Lake Garda, Italy: An Independent Travel Guide to the Shores

West, East, North and South

Lombardy owns the west shore, with Desenzano, Sirmione, Salò, Gardone Riviera and Limone. Veneto owns the east, with Peschiera, Lazise, Bardolino, Garda, Torri del Benaco and Malcesine. Trentino holds the narrow north tip, Riva del Garda, Torbole and Arco.

The wide south is low moraine country left by the retreating ice, and it carries the only railway line. The north is a fjord under high mountains and further from the railway. The lake surface sits at 65 m above sea level and the shoreline runs 158.40 km around.

The table below compares the four shores on trains, boats and driving so you can match one to your trip.

Without a Car

The only stations are Desenzano and Peschiera, both on the Milan-Venice line, with stops about every hour or more often. From either station you reach Sirmione by bus or taxi. Riva del Garda has no station of its own.

The nearest is Rovereto, and regular Trentino Trasporti buses carry on to Torbole, Riva and Arco. You cannot buy those bus tickets on board, so get them before boarding. On the east shore, ATV line 164 links Garda, Bardolino, Lazise, Gardaland, Peschiera and Verona, and lines 483 and 484 run from Riva and Torbole down the east shore through Malcesine to Garda and Peschiera.

Work out the whole chain on getting around without a car and start from Desenzano.

With a Car

A car frees you from the boat timetable, with one trap in Sirmione. Its historic-centre ZTL applies from 23 March to 13 October, entry needs prior authorisation, and fines run from $92.73 (€83) to $372.03 (€333). The main car park for the old town is Piazzale Monte Baldo, and the SirmioPark service shows free spaces in real time.

On the water, the only car ferry is Maderno-Torri. No car ferry between Malcesine and Limone exists. The crossing takes 30 minutes and a car up to 4.50 m costs $16.65 (€14.90) with the driver included.

Compare hire terms on car rental and read the Sirmione access rules before you drive in.

Sirmione Castle

The Rocca Scaligera stands at the gate of Sirmione's old town, and the town's tourist office sits just in front of it in Viale Marconi. The ticket includes the keep, and under-18s enter free. The ticket office closes 45 minutes before the castle does.

The Ministry page does not say whether its hours are summer or winter hours, so check before you go. The table lists the entry tickets for the castle and the Grottoes. Practical tip: come at the 8:30 opening, before the boats from Desenzano land.

Details on Sirmione Castle.

The Grottoes of Catullus

At the tip of the peninsula lie the ruins of a Roman villa, with an archaeological museum on the same ticket. Payment at the site is by card only, and the last entry is 40 minutes before closing. The Sunday close comes early, at 14:00, so a Sunday visit belongs in the morning.

A combined 7-day ticket also covers the castle and the Roman Villa in Desenzano, worth it if you are staying two days or more. See the Grottoes of Catullus.

Monte Baldo by Cable Car

From Malcesine the cable car climbs to the top station at 1,760 m in about twenty minutes, with a summer season and a winter season on the mountain. The adult return is $33.52 (€30) at the office and $31.28 (€28) online, and juniors born 2012 or later pay $20.11 (€18) return. Children up to 1.20 m travel free with a free ticket from the office.

Departures run every 30 minutes, weather permitting. The line closes for maintenance from 2 November to 25 December, and the winter season starts 26 December. Two official pages give different last-ascent times, so check the day's timetable at the station.

Fares on Monte Baldo tickets, the mountain on Monte Baldo.

Malcesine Castle

Castello Scaligero rises above Malcesine's harbour on a rock over the water. The tower stands 31 m high and the castle sits about 70 m above the lake, and it has been a national monument since 1902. Inside you find the Monte Baldo and Garda natural history museum and a room devoted to Goethe.

The opening pattern is seasonal and worth reading twice: daily to 31 October from 9:30 to 18:00, then November weekends only from 10:30 to 17:00, daily again 5 December to 6 January, then weekends from 9 January. Entry costs $7.82 (€7) for adults, $5.59 (€5) reduced and $3.35 (€3) for children aged 6-13, with under-6s free. Details on Malcesine Castle.

Limone's Lemon House

Limonaia del Castèl is Limone's lemon house. Lemons grow this far north only because the lake keeps the shore mild, the same climate that lets olives, palms and oleanders grow at the foot of the Alps. It opens daily in April, May and October from 10 to 18, and from June to September from 10 to 22.

In the other months you arrange a visit by phone in office hours, +39 0365 954008. No ticket price is published, so ask when you call or pay at the gate. The easiest approach is by boat: the ferry from Malcesine takes 20 minutes and costs the zone 3 fare of $8.38 (€7.50) one way,.

Pair it with the Limone guide for the village itself.

The Varone Falls and the Ponale Path

Two outings share one base at the north tip. The Cascata del Varone is a waterfall in a gorge near Riva. The ticket is $7.82 (€7) and family tickets run $21.23 (€19), $26.81 (€24) or $31.28 (€28), sold on site only.

Hours move with the month, as the table shows, and the park closes only on 25 December. Allow at least 20 minutes. The Ponale Path is the classic walk out of Riva: 6.4 km, about 3 hours, climbing 736 m on a road begun in 1851, guarded by Austro-Hungarian forts from 1860 and turned into a hiking path in 2004.

It is listed easy but treated as an alpine trail prone to rockfall, and bus 214 brings you back from the Pregasina junction. More walks on hiking routes around the lake.

Il Vittoriale in Gardone Riviera

Il Vittoriale is the estate the poet Gabriele d'Annunzio built and filled on the hillside above Gardone Riviera, and it is open all year. Tickets are sold only online through the Vittoriale's own shop, and the current prices and hours live there rather than on any summary page, so buy and read them in one stop. If a problem comes up, phone +39 0365 296511.

By boat it fits neatly into a west shore day, because the summer timetable stops at Gardone. On the sample summer runs the ordinary boat calls at 11:22 and the fast service at 10:33, so check the day's timetable and pick your line. Plan the visit on Il Vittoriale.

Gardaland

Gardaland sits at Castelnuovo del Garda, just inland from Peschiera, and bills itself as Italy's number one amusement resort, with rides including Oblivion, Blue Tornado and Raptor, plus Peppa Pig Land for smaller children. ATV bus 164 from the lake towns stops at the park, and the ticket card lists a free shuttle from Peschiera station. The park runs event seasons on top of normal opening, Magic Halloween through to 1 November and then Magic Winter, so check the park calendar for your dates before paying.

For entry, the Gardaland one-day ticket lists $50 per person, non-refundable, rated 4.6 from 3,102 reviews. Full opening detail on Gardaland.

What a Crossing Costs

The one-way fare depends on how many zones your route crosses: $1.68 (€1.50) in zone U up to $19.55 (€17.50) in zone 7. Desenzano to Sirmione is zone 1 at $3.91 (€3.50), Peschiera to Sirmione is zone 2 at $6.70 (€6), Sirmione to Garda is zone 4 at $12.85 (€11.50) and Sirmione to Riva is zone 6 at $17.88 (€16). A return costs double the one-way fare.

Children aged 4-11 pay the child fare, which is lower on most zones. Fast boats flagged SR add a zone supplement of $2.79 (€2.50) to $6.70 (€6), carry no reductions and take no bicycles. If the ticket office is open, a ticket bought on board costs $1.12 (€1) extra per passenger.

Tickets are valid only on the day of issue. The fare table below lists every zone with an example route from the official fare matrix.

How Long the Boat Takes

These are sample runs from the summer timetable, which runs 16 May to 4 October. Desenzano to Sirmione takes 20 minutes on the ordinary ferry. On the east shore run, a boat leaves Peschiera at 8:00 and reaches Garda at 9:00, calling at Lazise at 8:28 and Bardolino at 8:45.

On the north line, a boat leaves Malcesine at 8:55, calls at Limone at 9:15 and reaches Riva at 10:00. The full-length ordinary boat leaves Peschiera at 9:10 and arrives in Riva at 14:00, close to five hours end to end. The fast service leaves Desenzano at 9:20 and reaches Riva at 12:15, under three hours, supplement required.

The table below lines up those sample runs town to town.

Day Passes and the Family Offer

If you plan several long hops in one day, a pass beats single tickets. The whole-lake day pass costs $44.13 (€39.50) for an adult and is the only pass that includes the fast SR boats. The three-day whole-lake pass is $88.26 (€79).

Alto lago and Basso lago day passes cost $30.16 (€27). Four zone passes, Nord, Centro, Ovest and Est, cost $26.25 (€23.50) and run for one day only. Families do well with the Happy Family offer: two full-price day tickets bring free day tickets for up to 2 children aged 4-11.

Our sum: four zone-4 rides at $12.85 (€11.50) each come to $51.39 (€46), more than the whole-lake pass.

The Winter Gap

From 5 October to 1 November an autumn timetable runs, thinner than summer and with some runs daily only until 11 October. Then comes the hard fact: from 2 November to 12 March no passenger boats run anywhere on the lake. The only boat moving is the Maderno-Torri car ferry, a 30-minute crossing of the middle lake.

In winter it runs first from Maderno at 8:10 and last from Torri at 18:40, does not run on 25 December, and an adult foot passenger pays $8.38 (€7.50). A spring timetable starts from 13 March. The consequence for a winter trip is simple: you move by car and by bus.

Plan a cold-season visit with the lake in winter and check seasons and fares on the ferry page.

The Rule the Day Turns On

Pick one shore and stay on it. The lake is 51.60 km long, and the ordinary boat needs close to 5 hours to crawl from Peschiera to Riva, so criss-crossing by water uses up a one-day trip. In summer the boat is the road, and a short crossing is a pleasure in itself.

From 2 November to 12 March there are no passenger boats at all, so the same plan must run by bus or car. Before you set out, check what is closed: the Sirmione castle and the Grottoes of Catullus both close on Mondays. The full structure is on the one-day plan.

The South Day From the Train

Take the train to Desenzano, then the ferry across to Sirmione: 20 minutes, zone 1, $3.91 (€3.50) each way. A castle entry ticket costs $15, and a combined 7-day ticket also covers the Grottoes of Catullus and the Roman villa in Desenzano. Save the Grottoes for the afternoon, and note that on Sundays they close at 14:00 with last entry 40 minutes before.

When your feet need a rest, the 25-minute Sirmione peninsula cruise costs $13 and needs no planning. In the evening, the Sirmione sunset boat tour at $34.21 adds 45 minutes on the water and a flute of Prosecco. The town itself is on Sirmione.

The Mountain Day From Malcesine

Start at the Monte Baldo cable car in Malcesine. A return to the top costs $33.52 (€30) at the ticket office or $31.28 (€28) online, so buy ahead. The ride to the top station at 1,760 m takes about twenty minutes.

Come down, see the castle with its 31 m tower, then take the ferry to Limone: 20 minutes, $8.38 (€7.50), zone 3, and walk to the lemon house, open June to September 10:00-22:00, price not published, so call +39 0365 954008 first. Or let someone else sail: the Malcesine historic sailboat cruise costs $45 for 2 hours on a sailboat about 100 years old. Out of season the cable car is shut from 2 November to 25 December.

More on Malcesine.

The Wine Afternoon on the East Shore

Bardolino and Lazise are the wine towns of the east shore. From Peschiera station, ATV bus 164 runs Garda, Bardolino, Lazise, Gardaland and Peschiera on its way to Verona. The easy tasting is the Bardolino vineyard tour, $40 for 1.5 hours in a group capped at 10, with 5 wines, self-produced olive oil and local cold cuts and cheeses.

Between tastings, hop the boat: Bardolino to Garda is zone 1 at $3.91 (€3.50) each way, and Garda's waterfront makes a good turn-around point. The town page is Bardolino and the wine story is on Bardolino wine.

What to Drop as the Hours Shrink

The south-shore day is the easiest to cut down, because every piece of it sits on one peninsula. The table shows what to keep and what to drop as the time you have gets shorter, built on the Sirmione hours and fares above.

Garda Olive Oil

Olio Garda DOP has been protected as a PDO since 1997, and its main cultivars are Casaliva, Frantoio and Leccino. Every stage of production, from grove to press, happens in the municipalities around the lake. The reason olives and lemons survive this far north at all is the shore's mild Mediterranean-type climate, unusual this close to the Alps.

Look for the DOP mark on the bottle. What else the lake puts on the table is covered on food and drink around the lake.

The Wine Shores

The east shore grows Bardolino red and Chiaretto in the hills above Bardolino and Lazise. Lugana comes from the vineyards just south of Sirmione. Tastings are short and easy to book: the Bardolino vineyard tour runs $40 for 1.5 hours with 5 wines and olive oil, groups of up to 10.

If you would rather cook than sip, the cooking class in Garda town costs $111 for 3 hours of pasta, Tiramisu and wine, capped at 12 people, adults only, with hotel pickup included. More on the wines is on Bardolino wine, and town-by-town eating is on where to eat.

Choosing Where to Eat

This guide names a restaurant only where a published list can be cited, so the lake-wide picture lives on where to eat, with Sirmione broken out on Sirmione restaurants. Two practical notes for dinner planning. The Grottoes of Catullus take cards only at the till, no cash.

And Sirmione's historic centre is closed to traffic, so drive to the Piazzale Monte Baldo car park and walk in. Out of season, when the boats stop, plan dinner in the town you sleep in.

By Plane

Verona-Villafranca is the practical choice at about 15 km from the lake, with Brescia-Montichiari at 30 km and Bergamo Orio al Serio at 80 km. Many visitors also fly into Milan Malpensa, Milan Linate or Venice Marco Polo, each about 100 km. From Verona airport an Aerobus runs to Verona Porta Nuova station every 20 minutes, and from roughly June to September the public bus to Garda stops at the airport itself.

Distances and onward routes for each airport are set out on the airports page. The table below compares the six airports by distance and onward link.

By Train and Bus

The lake's only railway line runs along the south shore, and the two stations you want are Desenzano del Garda and Peschiera del Garda, both on the Milan-Venice line. Regional, intercity and high-speed trains stop there about every hour or more often. Sirmione has no station: from either station you continue by bus or taxi.

A shuttle bus runs from Colombare to Sirmione's centre from April to October, with tickets in the Arriva Italia app, and on-board tickets cost more than tickets from machines or shops. For the north, Riva del Garda has no station either, so ride to Rovereto and take the 17 km Trentino Trasporti bus. On the east shore, ATV lines 164 and 483/484 link Peschiera, Garda, Bardolino, Lazise and Malcesine.

Journey times vary by service, so check the operator's own timetable before booking. Routes from the two big cities are on Milan to Lake Garda and Verona to Lake Garda.

By Car

A car is easy everywhere except Sirmione. Its historic centre sits inside a ZTL, a limited-traffic zone, active from 23 March to 13 October, and driving in without authorisation risks a fine of $92.73 (€83) up to $372.03 (€333). On 31 days of the season the centre goes fully pedestrian from 14:00 to 19:00, with transit banned in both directions.

Bicycles must be pushed by hand between Largo Goethe and Piazza Piatti. Taxis may enter the centre, and the rank stands in Viale Marconi near the Infopoint, just before the castle. Rental terms, insurance and depot choices are on car rental.

Summer and the Shoulder Months

The table lines up the three services a car-free visit leans on. The ferry summer timetable runs 16 May to 4 October, the widest service of the year. Sirmione's regulated traffic season runs 23 March to 13 October, and a filter for tourist coaches at La Bagnera on holidays from 1 April to 30 September.

The Limonaia del Castèl lemon house in Limone opens 10:00-22:00 from June to September, shorter in spring and October. Sirmione's Infopoint tourist office, at Viale Marconi 8 near the castle, opens every day from April to October, so questions get answered in person through the high season. The month-by-month logic is on the best time to visit.

Winter

From 2 November to 12 March no passenger boats run anywhere on the lake, and the Monte Baldo cable car is closed for maintenance from 2 November to 25 December, reopening for a winter season from 26 December to 21 February. Malcesine castle opens weekends only in November, daily from 5 December to 6 January, then weekends again, 10:30-17:00. The Cascata del Varone waterfall near Riva keeps winter hours of 10:00-17:00 and closes only on 25 December.

The Sirmione castle and Grottoes keep their listed hours but shut every Monday and on 1 January and 25 December. A winter trip is a car-and-bus trip, and the plan for one is on the lake in winter, with wet-weather backups on rainy days.

The Fixed Costs, Added Up

The table adds up the published prices of a full sightseeing day for one adult: the ferry from Desenzano to Sirmione and back, the castle and Grottoes entry tickets, a return ride on the Monte Baldo cable car, and Bardolino's tourist tax at a 4-star, $2.23 (€2) per person per night. Food, trains and the hotel room come on top of that total. Towns other than Bardolino charge their own tourist tax, so check your booking confirmation.

A fuller breakdown by category is on what a lake day costs.

Where Families Save

Several rules cut the bill with children along. Under-18s enter the Sirmione castle free, and EU citizens aged 18-25 pay a reduced rate of $2.23 (€2). On the Monte Baldo cable car, children up to 1.20 m tall ride free with a ticket collected at the office.

The Cascata del Varone sells a family ticket at $21.23 (€19) for 2 adults and 1 child, sold on site only. The ferry Happy Family offer gives free day tickets to up to 2 children aged 4-11 with two full-price adult day tickets. Bardolino exempts children up to and including 14 from its tourist tax.

Family logistics are on the lake with kids.