Lake Garda Tours: Every Boat Trip and Day Tour Beside the DIY Price

With half a day, take a cruise from a harbour and stay on one shore. The short Sirmione loops run 25 or 45 minutes and cost $13 or $34.21. The four-hour guided cruise with a two-hour stop in Sirmione is the fullest half-day on the water.

With a full day based on the lake, add a wine tasting, a cooking class, a vineyard or the coach days to Verona, Venice or the Dolomites. From Verona or Milan without a car, the day tours that include Sirmione are the simplest route in, since they bundle the coach, the guide and the boat. In winter, 2 November to 12 March, no passenger boats run on the lake and no boat tour on this page can be assumed to sail.

Check each card's calendar before you count on it. The coach days travel by road, so check their own calendars, and the Sirmione castle and Grottoes stay open on the Ministry hours. The table below shows the do-it-yourself alternative for each.

Cruises Against the State Ferry

The state ferry is public transport, priced by zone from $1.68 (€1.50) to $19.55 (€17.50) one way, return double. Desenzano to Sirmione is $3.91 (€3.50) and takes 20 minutes on the summer timetable. Zone day passes cost $26.25 (€23.50) and the whole-lake day pass is $44.13 (€39.50), the only one that includes the fast boats.

A cruise card buys something different: narration, a fixed route with photo stops and free time in a chosen town. It is not transport between two places, so it does not replace the ferry when you need to get from A to B. Full fares and timetables are on the ferry page.

Castle and Grottoes Cards Against the Gate

The castle entry ticket costs $15 against $11.17 (€10) at the Ministry desk, and the Grottoes ticket costs $15 plus a €3 booking fee against $11.17 (€10) at the site. Children under 18 enter the castle free at the gate. The Ministry also sells a combined ticket at $22.34 (€20) covering the castle, the Grottoes and the Roman villa in Desenzano, valid 7 days, less than the two cards together at $30, our sum.

What the cards buy is a booking in hand and nothing more, no guide and no queue jump stated. The castle is closed on Mondays. Details are on the Sirmione castle page and the Grottoes page.

Isola del Garda: Private Boat or the Owners' Visit

These two do different things, so pick by what you want. The private boat tour costs $496.04 per boat for 1.5 hours and does not land. It cruises past Sirmione, the Rocca di Manerba, San Biagio island and Isola del Garda for views, with Prosecco included, and a parking fee is extra. The owners' own guided visit is the only way onto the island, and it cannot be visited without the guide.

With boat transfer, the visit and a welcome drink, it costs $43.57 (€39) per adult from Salò, Gardone and nearby ports, $51.39 (€46) from Sirmione, Garda or Bardolino, and $54.74 (€49) from Desenzano or Lazise. Children 5 to 12 start at $25.70 (€23). Visits run April to the end of October, never on Saturday or Monday, and booking is compulsory.

More on the Isola del Garda page.

Day Tours Against the Train and Bus

Trains on the Milan-Venice line stop at Desenzano and Peschiera about every hour or more often, and from either station a boat or bus carries you to the water. ATV bus 164 runs Garda, Bardolino, Lazise, Gardaland, Peschiera and Verona. No journey times are printed here, so price the pieces yourself if you want to compare.

What a day tour buys is pickups around the lake and a fixed plan with a guide. The Verona full day from the lake at $73 picks up at Limone, Lazise and Riva del Garda among its 10 meeting points and adds a 1.5-hour guided walk in Verona. Routes and rail options are on Verona from Lake Garda and Milan to Lake Garda.

From Sirmione

Sirmione has the deepest boat menu on the lake, all from the small harbour in front of the castle on Piazzale Porto, or from Largo Goethe for the self-drive option. The 25-minute peninsula cruise costs $13 and passes the Grottoes of Catullus, the sulfur spring and the castle with captain narration. The sunset tour with Prosecco runs 45 minutes at $34.21 and needs a minimum of 10 participants to sail. The small-group cruise with guided walk and a drink costs $88.95 for 2 hours and is capped at 12 people. The self-drive Fiat 500 boat is $143 per boat for up to 4, no licence needed, with a €300 cash deposit refunded after checks. All the Sirmione options are on the boat trips page.

From Desenzano and Peschiera

The south shore is where the state ferry network starts, so the do-it-yourself option is strongest here. Desenzano to Sirmione takes 20 minutes and costs $3.91 (€3.50) one way. The summer run Peschiera, Lazise, Bardolino and Garda takes about an hour end to end, at ordinary zone fares.

Both towns sit on the Milan-Venice railway line, which makes them the easy entry points by train. If you want the guided version, the 4-hour guided cruise with a stop in Sirmione has two starting points depending on the option you pick. Base details are on the Desenzano page and the Peschiera page.

From Malcesine

Malcesine's boat trip is a sailing one. The historic sailboat cruise costs $45 per person for 2 hours and sails in the early afternoon on the Ora wind toward Tremosine, passing the castle on the way back, with a drink on board. For plain transport, the state ferry connects here too: Malcesine to Limone takes 20 minutes and costs $8.38 (€7.50) one way on the summer timetable. There is no car ferry between Malcesine and Limone, the only car ferry on the lake runs Maderno to Torri.

Town details are on the Malcesine page.

From Riva del Garda

Riva's card is private and fast. The private speedboat with skipper costs $224 per boat for up to 4 people, 1 hour, fuel included, leaving from the Canale della Rocca. The route runs past the Ponale waterfall, along the lemon groves of the west shore and into the bay of Limone before a return through the middle of the lake. For ferry travel, Riva to Limone is zone 2 at $6.70 (€6) one way, and Riva to Torbole is zone 1 at $3.91 (€3.50).

Note that Riva has no railway station, the nearest is Rovereto with buses onward. Town details are on the Riva del Garda page.

The state ferry's day tickets work like a hop-on hop-off pass: one price, a whole day on the lake, no limit on stops. The whole-lake day pass costs $44.13 (€39.50) for adults and $22.34 (€20) for children 4 to 11, and it is the only pass that includes the fast boats. A 3-day whole-lake pass is $88.26 (€79).

The smaller area day passes cost $26.25 (€23.50) and run on ordinary boats only, with a supplement needed for a fast service. There is also a family deal: two full-price day tickets bring up to 2 children aged 4 to 11 free. Tickets are valid only on the day of issue, so plan the day you use them.

The summer passenger timetable ran 16 May to 4 October. Full fares are on the ferry page and the pass details on the tickets page. Nothing else on the lake works as a cheaper sightseeing loop in season.

If a card is sold out, the state ferry plus the gate tickets do most of the same day for less. The do-it-yourself lake day is a zone day pass at $26.25 (€23.50) and the castle at the gate at $11.17 (€10), our sum $37.42. In winter, 2 November to 12 March, the only service on the lake is the Maderno-Torri car ferry, so no passenger boats and no boat tour on this list can be assumed to run.

Check each card's calendar before you build a winter plan around one. What does not depend on the boats: the coach day tours to Verona, Venice and the Dolomites, the Mantua river cruise at $20 on the Mincio lakes, which has its own calendar, and the Sirmione castle and Grottoes on the Ministry hours, closed on Mondays. The winter alternatives are laid out on the day trips page and the Mantua page.