May 21

May 21 5 nights in Lake Garda, Verona and Venice

Verona, Venice and 6 quaint picturesque towns in Lake Garda meant we traveled a lot on this relatively short trip. Here is how we did it with one day left to spare to chill by the lake.

Getting from the airport to our hotel in Desezano

Take the 15 min Aerobus from Verona airport to Verona train station. This will cost you 6 euros per ticket. Then catch a train from Verona to Desezano for 4.45 euros. The train you need to get heads into the direction of Milano. Don't forget to validate your ticket at the machines. Slot in you ticket and it will get stamped. You can get fined if you're found with an unvalidated ticket on board a train!

We'd booked 5 nights at Hotel Perifiscope which was about a 10-15 minutes walk from the station. The room was small but relatively clean. It also had a lovely balcony view of a square of where boats were docked with restaurant bars all around. Staff were friendly. Breakfast was basic but included in the price.

Day 1 - Sirmione, Lake Garda

As we arrived to the hotel in Desezano around 2 pm, we decided to head somewhere close by. Sirmione is about a 20 minutes boat ride from Desezano, and return tickets cost us 6.00 eurs each. You can stroll around the town for a few hours at a leisurely pace, sitting by the lake, taking in the scenery and watching the ducks. We caught the boat back at about 6:30pm and had dinner in Desezano overlooking the lake. Food is relatively expensive, pizza is usually the cheapest item on the menu, usually around 10 eurs. Service charge is usually taken by charging for bread and can be up to 3 eurs each. Beer usually cost 6 eurs and the favoured drink on a hot sunny day is an Aperol or Campari Spritz which cost about 4 to 5 eurs. With all this in mind you'd be spending about 20 eurs each on evening food each night.

This dish was called The Great Spaghetti

Day 2 - Verona

Our next day was spent in Verona as thunderstorms were forecast in the city and on the lake, and we preferred to be in the city rather than the lake.

Despite the weather forecast it was a warm sunny day with only a few patches of cloud. The storm hit us about 5pm and lasted about an hour. We were under a sturdy awning of a cafe bar in the main square with a view of the Verona theatre. It was actually a great experience sipping a drink (me a Ginseng, a sweet espresso, and my fiance a beer) and watching a torrential rain storm. The square looked like a lake within 10 minutes!

The main attraction was the Verona Arena which cost 10 Euros to get in. There I learned that the arena went on to host other less gory forms of entertainment such as bingo and greasy pole climbing! I was also gutted to learn that they actually showed opera here for 26 eurs a ticket from June to August, which makes sense considering the high chance of showers and storms in May. I will have to go back for that one day.

The second best activity is to walk up a hill to get to a great viewing spot of the city and river. The weather at this point was pretty hot under scorching sun, so it very lovely to relax in a smart bar garden with panoramic views of the city. It was here we began our daily Spritz O'Clock

Day 3 - Venice

This was the highlight of our trip. We took the 8:48 train from Desezano to Venezia St Lucia, changing at Verona. Trains tend to run a little bit late, however our connecting train to Venezia was also held. Not sure if this is deliberate given the first train was 20min late. The train looked spanking new, had two floors and was a very comfy ride. Not bad for 12.40 euros per person, each way. I wish trains cost this much back in the UK! I would beware that most of the ticket machines at this station did not not take cash so we had to pay by card, I would buy the ticket from a manned booth when you can in advance, as sometimes the booths are empty.

We arrived at Venice around 11 and were immediately hit with the sight of the Grand Canale. It was an amazing sight, but it gets even better as you walk further along. Even my fiance who doesn't care for taking photos started snapping away!

It can be easy to get lost in the small roads off the Grand Canal and on the opposite side of the station as there are many dead ends, so just trying to head in one direction can be tough. My tip is to follow the general mass flow of people and you will get to the main routes.

Gondola rides cost 80 eurs for 30 min, with a guy to paddle you. At first we thought we would have to get one to truly experience Venice, however we stumbled across the atfc which are the river busses. It cost us 15euros each to ride up and down the entire Grand Canale and it lasts a good 45 min each way. The scenes and views you get from the boat ride is a must and you won't be able to get this angle of Venice without having been on the actual river.

At one end of Venice was Lido, the last stop on the boat and so we wandered around there eventually chancing on a lovely Sandy Beach. We took this chance to sit under an umbrella and have our 2nd Spritz O'Clock of the week.

For lunch we ordered a pizza and bruschetta to share, both delish. And we were given little chocolate shot cups of liquer to finish off with which was a lovely touch.

Locals can be a bit annoyed with the tourists getting in the way, I'd recommend walking single file down narrow streets, not stopping in the middle of the route, stand to the side if you can. And probably heading to Venice outside of the main summer season if you can. The temperatures we had in May was a lovely 25 degrees under pure sunshine.

Day 4 - Desenzano

Having walked 20,000 steps on our first three days we were absolutely shattered, so we decided to chill in our local town of Desenzano on our 4th day. It is a small and charming town with good restaurants and bars. It also does have a good pebble beach. We realised on this Saturday night that quite a few local Italian stags and hen parties were held here. But they were not at all too raucous. We did found it an odd place to have a stag or hen as there were only 1 or two small bar clubs in the centre. You can definitely enjoy a few hours walking around, sitting at bars, and a few hours chilling at the beach.

Day 5 - Lake Garda, Maderno, Garda, Lasize Bardolino & Pescheria

We took the first boat of the day to get to the furthest town of the lower lake Maderno at 8:20
Tickets cost us 23 eurs each for a day ticket for the lower lake only.

The boat trip is a lovely calming trip with amazing views. First stop to Maderno took two hours. Being further North you get greater views of the mountains. We only had 45ins of the town before having to get to next stop of Garda as the following boat would have been 4 hours later, and there definitely isn't enough to spend 4 hours there unless you took a bus to a different village.

Garda was a larger town, with more restaurants and also amazing views. There were lots of locals sunbathing, a mixture of old and young and plenty of families.

Bardolino and Lasize were the busiest towns with many families, toddlers, prams and dogs. It had lovely charming holiday atmosphere. Again we only had just under an hour in each town, so it was a little but rushed but we didn't feel like we would have missed much.

The boat travel is definitely a highlight of lake Garda. The water is very clean and clear, we hardly saw any litter. The light is incredible, with the water reflecting the suns rays everything is sharply crystal clear.

Overall we enjoyed our holiday very much and rate it 8/10. Venice was definitely our main highlight. We did spend on lot on boats, trains and food, but we did travel to many places and we're glad we could pack so much into 5 days.