Lake Garda- Without a car..please help!

You might look into a private driver to take you to some of these places that are more challenging to get to.

hey hey kath27_99
i'm sure your post meant to say June 2026. are you flying into verona? how many total nights do you have and how many adults & kids, ages. as you probably know it is high high hot summer season with many wanting the same bucket lists & places you mention. it will be crowded with many bypassing lake como headed to lake garda or lake maggiore.
especially sirmione will be like a can of sardines, many tour buses, trains, ferries, private cars/vans will be daytripping (early morning/late afternoons is better.
i've been to lake garda and stayed in bardolino for their annual wine festival "festa dell'uva". it's the biggest lake with lots to see and do, not to be a deloris downer, if not renting a car you will spend lots of traveling time on the bus, trains or ferry with many stops along the way until your destination. all i can say "better way" is a car to be honest. we rented one from venice, drove to bardolino for festival, up to see small villages, lunch at pescheira del garda, then back to venice to return car
(lakegardatravel.net) look at town guides and getting around.
in other cities we have asked a taxi driver if willing to take us on a private tour, settle price and go or look for private taxi/tour in town, email/call and get a quote, especially the sanctuary
daytrip.com
toursbylocal.com
lago-di-garda-tourism.com (getting around the lake)
ask you host/hostess at hotel for info who they know for this
you have a lot to think about which is good since you don't want to wait till last minute. keep asking questions, forum here to help.the poster Roberto will hopefully pop in, he's from florence and always has great info. good luck
aloha

I was in Malcesine in June of last year, trying to get there without having to take two buses from Rovereto. A poster on this forum mentioned that she'd asked her hotel to recommend a private driver and they had given her two names. She went with the one who responded first. It was Andrea Chignola (male) at Chi-Car: [email protected], +39 333 7659 726. He's the owner of the company, based in Malcesine, and was my driver, speaks perfect English, is a delightful person, and I could not have been more pleased. Yes, it was expensive: 100 Euro. Originally, on departure day, I had planned to take the bus to Peschiera to catch a train on to Milan. Once I had seen how crowded the buses were and experienced how hot it was, I emailed Andrea and asked if he could do that that trip for me as well. Fortunately, he could. Both of these trips were arranged rather last-minute. The distance to Peschiera was greater, so the cost was 130 Euro.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like more information. I hope you have a wonderful trip.

I’m so used to mass transit, so it feels like a no-brainer to do that. I understand this is the high season. It will be my one adult child annd my husband and I traveling. We will be staying at Malcesine for five nights and then Sermione for three before heading back to Verona overnight before a flight. We wanted to really submerse ourselves into Lake Garda hence why we’re spending so much time on the lake and visiting surrounding towns. We will definitely be using the ferry for Limone and Riva. We are used to crowds and heat, we live by and go to Disney World often lol. That said this one visit to Garda and the church has me baffled. The driver option is a possibility though I’d rather not, as I’m trying to stay within a budget, but I will continue to gather names as those of you kind enough to share names and numbers, as you never know.
I really do not want to drive a car! I can’t say that enough! It is a terrifying prospect for me and I’m not sure I can get over it. That said, for those who have tried driving, who had never driven in Italy before, how did this go for you? Seriously not in my wheelhouse, but I am curious to know. Thank you for your responses.

My husband and I made a dozen trips to Italy and only rented a car once: for four days in Tuscany in order to visit some of the small hill towns that were not easily reached by public transportation. This went fine. There was not a great deal of traffic and it moved relatively slowly on the small roads.

However, having seen the traffic around Lake Garda last summer, I would be very hesitant to try to drive there.

hey hey kath27_99
i get where you're coming from, my thought was just "the best", my friend was the driver i the navigator. another poster mggtravel lived on the lake, she/he may also pop in for other names.
buses: omio.com, atv.verona.it, flixbus.com/ italy
see what public transport is like in the area, never know unless asking in malcesine for a driver to church in hill, if worth it a taxi. something will be good for you, we always think positive. enjoy
aloha

I would echo princess pupule and check with the local tourism office or your hotel or apartment host for a private driver recommendation if you don’t want to drive. In all the time I lived in the area I never went to that church …but I also didn’t live on the veneto side. Nonetheless you will see lots of beauty based on your other items on your itinerary. In summer I suggest you get up and out early in the morning for sightseeing.

We were just in Lake Garda without a car and stayed in Malcesine. It is easy to take the ferries on the north end of the lake to Limone and Riva del Garda. I really enjoyed the lemon houses in Limone.

Here is my recent trip report. You can just skip to the part on Lake Garda which follows the Dolomites. You might find some of the details helpful.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/northern-italy-trip-report-venice-padua-dolomites-and-bologna

The lake is very long so the ferry ride from the north side to the south side takes quite awhile.

My two cents on seeing the church without a car is that you either have to spend the time getting there or spend money to be efficient with a car service if you are set on going. Frankly, I would probably skip it as there are lots of other things to see that would be less trouble.

I haven’t been to Malcesine, but if I ever did go, I would want to take the cable car up Monte Baldo (look for ‘Funivia del Baldo’ on your map). You would get an incredible view of the lake, and could get out and hike a bit on the mountain.