Alas, the largest lake in Italy, and the place that inspired our entire trip!
Covering over 143 square miles and about 1,150 feet at it’s deepest, its waters are shared between 3 provinces: Verona, Brescia and Trento. The scenery and the range of available activities around the lake can satisfy any traveler looking for variety in one area.
While the other lakes on our trip were serene and beautiful – places we’d love to rest and relax at, Lake Garda could have kept us busy for over a week. But… we only had a few short days. It’s probably best we weren’t there longer, however, as my husband was eaten alive be mosquitos!
It was difficult to decide where to base ourselves in Lake Garda and I debated heavily between Torbole and Sirmione, which are basically polar opposites in many ways.
Torbole sits at the northern tip of the lake and has beautiful views of water, trees and mountains, offering water sports and other outdoor activities.
In contrast, Sirmione is on the peninsula that juts out from the southernmost and widest part of the lake. It’s a bit more touristy and has several historical points of interest in walking distance. In the end, we chose to stay in Sirmione as it ended up being a bit more convenient for us. Plus, who doesn’t want to stay near a castle?!
Thursday, September 26
Sirmione, Lake Garda
Osteria Al Torcol, Sirmione (rate 4/5)
This was a cute little restaurant in the old town area of Sirmione behind the castle (you can’t drive there unless your hotel is past the castle) that we went to for our first dinner in Lake Garda. It was all the way up to the right on one of the little alleys and occupied two sides of it – with traditional indoor restaurant seating as well as a garden terrace. We opted to enjoy dinner on the garden terrace.
The food was really good and the service was strong as well. We did struggle a bit with mosquitos, however that seemed to be common all over Sirmione. We had also had some issues with mosquitos in Lugano the night before.
Here, we ordered:
- Shrimp linguine
- Lamb (amazing!)
- Octopus (really good!)
- Veggies
- Salad (really large western-style salad)
- Wine, of course!
The bill was around €90.
(Apologies for the terrible photos. The lighting was awful and my attempts to fix it later only made things worse. I promise the food wasn’t all pink and terrible…)
Hotel Saviola Sirmione, Lake Garda (3.5/5)
Overall, this was a decent hotel – clean and simple. Location was okay – easy to find, small lot with free parking – but it was a little far from the main area around the castle. The walk to the castle was about 10-15 minutes depending on how tired we were (10 minutes the first day, 15 at the end of the last day)!
There is no elevator at this property and I believe all of the rooms are upstairs. They offered to help with luggage but my husband took care of the bags. The other thing we didn’t like about this hotel was that they didn’t have an iron on site! They stated it was due to fire hazard, but it was rough for us as we had to resort to some creative hair dryer + flat iron combinations to have wearable dress shirts for our day/night out with my husband’s clients. (Reminder: we blew out the travel steamer we brought the first day of the trip…)
The room and bathroom were simple and very clean, although the shower was VERY small. As we also found to be the case in another hotel later on, it had just enough room to stand and turn in. The A/C worked well, although I think it shut off sometime during the night and I woke up hot and had to turn it back on. Not sure if it was user error or not! 🙂 I was pleasantly surprised that although there were a ton of mosquitos outside on the property, we had zero issues with mosquitos in our room.
The dock and chairs outside near the lake would have been really nice if the mosquitos hadn’t been so bad. I was fine out there, but the hubby was getting bit too much to enjoy it. Not the hotel’s fault at all – just didn’t get to enjoy what they offered. Free breakfast was pretty decent – lots of options, including eggs, something bacon-ish, cereals, breads, fruits, meats & cheeses, etc. Their espresso was good, and the servers were nice.
All in all, I think was a decent hotel and location, but I think if I stayed in Sirmione again, I would stay closer to the castle or even check out the hotels behind it.
Friday, September 27, 2019
Around Lake Garda
Our second day in Garda started off easy – breakfast at the hotel and some laziness around Sirmione. Then we spent the afternoon and evening with my husbands’s clients and they showed us around the lake.
We took a drive up the eastern side of the Lake Garda, stopping at Lazise and Torbole, then drove around the west side of the lake to Limone. We got a drink in Lazise and in Limone, but other areas we just stopped and walked around for a few minutes.
Limone sul Garda
One of my favorite stops was Limone, where we sat by the water in the glowing blue of the early darkness and enjoyed a drink. This town is famous for… you guessed it… lemons!
Strada della Forra
We then took the Strada della Forra up the cliff to dinner. This narrow and winding road travels across the Brasa gorge, where a famous high speed James Bond scene was filmed. This drive was crazy enough at night, but I think it would have been extra frightening during the day, when you can see how close to the edge you are.
Dinner @ Ristorante Terrazza Brivido, Tremosine (4/5)
At the top of the cliff we drove into town a bit and settled in at Ristorante Terrazza Brivido, where you’ll find the Terrazza del Brivido, which is Italian for Shivering Terrace or Thrilling Terrace. And that, my friends, is very accurate!
Part of the Hotel Paradiso property, the restaurant sits atop a steep cliff that drops 350 meters towards Lake Garda. The terrace, as well as a portion of the restaurant seating area, jut out to extend beyond the cliff and hang in the air over the beautiful scenery below. It’s a wonderful (and thrilling!) view and experience.
I would recommend getting there before dark to experience the view on the terrace first, then enjoy dinner and see it again at night afterwards!
The menu options were selected by our hosts and therefore I’m unsure of exactly what was ordered. I do know they selected some local fish small bites in addition to pasta dishes. The food was excellent!
Drinks @ Recyclage, Moniga del Garda
Recyclage was a very unique spot on our way back to Sirmione after dinner. The building holds several different businesses, including the bar, a tattoo parlor, barber shop, store, and other little stations. When we arrived it was late and everything except the bar was closed. It was a fun/unique atmosphere and the drinks were good.
Saturday, September 28, 2019
Castello Scaligero & Grotte di Catullo (ruins), Sirmione
We were lucky to have an absolutely beautiful sunny day on our last day in Garda, and I was excited to explore the castle, of course!
We bought the combined ticket for the 3 locations: Castle, Ruins & a villa in Desenzano, but we only did the castle & ruins (we weren’t interested in the villa). I believe there is free entry to the ruins (not sure about the castle) on the 1st Sunday of the month, but that didn’t apply to our timing. There’s one area that is an extra €2 to access and is reserved for a specific time I think. We skipped it and I don’t regret it.
The Castello Scaligero is a beautiful castle with nice views of the lake from up high. Even hubby enjoyed it! To get to the top, you climb a very high stairway and then another! It wasn’t too busy on the day we went, but I can imagine it probably gets very packed.
The ruins were suggested as a must-do, and it was neat, but not an absolute must-do in my opinion. Hubby called it a bunch of piles of rocks (HAHA)! There are definitely some cool photo opportunities, and you see the beautiful beach, so if you want the photos, it would be worth it. Those that enjoy the history of sites like this may also really love it.
You can also access the beach from the area as well (we saw a lot of people with beach bags heading down the walkway to Jamaica Beach). We would have done that if we hadn’t already booked the boat ride (keep reading!) for later that day. It looked like an awesome swim area!!
Between the village and the ruins was a 10-15 minute walk, but we found a little train that only cost €1,20/person on the way back, so we didn’t have to walk! It was hot and the hubby’s back was hurting so it worked out well! Just board the train and they’ll walk around and request the cash once everyone has boarded. They gave us these tickets, although we didn’t end up needing them for anything.
Marghe, Sirmione (4/5)
We had lunch here after walking by and seeing the food that others had ordered. They have a nice spot out on one of the main alleys in old town Sirmione and they plate their food beautifully. Hubby got a squid ink pasta and I just got a salad – both were good! We also got an appetizer with poached eggs, and it was just decent. I was bummed as I wanted a peach Bellini, but they were out of peach. I settled for a strawberry version and it was way too sweet. Overall, a nice lunch!
Boat rental from Garda Sunrise, Sirmione Boats (5/5)
There were several different stands along the harbor area next to the castle. They all had the same 20-minute tour for €10 that goes around Sirmione and the castle and under the draw bridge. We wanted to be out on the water a little longer, though, so we inquired about options. Many stands were offering guided tours, but they were really expensive: around €250 for 1.5 hours! In the end, we found one that we could rent our own boat and have it to ourselves for €40/hour + fuel. They had neon green shirts on that said “Garda Sunrise.”
As is common in Italy, there’s a “consorzio” – or consortium in English – for the Sirmione boats. It’s basically an association. That’s what Sirmione Boats is. Garda Sunrise is the company that is a part of the consortium.
We rented for 2 hours at 4:00 pm (they close at 6), and including fuel, we ended up paying €105 total. They gave us instructions on the map and told us a suggested route, but we did our own thing and had plenty of time to hang out on the lake as well (especially since there’s no speed limit and you can fly pretty fast on that water! I think we probably used more gas that way, though…) The only thing you can’t do with your own boat is go under the draw bridge – I guess that’s private property and you need a permit to do so. We didn’t care!
Zanoni Bottega e Cucina (5/5)
Via Parrocchiale 19 25010 Desenzano del Garda Province of Brescia, Italy
We wanted to get out of Sirmione for our last night and try something less touristy. We were also craving a good serving of vegetables. We ended up at a restaurant outside of Sirmione in Desenzano that we found online and it was perfect for what we were looking for. We avoided pasta and got an extra serving of veggies. Everything on our table was delicious, but the tomato burrata was to die for!
Caffè La Fabbrica Ice Cream, Padenghe sul Garda (4.5/5)
Via G. Marconi, 20 25080 Padenghe Sul Garda Province of Brescia, Italy
Hubby forgot his sweatshirt in his clients’ car, so we had to meet them again to pick it up. We were early, so we stopped at a little place along the road to grab dessert. We were really pleased with this little ice cream caffe!
A few things we didn’t do, but had on our list if we’d had time (and better weather) for them. It’s in order of how bummed I am I missed it (top of list) to not very bummed (bottom of list):
- Acquaria Thermal SPA, Sirmione
- Water Sports, Torbole
- Sentiero panoramico Busatte Tempesta (walkway), Torbole
- Beaches
- Parco Grotta Cascata Varone (caves north of Lake Garda)
- Elalpaca (wildlife area), Malcesine
- Castello Scaligero, Malcesina
- Isola del Garda
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Verona
This was a quick stop for us on the way to Venice. We went to the Arena, Casa di Giulietta (Juliet’s “house”) and did a bit of shopping before getting back on the road.
Parking in Verona can be tricky because of the ZTL. After lots of pre-arrival research, I found the best suggested lot to be the Piazza Cittadella parking lot. It was a short walk to the arena and it was not too congested.
Parcheggio Interrato Citadella Via Andrea Paglieri, 6 37122 Verona
The arena, while beautiful, was set up for a concert and the hubby was pretty disappointed – he felt they ruined it. I have heard, however, that if you can snag a ticket to a concert here it’s quite amazing!
Juliet’s house is a fictitious tourist spot and it’s free to visit the courtyard. You could choose to pay to go inside and step out onto her famous balcony as well. Keep your bags close to you as there is a lot of pickpocketing here due to the crowd! The courtyard also has a famed statue that you’re supposed to rub the breast of for good luck. We skipped that… dirty hands!
With our departure from Lake Garda, we ended our tour of the Northern Lakes (and the attack of the Italian mosquitos) and ventured into the rest of Northern Italy. Don’t worry though, there will still be plenty of water to be seen!
Next up: Venice! Until then…
XO,
J
