SHORT BREAK IN LAKE GARDA, ITALY

I have been wanting to visit Italy for most of my adult life. We had our wedding reception at Portmeirion, an enchanting Italianate style village on the coast of North Wales. I fell in love with the architecture and colourful surroundings and visiting this beautiful country has been on my bucket list forever since!

Due to our joint work commitments we decided that we would have a short 5-day break in Lake Garda as an Italian taster! We realise that holidays can be booked online easily, but an experienced travel agent will tailor the holiday to meet all your needs and expectations, specifically on prime location, transfer time, flight times etc and with ours being such a short duration we wanted to get it right! We booked with a local company, Wonderling Travel, as this mother and daughter team always hit the brief with added extras suggested if the weather turns. I’ll get on to our “B” list later in the blog!

We had left it a bit late in the year to book Italy but they still managed to fulfil our brief and did not disappoint. So top tip is to book in advance as this is a very popular resort. We booked in May for the beginning of July just before the summer holidays, and had a lovely half board hotel in Bardolino. Our brief was bed and breakfast but this actually turned out to be a better option as it opened up more hotel choices. The package was with Jet2, and as with most package holidays now, they threw in the half board deal, and we combined eating in and out which worked out well.

Our flight was approximately 2 hours to Verona and then the coach transfer was around 45 minutes. Again hitting the requirement of short travel and transfer with it only being a 5-day getaway. Lake Garda is situated in northern Italy which is the wine region. Due this you may experience inclement weather and so we had a few plan B’s tucked under our belts as suggested by the Wonderling team. This saved hours of research and they got it spot on for us. The lake measures 32 miles in length and driving the whole of Lake Garda by car is around 90 miles. If you didn't stop it would take about 3 hours, however, we did a package holiday and so we decided that we would walk with optional bikes, boats and taxis to ferry us around.

During the booking process we considered Lake Como but as Lake Garda was nearer to the airport, we went with that option. There is also a third lake, Lake Maggiore, and they are all equally beautiful I’m told.

We arrived at our hotel which was situated a few hundred yards from the lake and I would personally recommend booking accommodation within close lake proximity as you will access everything you need from bikes to restaurants, shops, boat trips to a dip in the popular lake.

We stayed at the Parc Hotel Gritti - it has a 25m pool, the promenade is in-between the lake and the hotel, also with access to Lido Mirabello Beach which is located on one of the two strips of land that form the coast of Bardolino, sunk into the lake. Mirabello is a lovely grass beach just a few metres away from the hotel, with, if available, two complimentary sunbeds per room. We made use of this space on our last full day and it was lovely. We took advantage of the beach bar where I had the best Aperol Spritz during our stay - of which there were many!!

The hotel was immaculate, though it did feel like we’d gone back in time with some of the decor and the clumpy room keys but that was part of the charm. Breakfast was served between 7.30 - 11.00 am and there were two restaurant choices for half board evening dinning.

Worth noting that men must wear long trousers in the a la carte restaurant, so shorts and a football shirt wont cut it with the Italians! They dress smart for dinner, which is a lovely tradition. This is not implemented in all restaurants but it was a rule at this particular hotel, so I’d pack a pair of nice chinos just in case!

After dinner every night we would walk into Bardolino Port, which is a spacious square on the lakeside promenade surrounded by shops and restaurants, that leads up to the old town. The atmosphere in the evenings in Bardolino is buzzing, lively and friendly and the sunsets are amazing. You won’t pass anyone not eating ice cream on this walk and when you try it, you’ll know why! Gelato is everywhere and its divine!

After we booked our holiday I was recommended this Facebook group by a friend and I found it useful in planning our trip and absorbing all things Italy:

Facebook group: https://m.facebook.com/groups/1373361046396315/?ref=share

So here was our 5-day itinerary:

Saturday, Day 1: We arrived late afternoon so just acquainted ourselves with the hotel and its immediate surroundings.

Sunday, Day 2: Walked from Bardolino to Garda along 3km lakeside promenade. Some people hire bikes but as we wanted to dip in and out of bars and shops we decided to walk. On the way we passed several cafes and small stretches of beach that invite you to "dolce far niente," which means sweetness of doing nothing. This is a bit deep for a holiday blog but it’s what I feel capsulates marriage/partnership. As my aunt recently told me after losing her husband: “you can find numerous people to do things with but when you lose a partner you have nobody to do nothing with.” It really made me appreciate the moments of doing nothing together.

Anyhow, back to Italy, when you reach the picturesque Garda, you’ll find it nestled in the bay with an abundance of Venetian-style old town buildings that make great Instagram content. Garda has numerous stores, boutiques, ice cream parlours, cafes and restaurants and when we visited there was a pop-up market on the front selling local produce. I bought a natural aluminium free deodorant called DeoNatural and I really like it.

We had a couple of beers on the way into Garda as you do, a spot of lunch and returned to chill by the hotel pool. The walk is rich in picturesque views which I posted on my Instagram page, @shonedowen.

Opera season runs from May to October, and as the saying goes.. when in Rome, although it wasn’t Rome but you get the gist!

We booked the the Italian Opera and immersed ourselves in a magical evening at the intimate setting of SALA DELLA DISCIPLINA.

For anyone wanting an open air experience that’s next level opera, it’s got to be Verona amphitheatre which is about an hour away and there are plenty of trips that go. We were told by hotel guests that cheap seats are just as good as expensive ones as viewing platform is amazing from all angles there.

Monday, Day 3: There are many beautiful towns and villages scattered around the lake and it only takes a simple Google search to find the popular ones. We opted for Sirmione which is listed as one of the most popular tourist destination on the lake. We caught the early ferry which was just as well as people descended on the town like ants and as the day went on the streets filled with tourists.

Sirmione is a beautiful old town located at the end of a small peninsula that towers about 4 km into Lake Garda. The streets are narrow and there’s an instagramable photo opportunity around every corner if you manage to get there before the “ants”! The early bird catches the worm as they say, so get there first thing if you visit. We found it very congested as the day progressed with people and cars but it is very pretty and we had a nice drink and a walk around but left after a few hours to have lunch at the number 1 Trip Advisor restaurant in Bardolino.

After pasta and wine we returned to the hotel in the afternoon and by then a storm was incoming so we had a nice siesta (or whatever the Italians call it). Later on we walked into Bardolino for ice cream and people watching.

Tuesday, Day 4: We spent the morning by the pool and at 2.00 pm we got a taxi up to Guerrieri Rizzardi for a vineyard tour.

This was a private tour but they also provide free tours. There are lots of wine tours to choose from which is great being located in the wine region. This filled our afternoon and we got rather tipsy. We were shown the vineyards which started by explaining harvest and grape selection, then we were led to the fermentation, ageing process and bottling before tasting. This was accompanied by a charcuterie board which is the perfect appetizer to serve at a wine tasting, it was a beautiful platter filled with cured meats, cheeses, olives, mustards and more. Late afternoon we returned to the hotel and accessed Lido Mirabello Beach, and had our first and only Lake Garda dip which was so refreshing.

Wednesday, Day 5: Early breakfast, early flight back, home by 5.00 pm but the whole day spent travelling. Verona airport was a bit manic but they did have building work ongoing, we queued for 2 hours before boarding and missed out on the usual duty free shopping, coffee break and finishing a book! Hay ho, a good time had by both.

By the way I read Denise Welch’s The Unwelcome Visitor which talks about depression and anxiety and how she overcame it. It made me realise that there is still so much lack of understanding around this subject and it made me much more aware of being mindful. I became a fan of Denise during lockdown and it was great to read her back story.

As mentioned, here was our “B list” of things to do in case the weather turned in the notoriously changing wine region:

Lake Garda has numerous thermal springs where water temperature gushes out at 37°C and 42°C so this was one option, another was a day trip to Verona or Venice, and finally wine tasting which we did anyway.

Favourite pastime whilst in Italy was people watching, dog watching (cute dogs were everywhere and so well behaved) eating gelato, drinking coffee, drinking Aperol spritz and wine, eating pasta, antipasto and repeat!

Thank you for reading my blog. I had so many questions after sharing our pics on Instagram and so this was the best way to share!

Carpe Diem x