Let us be straight with you: Lake Garda is not Ibiza, there is no casino, and in most villages the evening means a long dinner, a passeggiata and a last drink on the harbour before midnight. The real club scene is concentrated at the southern end, around Desenzano and the beach clubs at Lonato, where the big summer nights happen and where the train station makes it possible to get home. Riva del Garda at the north end has the best summer festival calendar, Bardolino has the east shore’s one proper disco, and everywhere else the nightlife is bars, live music on a piazza and the occasional fireworks night.
We have done all of these ourselves, some of them more often than we should admit. The list is ordered by how good a night we think you will actually have, from the big beach clubs to the quieter evenings that suit families or a couple who want one good drink and an early ferry.
Some booking links on this page are affiliate links: if you book through one we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we recommend or the order of the list. How we choose
1Our top pick
Best summer beach club
#1 Coco Beach Club, Lonato del Garda
95/100
Lonato del Garda · Lido di Lonato, on the lake between Desenzano and Sirmione
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Coco Beach at the Lido di Lonato is the lake’s big summer club: a beach on the water by day with sunbeds and a restaurant, then a dance floor under the stars with resident and guest DJs from around midnight. It runs from late spring to September and Saturday is the main night, with a dressed-up Italian crowd from Brescia and Verona. Expect €20–30 on the door and a taxi home. It sits between Desenzano and Sirmione; see our guide to Lonato del Garda.
#2 Porto Vecchio and Piazza Malvezzi late bars, Desenzano
93/100
Desenzano del Garda · Porto Vecchio and Piazza Malvezzi, Desenzano del Garda
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Desenzano is the only town on the lake with a real late-bar circuit. The old harbour, Piazza Malvezzi and the lanes behind them hold a dozen bars within a few minutes’ walk, from champagne and oysters at Caffè Italia to cheap beer in the back streets, and on Friday and Saturday they run past 2am. It is busy year-round because locals use it, not just tourists. Everything else about the town is in our guide to Desenzano.
Desenzano del Garda · Desenzano del Garda and Lonato del Garda, inland from the lake
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The southern shore has two long-running discos that have survived every trend: Sesto Senso on the edge of Desenzano and Fura Look Club just inland at Lonato. Both open Friday and Saturday, both play commercial and house on the main floor with a second room for something else, and both get going after 1am. Entry runs €15–25 with a drink, dress is smart, and the crowd is mostly Italian and under 30. Neither is walkable from the centre, so budget for a taxi.
Bardolino · Via Montavoletta, on the hill above Bardolino
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Hollywood has been on the hill above Bardolino since the 1970s and is the one real disco on the Verona side of the lake, with outdoor floors under the trees in summer, a mainstream playlist and a crowd that ranges from Veronese twenty-somethings to campsite groups from the resorts between Lazise and Garda. Nights run Friday and Saturday in summer, sometimes midweek in August, with entry around €15–20. It is a short taxi from the lakefront in our guide to Bardolino.
Riva del Garda · Squares and gardens across Riva del Garda, Arco and Tenno
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Every summer, usually late June into July, the Garda Jazz Festival puts on a couple of weeks of evening concerts in the squares, castles and gardens of Riva, Arco, Tenno and the villages around them. Many of the concerts are free, the settings are often the best part, and it is the one time of year the north end has something on every night. Programme details appear in spring; the tourist office in Riva has them. Start with our guide to Riva del Garda for the rest of the town.
In July and August Gardaland stays open into the evening, typically until around 11pm, with the rides lit up, shows on the main stages and a fireworks or laser finale on selected nights. The queues are shorter than in the afternoon, the heat is off, and for a family with children it is the most fun night on the lake by some distance. Buy dated tickets online for €40–50 rather than at the gate. The park is on the lake road just north of Peschiera in our guide to Castelnuovo del Garda.
Sirmione · Piazza Don Angelo Piatti, Sirmione old town
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Not a club, but the best night out in Sirmione in our view. Aquaria, the thermal spa on the eastern side of the peninsula, runs late openings on summer weekends, when you float in the warm outdoor pool with the lake in front of you and the castle lit up behind. Evening entry costs less than a full day, roughly €40–60 depending on the session. Book online; it sells out on Saturdays. The rest of the old town, and where to eat before you go in, is in our guide to Sirmione.
Riva’s Notte di Fiaba, at the end of August, is four days of a fairy-tale theme taking over the old town, with street performers, market stalls and a long fireworks display over the harbour on the Saturday night that people drive from Trento to see. Outside that weekend, the bars under the arcades of Piazza III Novembre are open late all summer, and the lakefront between the Rocca and the Sabbioni beach is the town’s evening promenade.
Malcesine · Via Navene Vecchia and the harbour, Malcesine
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Malcesine’s nightlife is a beer garden and a harbour. Speck Stube, ten minutes north of the centre on Via Navene Vecchia, is a big Tyrolean-style garden with grilled pork knuckle and litre steins that runs late and loud on summer nights. Back in town, the bars around the harbour and below the castle keep going until midnight or so with live music on some evenings. That is about the extent of it, and after a day on Monte Baldo it is enough. See our guide to Malcesine.
Lazise after dark is the east shore’s family evening: gelato around the medieval harbour, bars with tables on the piazza until midnight, buskers and occasionally a band by the town walls, and the big campsites’ own entertainment programmes a short walk away. Nobody is going clubbing, but with children it is the easiest night out on the lake. It is also 15 minutes by taxi from Gardaland and the Bardolino disco if the adults want more. We cover the beaches and campsites in our guide to Lazise.
Yes, but it is concentrated. Desenzano has a genuine late-bar circuit and two long-running clubs, Coco Beach at Lonato is a proper summer beach club, and Bardolino has the east shore's disco. Everywhere else, the evening is a long dinner and bars on the harbour until midnight. If clubbing is the point of your holiday, base yourself around Desenzano rather than a small village on the north or west shore.
Is there a casino on Lake Garda?
No. There is no casino anywhere on Lake Garda, and there has not been one for decades. The nearest legal casinos are in Venice and, further afield, Sanremo and Campione d'Italia on Lake Lugano. Anyone promising a casino night on the lake is talking about a hotel event or a slot-machine bar. Evening entertainment here means bars, clubs, festivals and, in summer, the late openings at Gardaland.
Which town is best for nightlife on Lake Garda?
Desenzano del Garda, for the number of bars, the two clubs on its doorstep, the summer beach club at Lonato and the train station that gets you home after midnight. Riva del Garda is the best of the north end, with the Garda Jazz Festival and late bars on the main square. For a quieter drink with a view, the harbour cafés are covered in our pick of the best Lake Garda bars.
How much does it cost to get into a club on Lake Garda?
Budget €15–25 for the discos around Desenzano and Bardolino, usually with one drink included, and €20–30 for Coco Beach on a Saturday in August. Drinks inside run €10–15 for a cocktail and €6–8 for a beer. Add a taxi, since none of the clubs are walkable from a town centre and buses have stopped by then. A club night for two easily reaches €100 before dinner.
How do I get back to my hotel after a night out?
By taxi, in almost every case. Ferries stop in the evening, often before 8pm outside high summer, and the last buses along the lake leave around 9 or 10pm. Desenzano and Peschiera have trains to Verona and Brescia until roughly midnight. Book taxis in advance for a Saturday in August, they are scarce. Drink-drive limits are strict, 0.5, so the driver of the group stays on soft drinks.
Are there summer beach parties on Lake Garda?
Coco Beach at the Lido di Lonato is the one that matters, with sunbeds and dinner turning into an open-air club on summer weekends. Some campsites and lidos on the east shore between Lazise and Bardolino run their own evening parties, mostly for guests. The rest of the lake's beaches are quiet after dark. For daytime swimming spots, see our guide to the best Lake Garda beaches.
Is Lake Garda good for a hen or stag weekend?
It can be, if the group is happy with good food, boats and bars rather than a strip of clubs. Base yourselves in Desenzano, do a day on the water from our guide to Lake Garda boat rentals, then Coco Beach or a club at night. Sirmione and the small villages are the wrong choice, they go quiet by midnight and the neighbours are families.
Is there live music on Lake Garda?
In summer, most towns put on free concerts on the main piazza a couple of nights a week, from cover bands to brass bands, and the tourist offices print a weekly list. The best organised programme is the Garda Jazz Festival around Riva and Arco in late June and July. Bars with regular live music are rarer; Desenzano and Malcesine's harbour bars have it on some evenings, but it is not something to build a trip around.
What time do bars close on Lake Garda?
In the small resorts, most lakefront bars close between midnight and 1am in summer, and around 10 or 11pm in spring and autumn. Desenzano and Riva keep some bars going to 2am at weekends, and the clubs run until 4 or 5am. Out of season, from November to Easter, many village bars shut altogether and the evening effectively ends with dinner. Restaurants generally stop serving around 10pm.
Can I enjoy Lake Garda at night with children?
Easily, and it might be the best part of their holiday. Gardaland's summer late openings are the highlight, the harbour towns like Lazise and Bardolino are set up for families until midnight with gelato and buskers, and the Notte di Fiaba fireworks in Riva at the end of August are worth planning around. For the daytime side, our guide to the best Lake Garda parks covers the theme parks and gardens.
Our top pick
