Varone Waterfall (Cascata del Varone) and the Ponale Path: Hours, Tickets and How to Get There

The Lower Cave

The Lower Cave is the first viewpoint, where you see the last stage of the fall. The water comes from the Magnone stream, fed in part by underground losses from Lake Tenno above, and here it reaches the bottom of a gorge cut into Jurassic limestone. The park describes the scene as damp and dripping, so dress for spray: comfortable shoes with grip, because the ground is slippery, a jumper, because the temperature drops in the gorge, and a waterproof.

The souvenir shop by the ticket office sells cellophane waterproofs if you forget. The path is fully paved and dogs on a lead are welcome, but the park is not equipped for wheelchairs.

The Upper Cave

The Upper Cave is 40 m higher, and from it you see the full force of the waterfall. You reach it on a track of about 70 long steps, each with a tread of about 2 m, so the climb is gradual. At the level of the top balcony the gorge reaches 73 m into the mountain, against 55 m at the entrance, so this is where you stand deepest inside the rock.

Before 1874 nobody could stand here without climbing the waterfall itself or hanging on a rope. The paths, bridges, walkways, handrails and stairs that make it a short walk today are what the park has built since then.

How the Gorge Was Cut

The park explains the gorge as a textbook case of regressive erosion. When the great Quaternary Garda glacier retreated, the waters of the Tenno-Ballino valley fell into the Riva basin much further forward than today, roughly where the cave entrance now stands. Over about 20,000 years, perhaps longer, the water and its load of sand and gravel wore back the hard Jurassic limestone in deep, narrow cuts.

The erosion goes on at about 2 mm a year, so the fall keeps moving back into the mountain. Today the gorge runs 55 m into the rock from the entrance and 73 m at the top balcony, and the water falls 98 m in all.

The Park Around the Falls

The gorge sits inside a small private nature park, protected by the people who have run the falls since the first works of 1874. At the entrance there is an open-air picnic area with tables for 150 people, free to use before or after the visit, plus a bar and a souvenir shop. So a picnic lunch here is a real option rather than a drive back to Riva.

The park's address is Località le Foci 3, Tenno, 3 km from Riva on the road towards Ponte Arche. The park also points visitors to Lake Tenno, Tenno village, Canale and Calvola, the San Pietro hut and Lake Ledro, all a few kilometres away. More of the shore is on things to do in Lake Garda.

The park opens every day of the year except 25 December, with longer days in summer and shorter in winter. No last entry time is published, so arrive well before the closing hour, and allow at least the 20 minutes the park recommends.

Opening hours by month, from the park's own times and prices page. Two months share each winter and shoulder slot, and May to August run longest.

There is no online booking and no reservation is needed: you buy at the entrance. The group rate applies only when one group leader buys a single ticket for at least 20 people before going in.

The park's published prices, dollars first at €1 = $1.1172, with the family tickets that cover two adults and up to three children.

Which Ticket Saves Money

Three single tickets cost $23.46 (€21), so the 2+1 family ticket at $21.23 (€19) saves $2.23 (€2). Four singles cost $31.28 (€28), so the 2+2 ticket at $26.81 (€24) saves $4.47 (€4). Five singles cost $39.10 (€35), so the 2+3 ticket at $31.28 (€28) saves $7.82 (€7), the price of one child.

All three are our sums. The park's page does not set an age limit for a child on the family ticket, so ask at the desk if you travel with teenagers. Group tickets at $5.59 (€5) each work only for 20 or more people on one ticket, and collecting money from group members at the entrance is not allowed.

The Free Shuttle From Baltera

A free shuttle bus links the Baltera car park at Via Marone 26 in Riva with the falls entrance. The run is about 2 km and takes about 3 minutes, every 15 minutes from 10:00 to 17:00. The catch is the calendar: it runs every day only from June to September.

In April, May and October it runs only on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, and the park lists no shuttle days at all for November to March. The falls are open every day except 25 December, so on a weekday in April, or any day in winter, you drive, take the local bus or walk.

Shuttle days by period, from the park's own site, set against a park that opens every day except 25 December.

The Local Bus From Riva and Arco

The park says the falls can be reached by local bus from Riva del Garda and from Arco, with departures every hour. That makes the bus the off-season answer when the shuttle does not run. With one bus an hour, a missed bus costs you most of an hour, so check the current timetable before you set out and note your return bus before you go in.

The bar and the picnic tables at the entrance are where to wait. For the bus and boat network around the north lake, see getting around Lake Garda.

By Car

From Riva del Garda take the road towards Ponte Arche, follow the signs for Tenno, and before the village turn off for Varone: the park is 3 km from Riva. In the shuttle months, the park's own suggestion is to leave the car at the Baltera car park and ride the free shuttle to the entrance. Coaches have their own drop-off at the park's car park number 2.

If you are driving on to the Ponale path afterwards, the Garda Trentino tourism board lists free and paid car parks in Riva itself, set out in the Ponale section.

When Not to Go: Bus Groups in July and August

The park itself strongly advises organised groups travelling by coach not to come from 1 July to 31 August, or on Sundays and public holidays from April to September, because of the lack of bus parking and the risk of long queues at the entrance. Read that as a warning for everyone: midsummer days and shoulder-season Sundays are the busy ones. From March to October the park opens at 9:00, so arriving at opening, or on a weekday outside those windows, is the simplest way to share the caves with fewer people.

How Long You Need

The park recommends at least 20 minutes and sets no time limit, so the ticket covers as long a visit as you want. The 20 minutes is the minimum for both caves. Add the picnic area if you bring lunch, and add time for the 70 long steps to the Upper Cave with small children.

The track is paved and the climb gradual. Pair it with a walk in Riva or the Ponale path to make a half day.

Footwear, Dogs and Accessibility

The path is fully paved but the park is not equipped for wheelchair visits, and the steps to the Upper Cave rule out pushing a stroller to the top. Dogs are allowed on a lead. Three items of clothing are the park's own advice: a good pair of comfortable shoes, because the ground is slippery and high heels are a bad idea, a jumper, because the temperature drops considerably, and a waterproof coat against the dripping water.

If you forget the coat, the souvenir shop near the ticket office sells cellophane waterproofs. Keep a phone in a pocket or bag in the spray.

The Opening in 1874

The falls were inaugurated with great ceremony on 20 June 1874. The park names Prince Nicholas of Montenegro, who happened to be holidaying by the lake, as the guest of honour, and Italian Wikipedia adds King John of Saxony as a second sponsor. It was a major event for Riva del Garda, talked about for years.

From then on, the park says, any official engagement in Riva with a gala lunch would slip in a visit to the falls before or after the meal. Before that date the falls were almost impossible to approach: the paths up the mountain did not exist, and only experienced climbers on a rope got close.

The Famous Visitors

The park lists Prince Umberto II, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Emperor Franz Joseph, Franz Kafka and Thomas Mann among its visitors, plus a series of less famous writers and poets. Thomas Mann stayed in Riva del Garda often between 1901 and 1904, and Italian Wikipedia suggests the falls may have given him a passage of The Magic Mountain, the one about a mass of water crashing down a narrow, deep gorge of bare, slippery rock. You see the same gorge for $7.82 (€7).

For Riva's own sights, see Riva del Garda.

The key figures for the walk from Riva, as the Garda Trentino tourism board publishes them for the route to the Pregasina junction. The board lists it as easy in grade, but its own safety notes call it an alpine trail, so read the safety block below as well.

Where the Path Starts

The walk starts in Riva del Garda at the hydroelectric power station on the road south along the west shore. Head south and the start of the trail is just before the tunnel, on the left. From there the old road winds above the water, and the board's description is simple: there are views at every bend.

The line of the road is visible on the cliff from the beaches of Riva and Torbole, so you can see your route before you set off. You can also walk it the other way, from Biacesa in the Ledro valley, or start at Lake Ledro and follow the Ponale stream down to the path proper. For the town at the start, see Riva del Garda.

The Belvedere

The first part of the walk ends at the Belvedere, which works as a refreshment stop in the summer season only. Many walkers turn round here and go back to Riva the same way, which makes a shorter outing than the full route. From the Belvedere the path divides: up to the right towards the Ledro valley and its lake, or left towards Pregasina.

Beyond the Belvedere a series of switchback bends climbs up to the right to the main road, the SS240, where the bus stop at the Pregasina junction is. Out of summer, carry your own water and food, because the Belvedere stop will be shut.

On to Pregasina and Bus 214 Back

Pregasina is a small village above the lake at the far end of the walk, with somewhere to eat and drink according to the tourism board. From there you can walk back to Riva on the same path, or take the bus. Bus line 214 runs between Riva del Garda and the Ledro valley, and you board it at the Pregasina junction on the SS240, which the board puts about 3 km from Pregasina itself.

That makes the full one-way walk plus the bus the classic plan. Bus times are not printed here: check the current timetable linked from the board's page before you set off, since a missed bus means a long walk back.

Tunnels and the Tagliata del Ponale

The road was begun in 1851, an ambitious project to link Lake Garda with Lake Ledro, which until then had been cut off from the rest of Trentino. It carried traffic until the end of the 1980s, when a new tunnel to the Ledro valley opened, and in 2004 it became a hiking path. Along the way, at the second and third tunnels, you see the remains of the Tagliata del Ponale, fortifications the Austro-Hungarians built from 1860: tunnels dug into the rock and trenches running from lake level to outposts above the path.

The Tagliata complex is normally closed to the public for safety, so you look rather than enter.

Safety on the Ponale

The tourism board is clear that the Ponale is an alpine trail for expert hikers. It runs close to a rocky wall, it has no technical difficulty but it is prone to rockfall, and it is shared by walkers and cyclists, who should keep to their own lanes. It is not recommended for prams, and dogs are allowed on a leash.

The board's general advice applies: wear proper footwear, carry water, a snack, a spare layer and a whistle, check the forecast, do not walk alone, and turn back in doubt. The emergency number is 112. For more walks around the lake, see Lake Garda hiking.

The Garda Trentino tourism board lists two free car parks in Riva del Garda for the Ponale walk: near the former hospital on Via Rosmini, and near the former cemetery on Viale Damiano Chiesa. Its paid options are the Terme Romane car park on Viale Roma, the Vecchia stazione car park on Largo Medaglie d'Oro and the Ex-agraria car park on Via Lutti. Riva is about 18 km from the Rovereto Sud motorway exit.

If you plan the falls and the path on one day, the free shuttle to the falls leaves from the Baltera car park on Via Marone, in its season, so one option is to start there, ride to the falls, and drive on to a Ponale car park afterwards. The tourism board's info line is +39 0464 554444.

Most visitors see the two caves in 20 minutes and leave. These details, each with its source, are what make the place more than a wet stairway.

• The fall is retreating into the mountain at about 2 mm a year, the textbook case of regressive erosion (Parco Grotta Cascata Varone).
• Before 1874 the only way close to the fall was to climb the waterfall itself or hang on a rope (Parco Grotta Cascata Varone).
• The water comes from the Magnone stream, fed in part by underground losses from Lake Tenno (Wikipedia).
• Thomas Mann, a frequent guest in Riva from 1901 to 1904, may have drawn a passage of The Magic Mountain from this gorge (Wikipedia).
• The Ponale road carried cars until the end of the 1980s and has been a hiking path only since 2004 (Garda Trentino).

The Walking Day

Reach the falls for the morning opening, 9:00 from March to October and 10:00 in winter, by car, by the hourly local bus or, in its season, by the free shuttle from the Baltera car park. Give the caves the 20 minutes the park recommends, or longer with a picnic at the tables by the entrance. Back in Riva, start the Ponale at the power station and walk to the Belvedere and back for a shorter afternoon, or on to the Pregasina junction and bus 214 for the full 6.4 km.

In summer the Belvedere refreshment stop is open on the way. More of the town is on Riva del Garda, and the windy shore next door on Torbole.

The Water and Canyon Day

To see the Ponale cliffs from below, the private speedboat from Riva runs for an hour for up to 4 people at $224 per boat, with a quick visit to the Ponale waterfall from the water and a crossing to the bay of Limone. For something wetter than the falls, the Rio Nero canyoning trip starts in Arco, 3.5 hours with slides, abseils and optional jumps, from $111. Both cancel free up to 24 hours before.

Arco itself is on the Arco guide, and the rest of the bookable trips on Lake Garda tours. For the whole lake, start at things to do in Lake Garda.