We are trying to decide how to spend our last three nights in Italy before we fly out of Venice. Lago di Garda and spend a day to see Verona and the opera as a side trip. Which town? We will not have a car. Or do the opposite, Verona with a day trip to il Lago. This will be late August, we know both will be hot and crowded!
Posted by
Pacific Northwest
2699 posts
Where are you coming in from? Will you have already spent some time in Venice or are you allocating a day or two before you fly out?
If you haven't been to Venice, I would spend some time there before you fly out. If you've been and you don't want to return, I really enjoyed Verona as a day trip from Venice. But I'm not sure I'd train in from there on my departure day from Venice unless you're leaving later in the day. The train from Verona takes well over an hour and you have to get yourself to the airport as well.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32405 posts
anne,
Of the two places you mentioned, my suggestion would be to stay in Verona, but you could also take a day trip to Lago di Garda. If you'll be there in Opera season, you'll need to get a hotel booking WELL in advance (and probably Opera tickets too). There are quite a few hotels in the vicinity of Piazza Bra, which are an easy walk to the Amphitheatre.
Of the towns on the south end of Lago di Garda, only Peschiera del Garda and Desenzano have rail access. If you want to visit Sirmione, you'll have to use a Taxi or Bus from one of those stations (I was "underwhelmed" with Sirmione and won't return). If you want to visit any of the towns on the north end of the lake such as Malcesine or Limone sul Garda, you can take the Ferry (Peschiera is a good place to start, as it has rail access and it's only about a 15 minute walk to the Ferry docks). Try to use the faster Aliscafo or Catamaran for the quickest trip. Malecesine is also accessible by Bus from Verona (as I recall).
As you noted, August will probably be hot and crowded, and you'll probably hear more German spoken around Lago di Garda than Italian.
Posted by
Tampa, FL, USA
1054 posts
What time is your flight from Venice also? that is something to consider and give you enough time to make it to the airport in Venice.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16240 posts
If you intend to attend some Opera at the Arena and you don't have a car, you probably have no choice but stay in Verona. The opera show is at night and, depending which you attend, the show will end at around 01:00 am or later. If you stay at the lake and don't have a car it will be very expensive to go back by taxi as public transportation will not be available at that time.
I have been to lake Garda several times in my lifetime but I always had a car. I prefer the northern more mountainous tip of the lake, but there is no railway there, so you are limited to buses or boats, both of which stop running earlier in the evening. Sirmione in the south is a pretty medieval town but it is overrun with tourists in summer. Actually the entire lake will be crowded with German, Austrian, Dutch (and Italian) tourists. The lake is known as "il mare dei Tedeschi" (the Germans' Sea). If you don't plan to attend the Opera, then you can stay at the lake and visit Verona on a day trip. Malcesine on the north has bus service to Verona along the Verona - Riva bus line. There is a bus also from Malcesine to Peschiera from which you can take the frequent trains to Verona. Or you can stay in historic Peschiera (a fortress town which was protagonist of some epic battles during the independence wars of the Risorgimento in the XIX century. Peschiera is a big town along the Venice-Verona-Milan railway, therefore it's very convenient for transportation to Verona and also to Venice. For the north lake you can take buses or hydrofoils, just be aware that those transportation services end at about 8pm, so if you go to the north lake, leave early and make sure you know the timetable so that you make it back to Peschiera for the night.