Hi All,

I’ve got a week on the shores of Lake Garda (Italy) booked soon and I was wondering what’s worth doing in the area?

I’ve already booked an excursion to Venice and Verona (setting for Romeo & Juliet) but what else have you done and would recommend in the area?

Any cycling opportunities? either Mountain biking or family suitable stuff would be great 😛

Adv(Thanks)ance

Spent a week in Bardolino last year, gorgeous place. Cable car up to monte baldo is a good afternoon, from Malcesine. If you have kids Gardaland is really good as well. And make sure you get a couple of days just chilling on the promenade with a glass or two of the local red!.

Summit down is a guiding company ran by guy from Edinburgh iirc, Trev. Give him a shout for a days riding.

Oh, one word of advice, don’t rely on the bus service, after tea time especially, even more so if your staying further north than about laziest. It’s bloody awful.

Take a ferry up to the north end of the lake, then walk back
Venice is beautiful, it’s a long day but well worth it
Get into the back streets when in Venice, it’s a lot cheaper in the restaurants and the food is usually better

Great stuff – we’re staying in Malcesine so I’ll definitely do the cable car ride. Will check out Summit down – Thx

Really looking forward to the Venice and Verona days out. The Venice trip is all day and up to 21:00 – Thanks for the tip on restaurants.

We stayed in malcesine and it’s a great resort, a ride over limone on the ferry is nice, only takes about 20 mins they have a good beach there.Theres some good hiking around monte baldo, we took a cable car to the top, turn left along the ridge, when you get as far as you can on the ridge drop down right to the road, then follow the road to the left for about a mile, there’s a fantastic restaurant at the side of the road with an outdoor terrace that overlooks the lake, the food is fabulous and the views superb

Opera in Verona could be a winner; I’m thinking of doing it sometime even though I friggin hate Opera 🙂 It’s largely entry level stuff and a performance in the arena would be quite an experience, I reckon.

Red wine! Really, really spoilt for choice round there esp. Amarone – but it does cost.

Maybe a visit to http://www.sacromontedioropa.it/ Seriously impressive place, but maybe a bit far out for you.

Avoid Juiliette’s Balcony!

More excellent riding than you can shake a stick at!

Garda MTB is a good starting point for inspiration.

Look up these trails for starters:
Sentiero 601, Bocca di Fobia, Serpente, Skull (Val del Diaol), Sentiero della Pace.

A good guy for van uplifts is Luca’s Bike Shuttle. Contact him through Carpentari bike shop in Torbole.

+1 for Ecky Thump, the riding is FANTASTIC!!

Something for everyone – tricky downhill trails (with uplifts available) or all-day XC riding on beautiful trails with ace views.

Pick yourself up one of the local 1:50,000 maps (available in nearly every tourist tat shop) which have all the trails on, graded by difficulty! And plan your route from there. All the trails are numbered (numbers painted on rocks, trees and signs) and its almost impossible to get lost.

Here are a few of the delights in store

Enjoy 🙂

[/url] Ponale Climb by LadyAlex mtb, on Flickr[/img]

Simon Rides the Legendary ‘601’ by LadyAlex mtb, on Flickr

Alpine meadows on Dos Remit by Simon J Taylor, on Flickr

Monte Brione by Simon J Taylor, on Flickr

The whole area is one of my fave holiday spots. Reading this thread only makes me want to go back this year, sadly I have other things booked, next years a definate though. We stayed in Lazise, hired a motor boat and just spent an hour diving off it and just chilling. Brilliant. +1 for Gardaland (if youve got kids in tow that is)

We’ll be visiting the Italian Lakes for three or four days as part of a bigger trip this summer. No MTB for me, though 😥

Any recommendations for decent family hotels/hostels that can cope with two adults and two kids?

Hotel Gardenia al Lago in Gargnano is excellent.

To the OP, Gargnano itself is worthy of a day trip. Has a lot more charm than some of the busier spots.

Also recommend a side trip to Mantova. Cracking little town on a scale more manageable than, say, Verona.

We have stayed at the a hotel in Malcesine a few times with the kids.

It can be done on a half board basis but is really all inclusive, for dinner and breakfast (with wine / beer) then you get lunch for half of your stay too!

They have some great family rooms at the back of the main hotel, near the family pool (shaped like mickey mouse!)

The hotel is called the Majestic palace and is in a lot of the main internet and other travel agents books.

Hope this helps

Al

PS hire a bike from Malcesine and take it up to the top of Mt Baldo and then ride down……………fantastic way to spend a day, but beware the brakes being the other way around!

That Bardolino light red is nice, mmm…

I’d echo the point about the brakes. A day on the uplift spoilt for me. Get the hire shop to swap them round for you to avoid hairy almost-over-the-bars moments.

Excellent – it sounds like I’m going to have a great holiday.

Thanks for all the ideas 😀

We stayed in Limone and took the boat over to Macelsine for the day – should be worth doingf the other way. Limone was lovely at sunset. We hired a car so Verona was no problem, a beautiful little city. We drove to Venice and stayed overnight, ideal. Riva is great, pretty handy for Macelsine too and has a good selection of bike shops.

You can only take your bikes up the Baldo at specfic times, and it’s not the cheapest gondola ride in the world… Pretty though

You’re lucky man! Near the Lake of Garda there are many alternatives for bike lovers, but the surrounfings are worth a visit for many other reasons: art, culture, history (the Arena is beautiful, as well as the city centre), and also for food and wine! I visited Verona and Lake of Garda many times and I always enjoyed my stay!

Garda lake is our families favourite destination for the summer. We say every year that we are going to head somewhere else but somehow we always get drawn there. As the others have said there is lots to do around the lake. If you are looking for some family cycling I would say the cycle path that starts between Riva and Torbole and heads to Dro is a good bet as it’s pretty flat. It also goes through Arco which is also a beautiful little town flanked by some nice cliffs with a castle on the top of them. As the others have said Garda is a nice day out (probably best in the evening to sample the bustling night shopping scene in the narrow streets). Bardolino is equally nice plus you can go to a bike shop there and get served by a former world and olympic mountainbike champion.

Make sure you just go out in the late evening and people watch. You can play “spot the person who doesn’t look like a supermodel” It will take you a while to find one.

Just booked the first week in August in the Majestic Palace in Malcesine. Can’t wait! Can you hire helmets etc along with the bike?

D’Annuncio’s wee villa half way the west side is worth a visit ,well quite extraordinary really! This was the guy that inspired Mussolini…check out his p*nis slippers and his nightshirt..the kids will be astonished!!