We will be coming from Bolzano and want to spend 5-7 days around Lake Garda. Looking for recommendations of towns to base in.
We will not have a car, relying on public transport, so a place with train or bus service would be great.
We plan to do some walking/hiking around the lake and would love to rent a couple of bikes for a day ride to expand our reach.
Bonus ask - if you also have a hotel/B&B recommendation that would be great !
I prefer the north side of the lake and Malcesine is nice. Connected by bus to Riva and also to Verona (via Garda).
If you come from Bolzano, you would take the train to Rovereto, then from Rovereto there is a bus that takes you to Riva del Garda.
https://www.gardatrentino.it/Orari/Orari%20Autobus/332Rovereto.pdf
To go to Malcesine you'd change buses at Torbole, before the bus above reaches Riva. Here is the Riva-Garda bus which stops both in Torbole and Malcesine.
https://www.gardatrentino.it/Orari/Orari%20Autobus/ATV484MalcesineGarda.pdf
Ellen,
I chose to stay in Peschiera del Garda for pragmatic reasons. It's right on the main rail line, and the hotel I used was right at the station. The hotel was about a 15 minute walk from the ferry dock so easy to get anywhere on the lake. I wanted to have a look at Sirmione, so used a taxi for that trip. In hindsight, I should have used my time in Sirmione to spend some time in Malcesine, as it's a beautiful city. I was also able to spend a few hours in Limone sul Garda.
We stayed in lovely Saló driving north and Malcesine driving back south. Malcesine has nice mtn views, beaches.
And from Malcesine you can go up to Mt Baldo with the cableway, to see the view of the lake, and also take a boat ride across to beautiful Limone. Limone is also nice, but harder to reach without a car and kind of small (and very popular with tourists in high season) and I find it difficult to find accommodations there.
You can also reach Malcescine by ferry from one of the towns that has a train station (Desenzano or Peschiera del Garda). Or book one of the hotels that will book a shuttle for you from Verona airport, or the train station at Peschiera or Rovereto ( the closest and least expensive option). Like this one ( scroll down for “offered services”:
https://www.hotelvenezia-malcesine.it/en
I am sure that other hotels there will offer this service as well ( try Hotel Castello if having a beach in front of the hotel appeals to you). I just mentioned Hotel,Venezia because we were going to stay there in September, arriving by ferry and departing by taxi (booked by the hotel) to Roverto. But then British Airways changed our flight and reduced the time we had to spend in Italy, so we had to skip Malcescine.
We have been there before and would really like to return.
We stayed 4 nights in Bardolino this past September. We enjoyed that area. Plenty big to walk around with many places to eat. We went by ferry to Garda one day and Lazise another. We walked the 3 miles back from Lazise to Bardolino via the promenade. We actually went from there to Bolzano and then the Dolomites. We liked the contrast as the southern part of the lake is very different than the northern which is more mountainous.
We considered Desenzano or Peschiera because of the train station in each, but found Desenzano to have many more hotels and restaurants along the lakefront, plus easy ferry connections to anywhere on the lake.
Make your reservations early if going in shoulder season or high season. We had started trying to book a hotel in Desenzano more than 6 months in advance for a May stay this year, and couldn't get 5 nights in either of our first or second choice.
