Lake Garda / Arrive by Train or Rental Vehicle?

We visited Lago de Garda after our first trip to Venice in 2003. We stayed in Malcescine (which I highly recommend) and felt a car was essential. We picked it up at, and returned it to, the Venice airport, and had no ZTL issues at all. But the only towns we passed through were Trento and Bassano del Grappa and maybe they did not have them back then.

If you decide on a car and want to pick it up in Venice (Piazzale Roma) instead of going to the airport, be very careful to observe the posted speed limits on the bridge. There are 3 traffic cameras on the causeway and people have reported getting speeding tickets from all 3.

Thank you Lola.

Did you encounter any difficulties in finding parking in the towns as you circled the Lake?

We had a car and stayed in toney Salò on SW side of Lake Garda at Hotel Bellerive as well as in Malcesine on NW side at Hotel Castello which has it’s own beach. Both hotels had parking and are on the waterfront . We were very pleased with both hotel choices. I highly recommend renting a car, and can’t imagine not having one.
An Italian friend recommended Saló, lovely town; visitors were mostly Italian, German and other Northern Europeans. Did not see anyone else from the US. Lovely lakefront promenade. Nice shops if that interests you. We visited the beautiful Dolomites between these two stays on Lake Garda.
We were always able to find a parking place in the towns around the lake.

The answer may depend somewhat on where you'll be staying on Lake Garda. Peschiera del Garda and Desenzano del Garda have train stations, while Sirmione does not. As I recall, the towns at the northern end such as Limone sul Garda and Malcesine are only accessible by car, boat or bus (no train).

I've stayed in Peschiera and found that quite convenient by train. I was able to walk to the boat dock (about 15 minutes) and used a taxi a few times, and had no need for a car.

Thank you All so far for each reply . We will likely stay in the northern half of the Lake.

Since the 2 train stations are in the south of the Lake, we would need a limo for transport to our accommodations .

The open question is will a rented vehicle make our stay more enjoyable & flexible when visiting the towns vs using the ferry. It’s apparent too that we need to stay in a town that has a ferry dock if we don’t rent a vehicle.

I’m leaning towards a rental based on the opinions so far.

I stayed in Malcesine without a car for four nights back in 2015 and had a wonderful time. I arranged a transfer from the Roverto train station (through my hotel - Villa Lisa) and it worked perfectly. That said, I wasn't trying to see large areas. I was happy to be in and around (and above, thanks to the cable car) Malcesine and to take the boat over to Limone. If you're wanting to cover the south end of the lake too, I'd think a car would be more efficient. In Malcesine it seemed like a lot of the hotels/guest houses had parking (for all the Germans who drive down).

I’ve been to lake Garda multiple times and never without a car, so I don’t even know how how convenient it would be to have no car. There are boats that can take you across but service is limited depending on the town you choose to stay. There are buses that run on both eastern and western shores. However overall I think that Lake Garda lends itself better to car use also because there are nice places to visit around the lake that are not accessible by boat or well served by buses, such as the Valpolicella Wine region, the Strada della Forra (Forra Road), or the town of Tremosine (a jewel). Also if you are interested on a car safari you can go to the Parco Natura Viva (no convertible cars allowed or you will be dinner to some lions).
https://www.parconaturaviva.it/en/your-visit/explore-the-park/safari-park

If you decide on having a car rental I recommend to rent two economy or compact cars rather than one van for 6 people. A rental van costs as much as 3 compact cars to rent and a van is hard to negotiate the small streets of some Italian towns. Also it’s possible that the couples may want to split to do something different one day. If you drive the Strada della Forra (highly recommended) you definitely don’t want a large vehicle. Watch the videos below.

https://www.roadstodrive.com/strada-della-forra-the-legendary-road-of-the-gorges/

https://www.dangerousroads.org/europe/italy/4669-strada-della-forra.html

We have done both. Driving from Denmark to lake Garda and flying to Milano and taking the train to Pechiera del Garda and boat to Bardolino. But when we drove from home the car never moved while we were in Garda/Bardolino. We went everywhere by boat.

Hello,
Take a Train. No ZTL’s and no worries- and fun for the kids

To tour around Garda a car/van is essential.