Lake Garda

In September I visited Lake Garda, Italy's largest lake for 11 nights. This was my third time here, having previously visited in 2017 and 19 staying at the Hotel La Perla in the town of Garda.

There are many beautiful places to visit on the lake, easily connected by buses and ferry. On a previous trip we enjoyed the lake tour excursion which offers a panoramic drive around the lake and stops off at many towns for further exploration including Sirimone, Limone and Malcesnie. During my most recent trip we decided to spend more time visiting Lazise and Bardolino, two beautiful towns on the south of the lake.

It is also easy to visit the Italian Cities. From Garda, there is regular public buses to Verona which in approx. 1h 20min bring you into the main square (Piazza Bra) where the Roman Amphitheatre is situated. The city is of course famous for the setting of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and you can visit the house where Juliet Stayed. I had a good day taking in the sights of this city and would particularly reccomend to anyone visiting to visit the Torre Die Lamberti which is the tallest building in the city and offers a beautiful panoramic view across the city. I ended my day by doing the short 25 minute train tour of the city. There are many more accessible sights within the city which you can find out more about on their website.

One of the most famous and popular city's in Italy (if not the world) is Venice. This unique floating city is home to many beautiful buildings although from an access perspective it can be very busy and overcrowded. There is also limited public toilets compared to other city's so worth baring in mind before visiting. Despite these access challenges I still enjoyed my day, in particular the lagoon tour gives a good overview of all the city has to offer.

One of Italy's lesser known city's but well worth a visit is Bolzano. There are organized excursions from the resorts around the lake here. This is a city close to the Austrian border and is very Austrian as opposed to Italy. The region has historically been between both countries before finally in 1919 after a treaty was signed following WWI transferring from the Austria-Hungary empire to Italy.

The day of the organized excursion allows for 2 hours free time to explore the city centre of Bolzano, which has a variety of shops, a cathedral and archeology museum, before taking a cable car up to Renon, a small mountain village where you then take a scenic train journey along before stopping for a meal at a local restaurant and possible visit to the Earth Pyramids if time allows.