Lake Garda

There's really no need to drive to Peschiera del Garda, take the 13-15 minute train ride from Verona. Doing this will eliminate trying to find parking and the associated fees.

Use this site to explore the towns.

https://www.lake-garda.eu/information/general/ferry/

Hi Gerri, I read previous posts about the train and it sounded like a nightmare with long waits and at times up to 2 hour delays???

I personally find it VERY hard to imagine a two hour wait for this train.
The only thing I can think of is traveling on a day when there was a rail strike. Could you provide one of the posts to see if we can figure this out.

Hi this is one of the posts I read about the long wait. I know it was from last September.
We will be there in July which will be extremely crowded.

*Posted by Christine
California
09/27/17 11:13 PM
417 posts
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This summer we took a day trip from Verona to Sirmione. Even though it sounded simple, it ended up being a very long day. We took the train from Verona to Desenzano then waited for the ferry to Sirmione. Sirmione was very crowded with tourist when we arrived. The return trip was very long because we had to wait an hour for the ferry from Sirmione to Desenzano, then a very hot hike up the hill to the train station. Then we waited another 2 hours in the hot, little train station because the train was late. We wished we had stayed in Verona for the day.*

It looks like this was due to first the late ferry, and the use of just the "regional" train. Schedule is not as frequent in the late afternoon early evening, but there are fast trains available at about 4X the cost.

I love Lake Garda. It's a nice place to rub elbows with middle class Europeans on vacation, and you won't see many Americans there.

Here is the current ferry schedule for the lake. I think when you see the amount of time it takes to get from place to place, you will have to admit that your list of places is beyond ambitious -- it's not doable. So, you'll have to narrow down your list. The south side of the lake is flat; the farther north you go, the more you have mountains. I stayed at Sirmione and really liked it, but it is pretty touristy and crowded; the castle there is ok; there are some wonderful Roman ruins that don't draw the crowds, but they wouldn't be my choice to visit if I only had one day on Lake Garda. Malcesine and the cable car to Monte Baldo are great. I haven't stopped at Limone, but it looks interesting. Riva is gorgeous and has excellent hiking.

As far as Hop On/Hop off... you can buy one-day passes for the ferries on Lake Garda; the price is dependent on how much of the lake you would like to cover.

The plan is to park either at:
Peschiera del Garda
Sirmione
or
Desensano del Garda
I am having a difficult time founding if there is public parking at these places and which town would be the best place to pick up the ferry? We will be there on Monday, July 2nd, we plan on getting there by 9:00 am, in hopes to get a parking space. One place said the parking lot was closed on Monday because of market day?

Once on the ferry we will head first to Malcesine and to Monte Baldo (your forum says it gets really busy there as the day goes on). We want to definitely go to Bardolino also and if we can make it to Riva. Then eat dinner in whatever charming town we end in. We have all day and night to spend there.

Thank you for your suggestions and any others you can offer on parking.

Ann Marie

I arrived at Lake Garda by train at the Desenzano train station and then caught a cab to my hotel at Sirmione. So, I can't help you much with parking. I've sat her googling for a few minutes and am finding tons of info on it, though. All of the cities/towns along the river have a website that can be found by googling "Comune di _____" where the blank = the name of the town. Nearly all have tourism sections that have maps or info on parking. For example, the Sirmione website has a parking page, though my understanding is that parking can be hard to find there. You can also just look up a town on Google Maps, zoom in, and the parking areas pop up. There are even reviews for the various parking areas.

If the big 3 spots you want to hit are Bardolino, Malcesine, and Riva, why not just park/start at Bardolino?

Map with parking and ferry terminal for Bardolino obtained by using the google search strategy mentioned above.

Actually, Bardolino looks like a bad place to start due to the lack of ferries stopping there, now that I look at the ferry schedule. It looks like Desenzano has the largest number of stops, but Peschiera is close. It's going to be critical that you read the ferry schedule carefully and know where you want to go, especially if you are trying to get 3 places in one day (not sure even that's possible, but I'll leave that to you to look at the schedules and figure that out). There are lots of buses that run in the area, too, though they obviously are not as scenic as the boats.

Thank you sooo much for all your help. We are taking your advice and we are only going to Bardolino and Sirmione. If time allows we will stop at one other place. Taking everyone's advise (especially Steve's) say to yourself "I will be back"!

Thank you - Cin Cin

Ann Marie

Hey amo
Loved bardolino. Spent the night at hotel nettuno few years back for their festa dell ‘uva (wine festival) right on the lake. One of my top vacation spots, walked the small town, people watched, drank bardolino wine at an outdoor cafe. You will love the gorgeous views. Have a fun time.
Aloha

Thanks for the info. Yes we decided to definitely go to Bardolino and Sirmione.

Happy Travels
AMO