Lake Garda in 2 Days: A Two-Shore Itinerary With Ferry Times

Start where Venice built its trading port. Desenzano's Porto Vecchio was rebuilt in 1454 to make the town a market for the lake, and the Navigazione Laghi Garda office still sits in Desenzano, so this is the place to sort out tickets for both days. The crossing to Sirmione is fare zone 1: $3.91 (€3.50) one way, 20 minutes on the ordinary boat.

Buy at the office, because a ticket bought on board costs $1.12 (€1) more when the office is open. Keep the evening boat back in mind: the return run decides how late you can stay on the peninsula.

The Della Scala family of Verona built this castle on the water, with a walled harbour that sheltered boats inside its own defences. Venice took Sirmione in 1405 and held it until 1797. The castle opens at 8:30, Tuesday to Sunday, and closes at 19:15, with the ticket office shutting 45 minutes earlier, so being on the first boat puts you at the gate before the day crowds.

The ticket includes the tower climb. Buy the combined ticket here: $22.34 (€20) covers this castle, the Grottoes of Catullus and the Roman villa in Desenzano for 7 days, which is what lets day one spill into day two.

At the far tip of the peninsula lie the ruins of a Roman villa built at the end of the 1st century BC, a building that measured 167 by 105 metres (Wikipedia). It was named for the poet Catullus only in 1483, and the villa itself was built after his death. The archaeological museum on the site opened in 1999 with finds from the lake's pile dwellings and Roman Sirmione.

Payment at the site is by card only. Hours run Tuesday to Saturday 8:30-17:00 and Sunday to 14:00, with last entry 40 minutes before closing, so on a Sunday this has to be the first stop after the castle.

Below the Grottoes, Jamaica Beach is a shelf of smooth white rocks facing the Rocca di Manerba. You reach it through the gate just before the Grottoes entrance and a steep dirt path through an olive grove, so wear shoes that grip. It is partly free and partly sun beds for hire, with free showers.

If the path looks too steep, Lido delle Bionde on Viale Gennari is the easier alternative: free access, free showers and a long pier, within walking distance of the centre. Dogs on a lead may swim on all Sirmione beaches, and fires are banned on every one of them.

The peninsula looks different from the water, and the 25-minute Sirmione peninsula cruise shows it for $13 from the small harbour in front of the castle. The route passes Villa Callas, bought in the 1950s by Maria Callas's husband Giovanni Battista Meneghini and visible only from outside, then the Grottoes and the sulphur spring. Free cancellation runs to 24 hours ahead.

If you would rather taste the local white wine instead, the Lugana vineyard tour near Sirmione costs $39 for 1.5 hours with three wines and local food pairings.

Ride back to Desenzano on the evening boat, checking the last run at the pier first, or stay for the Sirmione sunset boat tour at $34.21, a 45-minute loop with Prosecco that runs with at least 10 passengers. Back in Desenzano, the Rambotti museum on the lakefront holds finds from the Lavagnone pile-dwelling site, part of the UNESCO serial site inscribed in 2011, including what it presents as the oldest plough in the world. Entry is $7.82 (€7), and in summer it opens Friday to Sunday afternoons 15:30-18:30 as well as mornings.

The Roman villa on your combined ticket can wait for tomorrow.

Buy the whole-lake day pass at the Sirmione ticket office before boarding. On the last summer timetable, run 110 is a fast service (SR) that leaves Peschiera at 8:50, Sirmione at 9:10, Garda at 9:31, Torri at 9:45, Salò at 10:09, Gardone at 10:19, Gargnano at 10:36 and reaches Malcesine at 10:55, with Limone at 11:05. Fast boats charge no reductions for children or seniors, so a family may do better on an ordinary boat.

Fast boats carry no bicycles, so leave the bike behind. The pass is the only ticket that covers fast services, which is why it beats paying two zone 6 fast fares. Sample times come from the last summer timetable, 16 May to 4 October.

Link Lake Garda ferry tickets.

The valley station stands at Via Navene Vecchia 12. The ride takes about 20 minutes to Tratto Spino at 1,760 m, with a change at the middle station of San Michele. The first cable car here opened on 30 September 1962 and the current rotating cabins date from 2002.

Buy the adult return online for $31.28 (€28) rather than $33.52 (€30) at the desk. The ticket is valid one day and there is no refund if wind closes the mountain, so go up early in the day. The season runs 4 April to 1 November, then the cable car shuts for maintenance until 25 December.

Check the day's timetable at the station for the last ride down. Link Monte Baldo tickets.

The easiest walk from the top station is the Malcesine Peak loop, 3.6 km in about 2 hours with 260 m of climbing. It gives open views over the whole north lake without serious exposure. Monte Baldo is called the Garden of Europe because more than 60 types of orchid bloom here between March and August.

The weather changes fast on the ridge and the summit sits far above the mild lake shore, so bring a layer even in July. If clouds build, cut the walk short rather than wait out a storm on the ridge. Link Lake Garda hiking.

The castle is about 5 minutes on foot from the cable car valley station, so it fits neatly before the boat home. It has Langobard origins and the Scaliger family of Verona took it in 1277, holding it until 1387. The tower rises 31 m, roughly 70 m above the lake, and the rooms hold a natural history museum and a Goethe room.

In September 1786 Goethe was questioned as a suspected Austrian spy after sketching the walls, a story he tells in Italian Journey. Entry is $7.82 (€7) for adults. Hours vary by season and the castle opens weekends only in November, so check before you go.

Link Malcesine Castle.

Look at the timetable board at the pier before you ride up the mountain, because the afternoon return runs decide how long you can stay on the summit and in the castle. Your day pass covers the ride south with no extra payment. Do not count on driving back instead.

There is no car ferry from Malcesine, the only car ferry on the lake runs between Maderno and Torri, so a missed boat means a long bus or taxi ride. Malcesine's information office sits at the bus stop, Via Gardesana 238, and closes from November to March. If energy remains, the historic sailboat cruise runs 14:30 to 16:30, see the Malcesine panoramic sailboat cruise.

Buy the Est zone day pass at the Sirmione ticket office. It covers the east side from Torri down to Sirmione and is valid one day only. On the last summer timetable, run 8 leaves Desenzano at 8:20, calls at Sirmione at 8:40, Bardolino at 9:20 and Garda at 9:35.

These are ordinary boats, so no supplement applies and children's reductions work, unlike on the fast services. Single tickets would cost $29.61 (€26.50) for this day's hops, our sum, so the pass saves money and buys flexibility to change plans mid-morning. Times are from the last summer timetable, 16 May to 4 October.

Link Lake Garda ferry tickets.

The town gave the lake its modern name. It comes from the Longobard word 'warda', meaning guard post, and it replaced the Roman name Benacus. The historic centre sits at the foot of the Rocca hill behind the bay.

On Piazza Catullo stands the Palazzo dei Capitani, built between the 14th and 15th centuries in Venetian Gothic style as the seat of Venetian government on the lake. On the promenade, the Palazzo La Losa was designed in the 16th century by Michele Sanmicheli, its five arcades once used as a small boatyard. History runs dark here too.

Adelaide of Italy was imprisoned at Garda after the year 950. A Friday market fills the town. Link Garda town.

The point is the last spur of Monte Baldo running into the water, and the nearest ferry port is Garda, about 4 km away. Villa Guarienti was designed by Michele Sanmicheli and inaugurated in 1540 for the humanist Agostino Brenzoni. An avenue of cypresses leads in from the Gardesana road, where you park.

Above the small harbour an inscription tells you to leave all business and the worries of the city behind. Locanda San Vigilio has been an inn since 1498. Visitors to the point over the centuries included Goethe and Napoleon.

On the north side lies Baia delle Sirene, a private park with a pool, open April to October. Its price appears only in its own booking system, pay there if you want the beach. Link Punta San Vigilio.

Bardolino is the wine town of the east shore. The church of San Zeno dates from the mid-9th century, one of the few Carolingian buildings left in Italy. A market fills the lakefront every Thursday morning.

Book the Bardolino vineyard tour, a 1.5-hour walk among the vines and olive trees with five wines, olive oil, cold cuts and cheese on a terrace over the vineyard, capped at 10 people. It costs $40. If you want a longer pour, the six-wine tasting with salami and cheese at a family vineyard near Lazise runs 2 hours for $47.

Read more at Bardolino wine.

Lazise's claim to fame is paper old. A deed signed by Emperor Otto II in 983 gave the village full civic autonomy, the basis of its claim to be the first free commune of Italy. The Scaligers later built its castle and walls.

On the harbour stands the Dogana Veneta, the Venetian customs house from the 16th century that once controlled trade on this stretch of the lake. Walk the walls, eat an early gelato on the square, then check the last boat south at the pier before you settle in. Your Est pass covers the return to Sirmione.

Link Lazise.