You'll be fine with everything you mentioned.

You will need transport because Riva is quite isolated from the rest of the lake (with the exception of Torbole). If you intend to use lake transport then Limone is the nearest village and the cost/time isn't too bad. If you intend to go South to Sirmione, Salo etc then be prepared for hefty ticket prices and a long time getting there.

Your best option would be car hire. You can then also go North of Riva into the mountains.

BTW you'll love Riva. One of my favourites.

Thanks for the info. I am really looking forward to it. We are going early June is this normally a nice climate?

Starting at the beginning

- kids in restaurants, assuming you're not thinking of 5* gourmet dining then it won't be a problem.

- prices, who knows! Italy is generally a touch more expensive than UK but prices vary erratically from place to place, even on the same piazza!

- climate, June is warmer than most UK but not too hot for a 2 year old. Possible that there will be some rain, probably showers late afternoon. Mornings best time.

- travel, there is an excellent all-you-need-to-know website in English about the lake shipping services at http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/eng/gar/nlg.html . Once you've found the fare table note the columns head 1.10 1.20 etc., we come back to that in a moment.

buses are covered by the Trentino local authority website which at the moment is only in Italian. Start at http://www.ttesercizio.it/Orari/Extraurbano/Default.aspx then click the box Zona 2 on the left (not on the map), then scroll down the list of routes to get the lits of Fermata and Riva del G. should be first. Click that and you get all the routes that serve Riva, the thing it displays is the baord from the bus station and below it are links to route timetables.

-discount card - http://www.gardatrentino.it/en/Card/?s=1435 this is last years info but hope it happens again this time. Note it was free!! You see a discount for Navigarda - that's the ships and with the card you got the cheaper fare in the column 1.20 from above. This link will also lead you to other English info about the area.

- a bit off topic but an example of the roads around Riva see http://www.rescue911.de/download.php?image_id=8942 - if your PC will do this it should give a file called unimog.mpg turn the sound down and expand to full screen. The white Fiat at 26 seconds was lucky to not get written off!

Many Thanks - this is a great help.

Hopefully we will avoid the rain!!!

Have you got any Restaurants etc that you would reccomend from your last visit?

sorry, no recommendations. I only drop by the area on trips from further north, most I buy is the odd ciabatta and drink. And I've not been south of Trento for a couple of years.

I think that I am now going to hire a car for the time I am there so any reccomendations at all would be greatly appreciated?

Bars/Restaurants etc

how are you getting there to start with? and where are you staying? In Italy you can't assume that everywhere will have safe parking close by.

my motto has always been if it's worth seeing they'd run public transport to it so I don't get involved with car hire. Especially with Italian parking problems and petrol prices (so high that some people further north go to Austria or Switzerland to fill up!).

We have only stopped to wander and have coffee/lunch on a couple of trips and those prices were fine,icecreme is cheaper than UK but prices generaly I would say were a bit up on us but not to bad. You will love it

I am staying in Riva and have been informed that my Hotel does have parking so that shouldnt be a problem. With regards to petrol/prices I have budgeted for the costs being high - I will still use public transport but car hire is always good for journey to and from airport and travelling about. Will probably take the little one to Gardaland at some stage which is another reason for wanting the Car. I have also heard of the fantastic Vineyards that my wife and I would like to visit.

Good news about the Ice Cream - I shall take full advantage of that one! Where did you stay in Garda Shrimper?

I was just wondering about Restaurants/Bars to visit as I normally have a couple of reccomendations up my sleeve from friends or family before travelling anywhere. I will just have to expore.....

We stayed in Garda & Malcesine not Riva del garda and went on a trip to Riva.All that end of the lake is alot prettier than the other end ,more mountainous,when we went you could buy a day boat ticket your end of the lake and get on and off as you please.Going back to ice cream we had one in Venice about 2 hundred yards from St marks square for 1 euro, try that in trafalger square