Themed picks · Verona · Lake Garda
10 Lake Garda towns near Verona
By Peter Benei
10 comuni · within 90 minutes of Verona · drive times by road from the city center
Verona is about 30 minutes by car from the south shore of Lake Garda. Peschiera del Garda is the closest town and has its own station, and Bardolino, Lazise and Sirmione are all about 36 minutes away.
More in Veneto, or every way into the towns.
The towns
1Verona · Veneto · 30 min from Verona
Peschiera del Garda
The fortress town at the lake's southern outlet, and the easy one without a car: it has a station.
2Verona · Veneto · 34 min from Verona
Costermano sul Garda
Above the water rather than on it, at 237 meters in the hills over the east shore, among olives and vines.
3Brescia · Lombardia · 36 min from Verona
Sirmione
The narrow peninsula with a Roman villa at its tip and a castle at its gate. Its water holds a Blue Flag.
4Verona · Veneto · 36 min from Verona
Bardolino
The wine town of the east shore, where the red and the Chiaretto rosé take their name.
5Verona · Veneto · 36 min from Verona
Lazise
A walled port on the east shore that won the right to fortify in 983.
6Brescia · Lombardia · 39 min from Verona
Lonato del Garda
A hilltop town with a Visconti castle, on the ridge above the southwestern shore. It has a station.
7Brescia · Lombardia · 1 h 6 min from Verona
Salò
On the deepest gulf of the lake, with a long lakefront promenade.
We write letters from the Italian towns we visit: the town, what is worth eating there, and when to turn up. It is free, and you can leave whenever you like.
8Trento · Trentino-Alto Adige · 1 h 17 min from Verona
Riva del Garda
The north tip, where the Trentino mountains close in on the water and the wind brings the sailors.
9Brescia · Lombardia · 1 h 19 min from Verona
Gardone Riviera
On the west shore, and the reason to come is the Vittoriale, D'Annunzio's estate.
10Verona · Veneto · 1 h 24 min from Verona
Malcesine
Far up the east shore under Monte Baldo, with a Scaliger castle on the rock. A long day from Verona.
About this stretch
Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy, a glacial trench that runs north-south for 52 km from the Po plain to the southern Trentino. It sits at the meeting point of three regions: Veneto on the eastern shore, Lombardia on the western, Trentino-Alto Adige at the top. The towns along the shore are the country's longest-running lake resorts, working since the late 19th-century Habsburg holiday tradition first established the southern shore and Sirmione's thermal spas.
Verona is the right base for a Garda trip because the city sits at the southern entry to the lake and the rail and motorway access cover the entire eastern shore. The A4 motorway runs west from Verona to Brescia along the lake's southern edge, with exits at every major town. The Garda-side rail handles Peschiera del Garda and Desenzano. The lake itself has a working ferry service (Navigazione Lago di Garda) that runs from spring through autumn between every major comune on both shores, including the car ferry between Maderno and Torri del Benaco that lets you cross at the lake's narrowest point.
We picked ten comuni with a balance between the eastern (Veronese) and western (Bresciano) shores, plus Riva del Garda at the northern, Trentino end. Drive times below are by road from the center of Verona; the lake ferries are sometimes faster than driving the lake roads in summer (the bottleneck around Garda and Torri).
Why Verona is the base
Verona holds the southern end of Lake Garda inside its metropolitan reach. The city itself has the Roman Arena (the summer opera season runs June through September), the Castelvecchio Museum, the Adige river bend through the historic center, and the rail and motorway position that puts the lake at 30 to 90 minutes by car. The cooking closes the loop: lake fish (lavarello, coregone, trota) come into the Veronese trattorie from the Garda boats; the Bardolino and Custoza wines come off the lake's southern hills; the Verona-style pastissada (horse stew) and bigoli al ragù d'anatra are the city's heavy register, which the lighter Garda lake food balances.
When to go
Late April through early June and mid-September through October. The lake water is swimmable from mid-June through mid-September; the resort towns peak in July and August. The eastern shore (Bardolino, Garda, Malcesine) has more summer crowding than the western (Salò, Gardone, Gargnano). Riva del Garda at the northern Trentino end stays cooler later into the season because of the lake-effect wind (the Ora, the daily afternoon south wind that draws windsurfers to Lake Garda all summer). Off-season (November through March) the resorts thin out; many lakefront establishments close, but the towns themselves stay open.
Questions people ask
- Which Lake Garda town is the best for swimming?
- Sirmione's beaches sit on the southern peninsula and are sheltered from the lake-effect wind. Bardolino has a long sand beach on the eastern shore. The northern Trentino end (Riva del Garda) is windier and better for windsurfing than swimming. The western shore (Salò, Gardone) has narrower beaches because the mountain drops more steeply into the water.
- What wines come from Lake Garda?
- Bardolino DOC (red, light Corvina-based) and Bardolino Chiaretto DOC (rosé) from the eastern shore; Custoza DOC (white, Garganega-led) from south of the lake; Lugana DOC (white, Trebbiano di Lugana) from the southern lake-edge belt; Valtènesi DOC (red and rosé) from the western shore in Lombardia. All five are produced inside this list's range.
- Can I get around Lake Garda by ferry?
- Yes. Navigazione Lago di Garda runs scheduled services between every major comune on both shores from late March through October. Two car ferries: Maderno-Torri del Benaco (every 30 minutes, crosses the lake's narrowest point), and Limone-Malcesine (less frequent, north-end crossing). Day-pass tickets cover unlimited travel.
- Is Sirmione worth visiting despite the crowds?
- Yes, but go early in the day. The Scaligero Castle, the Grottoes of Catullus (Roman villa ruins at the tip of the peninsula), and the thermal spa (Aquaria Thermae) anchor the visit. The historic center fills with day-trippers by 11am; arriving before 9am gives you the peninsula to yourself.
How we picked these · Of the 52 towns in our catalogue within 90 minutes of Verona by car, we kept the 16 on Lake Garda and ranked them by how close they are, with a lift for Bandiera Blu, Borghi più belli and Bandiera Arancione. Sirmione, Bardolino, Lazise, Malcesine, Salò and Riva del Garda always take a place, so the southern lake, both shores and the northern Trentino end are on the page.
