Trip to Lake Garda Italy
We are planning a 6 week trip from Calais to Lake Garda with a caravan and would prefer to stick to the toll roads and easiest towing roads. Could anyone who has done this trip give us some tips on the best route to take. Also any tips on sites on Lake Garda? Would like to maybe move round the lake a bit and maybe stay at 2 or 3 different sites. We are keen cyclists so would cycling a lot in the ares.
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Fran
We have been to Lake Garda quite a few times, often as a stop off en route to other destinations in Italy.
When Lake Garda was our first stop in Italy we would travel down through France on the autoroute A26 and at Chalons en Champagne take the A4 to Metz and after that take the German autobahn south to Fussen where you cross into Austria over the Fern Pass. This not particularly steep but an alternative is to divert from Ulm in Germany and take the autobahn to Munich and onto Innsbruck. This route does add quite a few kilometres to the journey but it is all motorway, unlike the Fern Pass. From Innsbruck take the motorway route over the Brenner Pass and head into Italy. This road takes you down the eastern side of Lake Garda. Many people head for Peschiera del Garda at the southern end of the Lake, lots of campsites there, We Have used Bella Italia which is good but busy. We have also stayed at Camping Cisano at Cisano di Bardolino. There are campsites at the northern end of the Lake at Rive del Garda but we have not stayed there. Peschiera del Garda is quite a handy place as it has good access to the likes of Verona and Venice.
David
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For us the route would be determined by what do we want to see and which stopping places on the journey - going via Alsace and Switzerland would win on that count for us - but I realise others would balk at the cost of two Swiss vignettes.
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@DavidKlyne - do you do this with a caravan or campervan? As we’ve not done this before is going over the Fern Pass tricky with a log vehicle?
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@fran Mainly with a caravan but we have also covered much of the route in a fairly large motorhome. When people see the word Pass in any route suggestion there is a temptation to think step gradients but in the case of the Fern and Brenner passes they are perfectly doable with a car and caravan with a decent power to weight combination. The Fern Pass is not particularly steep but it is twisty in places. If you have Google Earth on your device search for the Fern Pass and click down to get Street View it will give you a good impression of what the road is like. As I say you can avoid it be going via Munich which is all motorway. The only other route we have used into Italy was via the Tunnel de Frejus as we were exploring the more western big lakes. BTW the Brenner Motorway is perfectly fine gradient wise.
David
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Hi Fran,
Like David we have visited Garda many times, using different routes,from different ports, and usually stayed at Camping Bella Italia.
We used the route he mentioned but would turn left out of Calais and head for the toll free route via Belgium/Luxembourg and after the Fern Pass head for Landeck and onward to the Reschen pass-if travelling from Calais this would be the route I would take.
There are many many sites but BI suited us as its an easy walk, attractive, into Peschiera Del Garda withy its many restaurants & shops, ferries to other lakeside towns, and a train station for the likes of verona, venice and Milan.
There are a lot of cycle routes and the elevated route from LImone to Riva is very spectacular.
For site searching we mainly use ACSI and seachforsites.
Hope you have a great trip-we are headed there in April but staying in BI accomodation and hotels
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Fran, I have used the Fern Pass many times both with a caravan and a motorhome, you should not have any problems. Use the new Brenner Pass autoroute not the old pass, caravans are not allowed on the old route even though as passes go it is an easy route for motorhomes not wishing to pay Austrian tolls. Be aware there are extensive road works on the Brenner autoroute, it may mean delays. You will find pitches on Italian sites quite small in comparison to many other countries, if you have a large caravan pick your site carefully.
Safe travelling
peedee
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