Lake Garda Circuit: 210 km Around Italy's Largest Lake in 3 Days

Lake Garda is Italy’s largest lake, and three regions share its shore: Lombardy on the west, the Veneto on the east and Trentino at the narrow northern tip, where the mountains close in. A road runs all the way round — the Gardesana — and over three days a loop from Verona covers about 210 km, with one detour up the most famous few kilometres of road on the lake.

The two shores drive very differently. The western side, the Gardesana Occidentale (SS45bis), is cut into the cliffs: narrow, tunnelled, slow and spectacular. The eastern side, the Gardesana Orientale (SS249), is wider and easier, with the bulk of Monte Baldo above it. In July and August both are busy from mid-morning, so the rule for this whole route is simple: drive early, stop often, and do not plan on making good time.

Day 1 — Verona to Sirmione and Salò (65 km)

Pick up the car at Verona and take the A4 west to the Sirmione exit. Sirmione sits on a thin peninsula pushing into the southern end of the lake, and the old town at its tip is a limited traffic zone: day visitors cannot drive past the Scaliger castle, and cameras fine cars that try. Park at the car parks at the start of the peninsula and walk in. The castle, with its own walled harbour, guards the gate; at the far end are the Grotte di Catullo, the ruins of a large Roman villa above the water.

From Sirmione follow the southern shore west and then north to Salò, with a long lakeside promenade, and on to Gardone Riviera. Here is the strangest house on the lake: the Vittoriale degli Italiani, the estate the poet Gabriele D’Annunzio built for himself, with the bow of a warship set into the hillside among the gardens. Sleep in Salò or Gardone.

Day 2 — The western shore and the Strada della Forra (65 km)

North of Gargnano the SS45bis runs through tunnel after tunnel cut into the rock, with the lake flashing through the openings. This is the drive people come for, and the reason to do it in the morning, before the traffic builds up behind every slow vehicle in the tunnels.

At the bottom of the Brasa gorge, turn up the Strada della Forra (SP38) to Tremosine. It is only about 5.8 km, but it squeezes through a canyon so narrow that the light barely reaches the road, in tunnels and on ledges carved out of the walls. Two things to know before you turn off. Since the road reopened after a landslide, the lower section through the gorge has been one-way uphill, so you can only drive it from the lake up, never down — which is why this route takes it northbound. And it is closed to motorhomes and trailers, and to vehicles wider than 2.20 m or taller than 3.00 m.

At the top, the village of Pieve stands on the very edge of the cliff above the lake. Continue through the plateau villages to Vesio and take the road back down to Limone sul Garda, where the terraced lemon houses — the stone pillars that once carried winter roofs over citrus trees — still climb the slope behind the harbour. The Limonaia del Castèl is restored and open to visit. Then follow the shore to Riva del Garda, at the northern tip, and stay the night.

Day 3 — Riva, Malcesine and the eastern shore back to Verona (80 km)

Before you leave Riva, the Cascata del Varone waterfall drops through a narrow gorge a short drive inland. The old Ponale road that climbs out of Riva above the lake is closed to cars and is now a walking and cycling path — worth an hour on foot if you have it.

Round the head of the lake to Torbole, where the reliable afternoon wind has made the water one of Europe’s best-known windsurfing spots, then turn south on the SS249 to Malcesine and its Scaliger castle, the castle Goethe was caught sketching in 1786 and briefly taken for a spy. From Malcesine the Monte Baldo cable car climbs in two sections to about 1,780 m; the upper cabin turns a full circle on the way up, and the view at the top takes in the whole lake.

Drive on south past Garda and Bardolino, the home of the light red wine of the same name, and back to Verona. If you would rather cut the loop short, a year-round car ferry links Toscolano-Maderno on the west shore with Torri del Benaco on the east in about half an hour, with fewer crossings in winter.

Costs

Use the cost calculator to price fuel and nights for your dates. Budget for accommodation, fuel for about 210 km, car rental, the short A4 toll from Verona to Sirmione, parking in every town — almost all of it paid in summer — and tickets for the Vittoriale, the Grotte di Catullo, the Monte Baldo cable car and the car ferry if you use it. The lake is busiest from June to early September; in May, June and September the roads are far quieter and the hotels cheaper.

This trip is also in the free Roadcut trip planner: change the number of days and where you sleep each night, pick your vehicle to see the fuel cost, check the weather on the road, and open each day in Google Maps, Apple Maps or Waze.