Lake Garda

DickBarton

Afternoon...

Wife is thinking she fancies a MTB holiday in Europe and fancies the sound of Lake Garda - I say sound, I mean the name) - we know nothing about the place, no idea what kind of biking is available - has anyone been and is it any good?

Not looking for North Shore stuff but anything that involves going up/down/across is all good.

Only other thing is we will have our 3 year old daughter with us...is there enough to do for family days or as parent/daughter?

Is it an expensive place to holiday?

Cheers.

welshkev

i've seen various articles on lake gada and all say how awsome it is for riding. i've not been myself but i have been to lake maggiore which is, i think, about 50 miles away. it's definately not cheap around the lakes area but it wasn't the most expensive place i've ever been either

maybe this might help?

http://dirt.mpora.com/news/travel-guide-lake-garda.html

Herbie The Dog

If memory serves me correctly MBR did a feature on Lake Garda recently.

May even have been as recently as this month's issue.

sniper68

We were there on Holiday a few years back and I regret not taking the bike :roll:
On the east side you can cable car up Monte Baldo from the village of Malcecine and there supposed to be some excellent ST and a good DH back down(from 2200m) North of the Lake in the Dolomite Mountains there are some stunning trails.
MBR did both Garda and the Dolomites recently.
I plan to return with the bike,it is however quite pricey especially at the northern end(Riva-del-Garda etc)

DickBarton

Don't read the mags but will go for a browse...

Thanks for all the suggestions...cheers.

lancelogan

Planning on taking the Bravo?

Drove mine to Italy in July and loved it!

DickBarton

lancelogan wrote:

Planning on taking the Bravo?

Hadn't thought of that, but suspect carting a fortnight of kit for 2 adults and a 3-year old plus 2 bikes and a possible bike trailer won't make the back seat that comfy for the wife...also it is hopefully going to be gone by then.

Might see if my neighbour fancies a road trip with his wife as well - large van with space for kit and bikes plus bodies...but then if we are doing a road trip like that, Lake Garda might not be the place to go...

joesteve

Went there a few years ago with my wife and it is indeed a great place to go biking. We stayed in Torbole at the far end of the lake which along with Riva and Arco was just full of bikes. Every cafe during the day had dozens of road and MTB's outside. Torbole was a good place to stay with free guided MTB rides going out every day from the centre. Lots of marked routes and cycle ways around the town.

The website below should help in planning a trip.

http://www.lagodigardamagazine.com/gard ... -lake.aspx

We flew to Bergamo with one of the cheap airlines and hired a car. We could have probably got away without the car as the manager of the hotel told us they would have picked us up at the airport though we did use it to visit Venice and Verona ang go hiking a couple of times.

This was the hotel. Rooms were basic but large and clean and the hotel had a bike store and tools, maps etc. and a good buffet breakfast.

http://www.booking.com/hotel/it/santoni ... 68742cc3,5

Definitely worth the trip.

Cheers

Joe

DickBarton

Nice one, thanks very much.

homers_double

Dont bother with Garda, hit Lake Como instead as its pretty much acknoledged as the nicer of the northern lakes.

I am slightly biased though as we've a family property there...

Garda is full of tourists whereas Como isn't. Yes there is one little spot on the point called Bellagio which is the point that every camera toting American and Japanese tourist will want to visit but other than that its a relatively untouched area.

Family house is above Menaggio and has these views:-









Also, this isn't much of a drive http://www.montetamaro.ch/interna.asp?i ... atipo=bike

The hills around the lake have endless trails which could go on for ever and the route around the lake is very easy to navigate, but its about a 100km round trip... The up side to that is there is a ferry service which cris-crosses the lake between most villages which is efecient and relaitively cheap.

The lake is split into two main southern arms, the arms of Leco and Como. Stay away from Leco as it tends to be empty and is a little industrial. Go to the northern arm and there are pleanty of camp sites etc if thats your thing.

Stay off the lake bank for eating and drink espresso stood up at the bar, its 1e instead of 3e at a table.

Eat lots of icecream, its flippin awesome!