tour.info/.

Whatever you do, do not attempt to drive along the lake on a Friday/Sat/Sunday unless you fancy sitting in a traffic jam all day.

Also check http://gardamtb.com/index_eng.php for some awesome ride ideas.

Dont be put off the Tremalzo ride that all the shops push. There’s a disappointing loss of height on some loose double track from the tunnel, but the stuff in the tree line lower down is amazing, and the old road back into Riva along the lake at the end is a good finish. Fairly long uplift time though.

It’s a fantastic place, as above, on 601 you get to look down on the lake from 2000m above it!

We used that^ gardamtb website for most of our routes and tourist info. Thing was, a lot of the routes on there are long and we wanted lazy mornings and to be on the beach at Torbole by mid afternoon, so our options were limited. We did do a few longer routes ie 601, but mostly shorter stuff ie The Skull and shorter xc tours etc.

There are a few routes in Garda which will be a much shorter drive for you. the Monte Belpo/Monte Luppia route looks ok and I dare say you could cut it short and/or get someone to uplift you, there’s also an alternative xc mince route for all abilities.

I think I meant Mt Tremalzo not Mt Altissimo

We stayed at Bella Italia 2 years ago. My Children learned to speak excellent Dutch!

As for cycling – nothing great from the campsite. You are better off if you have road bikes, but otherwise it’s quite a drive to get to anywhere good.

We stayed in a bungalow and it was okay. Getting food offsite is cheaper and easier with a Lidl just down the road. The pools do get very crowded.

Well worth hiring a road bike too, some excellent riding to be had… if you like that sort of thing 🙂

Top Of the 601 Trail – Ecky Thump in this shot.

The hire bikes can take a battering.

Luca’s bike shuttle (Bike Shuttle Torbole)

The Altissimo refuge

Some good pics there John (MMtM)

you can catch the boat up to the north of the lake from desanzano or sirmoine, but they are likely to take longer than driving, but a lot more scenic.

Got a timing question…If I take the bike shuttle torbole up to do the 601 trail, how long does this take from meeting the uplift to getting up and then coming down at a steady rate. thanks!

Uplift leaves Torbole at about 9:30
a good hour in the van to the roadhead, say 10:45
400 metres climb/push/carry to the refuge on the top for lunch, say 12:00
I can’t remember the timings for the 601 descent as we were a mixed group and maybe took quite a long time waiting for the slower ones, lets say 15:00 back in Torbole after a few obligatory foto stops and mechanicals.

Thanks Ecky-Thump, good info. Just got to plan which day I do it now, and sort a suitable hire bike.

Do you recommend a 160mm or 180mm bike?

We had a mixture of 140/160/180 and even a full-on 200 DH bike in our group.
140 limits your enjoyment a bit
200 is a big bike to haul up there
Anything in between would be fine.

If you’re hiring from Carpentari then you’re looking at the Cubes. I’d go for the Hanzz which is a 180 I think.
I took my own bike. Patriot with a 66RC3ti. It was spot-on.

You need to find out which days Luca is planning on going up there too. He’ll do different routes on different days. You might only get a choice of a couple of days for Altisimo 601. Either text or ring him.

The trick with Garda is knowing where to go. 95% of riders that go there do the same half dozen trails, even the regular visitors. I’ve been going there for 8 years and for example show people that have lived there for 15 years and work in the local bike shops trails they had never done and were amazed they had missed them. I’ll be there for 3 months this summer and certainly won’t get bored with over 1000km of marked trails to go at… then there are the unmarked ones 🙂 if you need any help or pointers 🙂