The Veronese shore of Lake Garda

Lake Garda touches three regions, and the eastern shore, the one running from Peschiera to Malcesine, is Venetian. It is the lowest and widest part of the lake, with the moraine hills behind it in the southern half and Monte Baldo rising two thousand metres in the northern half: the climate is mild all year and the olive trees come down to the water.

The villages follow one another along the Gardesana orientale: Peschiera, which has its Venetian fortress and is a Unesco site with the other defence works of the Serenissima; Lazise, Bardolino and Garda, with their harbours and lakefronts; Torri del Benaco with its Scaliger castle; Brenzone and Malcesine, which sits under the wall of the Baldo.

The camping and the water

This is the second camping area of the Veneto and one of the largest in Europe: the sites are nearly all between Peschiera and Torri, with a shingle beach in front and a pool behind. The water is clear and cold until June; in summer it is fine. The regular wind, which comes up from the south in the afternoon, makes the lake one of Europe's sailing waters.

Above and around

From Malcesine the cable car with rotating cabins climbs to Monte Baldo, at 1,760 metres, in ten minutes: at the top are the paths, the flowering meadows and the view over the whole lake, and in summer people come down by mountain bike. Behind Peschiera and Lazise are the amusement parks, which in summer are the spare day when it rains or when the children tire of the lake.

Verona is half an hour from Peschiera, and the Valpolicella and the Bardolino wineries are a few kilometres from the shore. On the opposite side, Sirmione and Lombardy are ten minutes away by road or by boat.