Driving a motorhome along the western side of Lake Garda

Driving a motorhome along the western side of Lake Garda

It was still raining when we left Camping Baia Verde on the western shore of Lake garda to head further north up the western shore of Lake Garda to Riva and the A22 autostrada to Austria. The weather was miserable and the views were obviously going to be disappointing. As expected low cloud and rain reduced visibility considerably, it was not a good day. We also had a stressful start. In trying to get back to the main road we found ourselves on roads no wider than the motorhome with a nasty drop on one side and sheer rocky walls on the other. Thankfully, the only time we met an oncoming vehicle was at a passing place. After some stressful driving we made the main road and headed north up the side of the lake. The western side of the lake is far more built up than the eastern side and the road was very busy for such a poor Sunday morning.  I knew there were tunnels on the route and was concerned about their height and it wasn’t long before I saw the first sign indicating no trucks and a height limit of 3.6 meters. This was doable but didn’t leave a lot of clearance for our vehicle. There were in fact many tunnels of varying heights, lengths and widths, some lit, others not and some lined others just bare rocky sides. I found the rocky unlit tunnels the most stressful especially when the height sign at the entrance indicated the height was in fact only 3.5 meters. With a vehicle height of 3.4 meters, this did not leave much margin for error. At one point I had to stop at the entrance to one of these to allow an oncoming motorhome to squeeze past! It was with some relief we reached Riva and the autostrada unscathed about 45 miles later. I cannot recommend doing this trip in a motorhome, I would certainly not do it again especially as we encountered so few stopping places. Better to use the ferries to see this side of the lake or use the autostrada to stay at one of the Riva campsites.

The weather didn’t improve and over lunch in a service area we debated what to do. I had thought of travelling to Austria via the Resia Pass but didn’t fancy that route in the bad weather and going down the old Brenner Pass didn’t much appeal and neither did paying 80 euros for the Austrian Go Box to use the A13 autoroute. We decided to night stop early at the Autocamp in Vipiteno and hope the weather improved for the journey down the old Brenner Pass the next day.

The toll for the 110 mile trip on the Italian A22 autostrada for my class 6 vehicle from the Riva junction to Vipiteno was just 12.6 euros.