Hi Enchanted

have been to both and Riva del Garda / Limone as well. We have reviews about our hotel at Bardolino , the Gritti. We have also stayed at The Eurpoa in Riva del Garda.

Both are great : if you want scenery and mountains then head for Malcesine - a superb town, a fabulous castle, the cable to the mountain top and in easy reasch of Riva del Garda (stunning) and Limone - ditto. Bardolino is beautiful and in easy reach of Sirmione (and castle and town) and Verona and the Opera are closer -

Personally if we went back we would go to Riva or Limone ----- or Malcesine. All are at the top end of the lake and if you want to you can visit the bottom (flatter) end. The Northern end (Malcesine) is scenically stunning!

Riva is stunning - we stayed at the Best Western Europa and that was a fantastic experience (please ask if you want ideas). We have visited Limone and if (when) we return to the area we would go there. Malcesine is great too and within easy reach of all of the others.

For us , we have done both and we agree that though both Bardolino and Sirmione are nice, the towns of the Northern end are lovely we would return to the mountains time and time again -

Any questions just pm us



PS The hotel we stayed at in Riva is called the Best Western Europa and is right on the quay side with stunning, amazing views over the area - have a look on their web site via Best Western - you wont be disappointed.

I would agree with Presto, although I have never stayed in Riva, we have looked at it a few times and if we ever do go, we would stay at the Europa.

We stayed in Garda and from there you can walk the lakeside path to Bardelino. We also visited Sirmione, Riva, Malcesine, Limone. We too preferred the North end of the lake and if your choice is just Malcesine or Bardelino, my personal choice would be Malcesine as it is a bigger place and I think there will be more to do and more bars and restaurants.
Garda is also a great place to stay and its lovely to sit down in the evenings in the wonderful bars and restaurants by the lakeside.

Hi Enchanted

Sorry for not replying sooner to your PM - I've been offline for a few days due to moving offices. Presto and sugarbabe61 have pretty much covered everything I would have said. We chose Bardolino becuase it was nearer to Verona and were happy with this but I full acknowledge that the scenery was not as nice there as further north up the lake. It really comes down to what you want out of the holiday - hope that helps!

Malcesine is prettier bit further out though!

Hi cyberkitten,

Am wondering what you mean about being 'further out' ---- have always found it really easy to get to from Riva by bus and boat - like all of the resorts on the lake. If you mean from the airport - gotcha!

I've been to Lake Garda twice, and would choose Bardolino over Malcesine as it's easier to get to the other towns. Both are full of character however, and it's really down to personal choice.

Apologies for hi-jacking this thread but can someone tell me how easy is it to pick up a taxi at Verona airport to transfer to Bardolino? Roughly how long does the journey take and how much would it cost? Many thanks.

Took us about 45 mins from Verona Breschia to Bardolino. Our hotel organised the transfer and it cost 70 euros.

Back to the original query, we have just returned from Bardolino and loved it. We visited Malcesine, which was spectacular, but felt that Bardolino was a bit more 'central' for getting to other places - ie we took an excursion to Venice and the people who had got on the coach at the northern end of the lake had already been on for an hour by the time we got on. We also picked Bardolino because we travelled with our teenage son and it was close to Gardaland and a big waterpark - both excellent.

We also found some lovely restaurants in Bardolino, very reasonably priced.