Getaways from Verona: day trips and destinations close by.

Hire car or train to Desenzano?

There are direct flights to Verona Villafranca airport (VRN) from Madrid, Barcelona, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura. Whoever flies to Verona for the lake almost always picks up the hire car at the airport itself: it is the most convenient way to get around both shores. From Verona to Sirmione it is about 43 km, and from the airport a little less.

You can also get there without a car, with more patience. A bus takes you from the airport to Porta Nuova station, and from there the direct train on the Milan–Venice line goes to Desenzano or Peschiera, in the south of the lake; the last stretch to Sirmione is by bus or taxi. For the north, a train from Porta Nuova to Rovereto and bus 411 to Torbole. Each change eats half a day, and the north of the lake in a day from Verona, without a car, is difficult: it is better to sleep there and get around by boat between Torbole, Malcesine and Limone.

The south of the lake, wide and open, 40 minutes away

About 40 minutes away is the south of the lake, wide and open, with pebble beaches, castles and vineyards. Sirmione occupies the tip of a narrow peninsula, and at its end are the Grotte di Catullo, the remains of a great Roman villa over the water. If the flight arrives early, it fits on the same day you land. Do not drive into the centre: you leave the car at Colombare and continue by shuttle and on foot.

An hour and a quarter away is the north, narrow and wedged between mountains. It is about 63 km along the east shore to Malcesine, where the Monte Baldo cable car climbs in rotating cabins to 1,760 m in about 20 minutes. From the Malcesine landing stage the public boat leaves for Limone, with the walkway hung from the rock over the water, and higher up Torbole and Riva live off the wind, with the Varone waterfall a quarter of an hour away. To cross between the two shores without going round the north of the lake, the Maderno – Torri del Benaco car ferry runs all year.

Do not try to see both shores on the same day in summer

The lake season runs from April to October. The best weeks are from April to June and September and October, with light and without the queues of August. In July and August everything is full and the east shore road jams: set out early, because the cable car car park fills up, and do not try to see both shores by car on the same day. In November the cable car and the scheduled boats close, and until March many hotels on the lake are shut; the Sirmione plan holds up better in those months than the northern ones. The Grotte di Catullo are closed on Mondays.

Sirmione on the day you land

• The day you land: Sirmione and the Grotte di Catullo, 42 minutes away. The Roman villa (€10, free for under-18s), grilled Garda fish at Antica Contrada and the afternoon by the pool at Agriturismo Armea, among vineyards.
• A long day: Monte Baldo, Malcesine and a boat to Limone, 74 minutes away. The cable car in the morning, before the clouds; lunch in Malcesine; boat to Limone, €7.50 one way, and a stroll along the walkway before the last boat back.
• With three nights: Sirmione, Monte Baldo, Limone and windsurfing at Torbole. A night among vineyards near Sirmione and two in Torbole, for the cable car, the boat, a windsurf lesson and the Varone waterfall. From about €450 per person without flights; best in May, June and September.

North or south, where to sleep and what to see in four days is on the Lake Garda page.