Lake Garda Bike Path and the Routes Worth Riding

What the Walkway Is

The path opened in 2018 as the first stage of a project to link 19 lake towns by bike and on foot. Italia.it describes a suspended walkway about 50 m above the lake, roughly 2.5 km in all from Limone to Capo Reamol just before Riva del Garda, built from concrete panels with a wooden-slat finish and about 2.5 m wide. Visit Brescia gives 2 km perched over the water, ending at the town limit of Riva del Garda and the Province of Trento.

The difference is simply where each body starts and stops counting. Treat it as about 2 km to 2.5 km depending on where you count from. It is shared by bikes and pedestrians, and it is lit with LED lights at night.

Getting On It

Join the walkway from Via Lungolago Guglielmo Marconi in Limone, on the lakefront. Park in Limone itself and continue by bike or on foot, since there is no parking on the path. The official guidance is to turn around at both ends while the ring stays unfinished, so plan an out-and-back rather than a through ride.

Faster cyclists must use the road instead, as Visit Brescia states. Italia.it describes the entrance as easy to reach on foot or by bike from the town centre. Garda Trentino adds that bikes travel on all ferries except catamarans and speedboats, so a boat to Limone in season is the car-free way to start.

Riding It Well

The speed limit is 10 km/h and the surface is shared with walkers, so ride slowly and expect people stopping for photos. The LED lighting makes an evening ride possible, which helps in summer when the middle of the day is hot and busy. The start of the elevated section is about a 25-30 minute walk from the town, and in the morning you can watch sailing classes and kite surfers from it.

Pair it with the rest of Limone sul Garda and its lemon houses.

Plan a Route, Not a Loop

No official body publishes a total length for the finished cycle ring, and none publishes a completion date. Visit Brescia is explicit that riders should turn around at both ends of the Limone walkway while construction continues. That means a cycling trip here is a set of separate rides rather than one grand circuit.

The practical answer is to ride one shore and come back by boat, since bikes travel on the scheduled ferries for a zone fare. In Sirmione, during the pedestrianisation days from 14:00 to 19:00, bicycles must be pushed by hand between Largo Goethe and Piazza Piatti.

Starting in Peschiera

Peschiera sits on EuroVelo 7 and is the official start of the route to Mantua. Entrances are on Via Valeggio or Via Campo Sportivo near Porta Brescia. The Tourism Peschiera Infopoint stands a few metres from the start and there is free parking, which makes it easy to leave the car behind if you are arriving that way.

If you have no bike, the full-day e-bike rental from Peschiera costs $39 per person for one day, includes hotel pickup, and suits riders at least 155 cm tall. The town itself is a UNESCO World Heritage fortress village worth an hour before you set off. See more in our Peschiera guide.

Ponti, Monzambano and Valeggio

The first stretch runs along the river through the Parco Naturale del Mincio. Ponti sul Mincio is known for Forte Ardietti. Monzambano follows, a village with a castle, and then Valeggio sul Mincio.

The surface stays paved and flat the whole way, which is why this route suits families and casual riders. The guided e-bike ride to Borghetto sul Mincio covers this exact section in 4 hours for $89 in groups of up to 10, with helmet, insurance and a 1 hour break in Borghetto, and it starts near Via Campo Sportivo in Peschiera.

Borghetto sul Mincio

Borghetto, a hamlet of Valeggio sul Mincio, is listed among the most beautiful villages in Italy, and Italia.it calls it the stop worth making: old water mills on the river, birdwatching from the banks, and the Ponte Visconteo as the photo stop on the guided ride. It is the natural lunch stop on a day that goes no further. The guided ride gives you an hour here before the flat return leg along the same river path to Peschiera, which is the easy way to try the route without committing to the full ride to Mantua.

The Last Stretch Into Mantua

From Borghetto it is about 12 km to Pozzolo, then Volta Mantovana and Massimbona, and the final 18 km run past Parco delle Bertone and Grazie di Curtatone into Mantua. The city arrives suddenly, where the river splits into three around the old town. When your legs are done, the Mantua river cruise with the water lift is a 105 minute boat ride for $20 past the Reggia dei Gonzaga and through the Vallazza wetland, with a Leonardo-style lock at its centre.

Mantua deserves a full day of its own once you arrive. See what to do in our Mantua guide.

The Ponale Road by Bike

The Ponale road was begun in 1851 to link Lake Garda with Lake Ledro, and it carried traffic until the end of the 1980s when the new Ledro tunnel opened. It became a hiking and biking path in 2004. The climb from Riva is 6.4 km with about 736 m of ascent, and Austro-Hungarian fortifications from 1860 are visible at the second and third tunnels.

The surface is shared with hikers and the trail is prone to rockfall, so it suits confident riders. The start is by the Riva hydroelectric power station, just before the tunnel on the left. To get back down without riding, take bus 214 from the Pregasina junction on the SS240.

The start sits near the Cascata del Varone side of Riva, which has its own guide.

The Sarca Valley and Lake Ledro Paths

Garda Trentino maintains cycle paths along the lake shore, along the River Sarca and in the Ledro Valley, plus the Dolomiti Garda route towards Madonna di Campiglio. These are the gentle rides of the north, following the river flat between Riva and Arco with mountain views on both sides. Rental centres in the area stock e-bikes, mountain bikes and city bikes, and rent helmets and child seats, and there is a charging-point network for e-bikes across the valley.

If you ride an e-bike, plan your stops around the charging points, because a flat battery turns a valley cruise into a hard climb. The town of Arco makes a good turnaround point with its castle beneath the cliffs.

Downhill From Monte Baldo

The cable car from Malcesine lifts bikes to the top of Monte Baldo at 1,760 m, reached in about twenty minutes. A mountain bike plus rider single ride up costs $33.52 (€30), or $31.28 (€28) bought online. Bikes travel on fixed runs only, departing at 8:25, 8:55, 14:15 and 15:15, plus 16:15 and 17:15 until 4 October, with 24 bike spots per hour, and booking ahead is recommended.

The cable car closes for maintenance from 2 November to 25 December. Check the day's timetable at the station, and note that bike tickets are one way up only. Full fares and rules are on our Monte Baldo tickets page.

Bardolino, Garda and Lazise by Path

A cycle and pedestrian path reaches both Garda and Lazise from Bardolino, along the shore. It is the easiest riding on the lake for anyone who wants the views without the climbs. Punta San Vigilio sits at the end of the Garda lakefront and makes a natural finish.

The towns themselves reward stops, since Bardolino's wine, Lazise's old walls and Garda's lakefront all sit directly on the route. Read more in our Bardolino guide, our Lazise guide and our Garda town guide, and see the point itself in our Punta San Vigilio guide.

Starting From Peschiera

The Tourism Peschiera Infopoint stands a few metres from the start of the Mincio cycle path and offers free parking, which makes Peschiera the practical base for a first ride. Leave the car, collect the bike, and you are on a car-free surface within minutes. The town is on the Milan-Venice rail line, so arriving by train works well too.

From Peschiera you can ride east towards the shore towns or south towards Mantua without touching a main road. More practical detail is in our Peschiera guide.

Getting Back Without Riding

The ATV bus network serves the east shore, with routes linking Verona, the airport and the lake towns through Peschiera, Lazise and Bardolino. In Trentino, bicycles cannot go on urban buses at all, and on Trentino intercity buses they travel for a flat fee if there is room, usually about two per bus. No specific bus times are printed here, so check the current timetable at the infopoint before you set out.

The ferry is often the better answer, since bikes travel on all scheduled boats except the fast services, and the Bardolino stop is on the Desenzano-Peschiera-Riva line.

Season Traps to Avoid

Bikes pay a zone fare on the scheduled ferries, from $3.91 (€3.50) in zone 1 up to $7.71 (€6.90) in zone 7. The fast SR catamarans and speedboats never carry bikes, so plan around the slower boats. The Maderno-Torri car ferry, the only car crossing on the lake, takes bicycles for $10.28 (€9.20).

On Trentino intercity buses a bike travels for $2.23 (€2) per trip if luggage space allows, usually about two bikes per bus, and no bikes go on urban buses. The Monte Baldo cable car carries bikes only on its fixed runs, at $33.52 (€30) for bike plus rider one way up.

From 2 November to 12 March no passenger ferry runs on the lake at all. The only service in that window is the Torri-Maderno car ferry, so any plan that ends with a boat ride home fails in winter. Tickets are valid only on the day of issue, so buy them for the day you ride.

The captain can limit the number of bikes on any run, which matters on sunny weekends when the bike racks fill early. All fares and timetables are on our ferry page.

Guided Days and Self-Guided Rentals

Two bookable options cover the Mincio valley. The full-day e-bike rental from Peschiera costs $39 per person, is valid for one day, includes hotel pickup and drop-off, and suits riders at least 155 cm tall. It hands you a bike and phone holder after a short meet-and-greet at a store on Via Milano, 50 in Peschiera del Garda, leaving you free to ride the 15 km paved car-free track at your own pace, with Borghetto and Mantua in range. The guided e-bike ride to Borghetto sul Mincio costs $89 per person for 4 hours in groups up to 10, with helmet, insurance, bike bag, parking and tour leader included, and it meets near Via Campo Sportivo in Peschiera. Wear closed-toe shoes on the guided ride, since bare feet are not allowed.

Rental Centres in the North

Garda Trentino lists rental centres around Riva, Torbole and Arco that stock e-bikes, mountain bikes and city bikes, and rent helmets and child seats alongside them. The same network maintains charging points for e-bikes through the Sarca valley and the Ledro Valley, so a rented e-bike can be topped up mid-ride if you plan the stops. Base yourself in Riva or Torbole for the northern trails, in Peschiera for the Mincio path, or in Bardolino for the flat east shore, and pick accommodation with storage.

See more on our tours hub and our where to stay page.