If you're looking for a slightly hipster guide to Lake Garda and want to take lots of photos... and eat ice-cream, this guide is for you, words and photos by Rosa Fairfield.
Lake Garda is big, it's like a big lake. Okay, so that sounding like such a dumb statement but I think that's what makes it so beautiful. It's one of those vast landscapes that makes you feel tingly and inspired (or, maybe that's just me). There's also so many great photo opportunities there and so many great footpaths to explore. Plus, it's a great place to stuff your face full of gelato. I'm proud to say I did lots of stuffing.
Views of Limone
Limone Sul Garda is such a beautiful place so it's great for taking some of those classic Italian view snaps that you see all over Instagram. If you're not into photography, it's a great experience to just breathe and take in all your surroundings. There's a view point on the main road heading out of Limone, which in my opinion is the best place to see the view from. You can get there on foot, you just have to walk to the edge of town, there's a path heading up towards a church. You just follow the path around, then walk up some steps leading to the main road.
Malcesine Sul Garda
The harbor area is really beautiful. There's this old-y world looking boat that docks there, which looks so cool. Also, just by the harbor there's this little archway. There's a mini garden though the other side, which has some great photo spots. That's where I took this picture above. If you want views, you can also climb up to the top of the castle there. It costs 6 Euros for adults to get inside. I'd also recommend visiting the park, which is near the town square. It's a nice place to sit and relax. There's also a market near there, it's on Saturdays. To be honest, I wasn't loving it, it just had your very stereotypical market stuff and it was very busy. I didn't see anything that looked unique or interesting.
FUN SUITCASES
Hiking Walks
There's lots of trekking trails around Lake Garda. I'd definitely recommend giving some of them a go. Just don't do what I did. I tried to climb up an extreme hiking path with no equipment and ended up having to slide down on my butt. Everything is pretty well labeled though when you're doing the routes.
If you're looking for something flat and simple you can follow the cycle path around Limone Sul Garda. It goes out around the water so there are some really cool views. It took me around 1hr 30mins to walk to that point from the main town.
There's also various trails up into the hills. I did a medium trail in Limone. It took me just less than an hour to complete. It wasn't too difficult and kids were doing it with their parents too. It's nice and peaceful. Plus, it wasn't too warm because it was shaded by the trees. There's trekking maps that you can pick up when you're there from hotels and tourist points, which have the paths all marked out.
Flowers
This building was in central Limone. It's such a beautiful building to photograph. It's very beautiful there in general and there are lots of lovely blooms to photograph. You just have to walk around and you will land on something pretty to photograph.
Gelato (Ice-Cream)
Yeah, you caught me. I'm obsessed with Ice-Cream and when you go to Italy you just gotta have some gelato. The best place I found to get ice-cream from was Gelateria Qciari in Limone. They do scoops or you can have ice-cream in a brioche. My favorite though was the cookie ice-cream sandwichs. I had one everyday and they were so good!
In Riva sul Garda there was also, Gelateria Al Pozzo. I really liked this place. There were a good selection of flavors. Also, the ice-cream was smooth and had a great, creamy consistency. They also had slushes there, if you want an ice drink.
Talking about slushes in Riva sul Garda, there was a Brolio stand near the harbor. They had really nice slushes. They basically just use ice and then put in a cordial after so there are lots of different interesting flavors. I had the orange one.
