About us

Two of us, one lake, every town on it

Best of Lake Garda is written by Alex and Nicole: one visitor, one local, and a shared habit of going back to check.

Lake Garda, Italy
29 town guides
22 ranked lists

This site started as a list. Alex kept asking Nicole the same questions before every trip to the lake: which shore, which town, where to eat in Malcesine, whether the ferry or the road was quicker, whether Sirmione was worth the queue. Nicole kept answering from memory, and the answers kept being better than anything either of us could find online, where every list seemed to have been written from a desk, and every restaurant was "charming".

So we wrote the answers down, went to check the ones we were not sure about, and put them here. That is still how our Tried & Tested lists work: we go, we pay, we write down what we would tell a friend, and we go back the next year to see if it is still true. Newer lists that we have researched but not yet visited end to end are labelled Researched & fact-checked, so you always know which is which. Nothing on this site is ordered by who pays, because nobody does.

Who we are

The visitor · From the UK

Alex

Alex came to the lake the way most of our readers do: on holiday, with a hire car, a guidebook that was five years out of date and no idea which shore to pick. He writes the guides with that first visit in mind, so they answer the questions you actually have on the way here. Which town, how many days, ferry or drive, is it worth the queue.

Would not miss

The Ponale path above Riva, early, before the sun reaches it
A ferry across to Limone and the cycle path back
Any table at the water's edge in Gargnano

The local · From Lombardy

Nicole

Nicole grew up an hour from the western shore and has spent summers on the lake her whole life. She is the reason the lists include the trattoria with no website, the beach the coaches never find and the market day you would otherwise miss. She also keeps Alex honest about which places have gone downhill since last year.

Would not miss

Chiaretto from the Valtenesi, drunk cold, on the Moniga lakefront
The Sunday market in Salò
Swimming off the rocks at Punta San Vigilio in September

How a place gets on a list

Six rules we work to. If you catch us breaking one, tell us.

1We say how we know

Every list is labelled. Tried & Tested means one of us has eaten, swum, slept, walked or tasted every place on it. Researched & fact-checked means we built it from the operators' own information and official sources, checked fact by fact, before we had been to every place. It never describes a visit that did not happen.

2We pay our own way

We book the room, order the food and buy the ferry ticket like anyone else. Nobody knows we are writing about them, so nobody puts on a show.

3Strongest first

Every guide is a numbered list, ordered the way we would tell a friend. Number one is the place we would send you if you only had one evening.

4Re-checked each season

Chefs move, lidos change hands, a great hotel gets a new owner. We go back through every list each year, and each guide shows the month it was last checked.

5Places drop off

A place that slips does not keep its spot because it used to be good. When standards fall, it comes off the list and something better goes on.

6Nothing is for sale

No one can pay to be on a list or to move up one. We do not accept free stays or meals in return for coverage, and we do not run sponsored entries.

How to read a guide

What the numbers and labels on every ranked entry mean.

The label: Tried & Tested: we have been to every place on the list. Researched & fact-checked: built from the operators' own information and official sources and checked fact by fact. A list changes to Tried & Tested once we have been.
The score: Each ranked entry has a score out of 100. It is our own judgement of how well a place does what it sets out to do, at the price it charges. A 90 at a €12 pizzeria and a 90 at a Michelin table are both places we would send a friend without hesitation.
The price band: Between one and four euro signs, shown against a typical evening for two or a night in a standard room in June. It is a guide to what you will spend, not a comment on value.
The insider tip: The one practical thing we would tell a friend before they go: the table to ask for, the time to arrive, the road to avoid. On a Tried & Tested list it comes from our own visits.
The town guides: Every town on the lake gets its own page with the things to do in the order we would do them, a map, and the picks from our ranked lists that happen to be there.

The honest bit

How this site pays for itself

Some of the links to hotels, tours and boat hire may be affiliate links. Book through one and we may earn a small commission; you pay exactly the same. That is the only money this site makes. Nobody pays to be listed, nobody pays to move up, and we turn down free stays offered in exchange for a review.

The order of every list is settled before a single booking link goes in, and plenty of our number ones have no link at all, because the best trattoria on the lake does not take online bookings and never will.

Tell us what we missed

A trattoria we should try, a lido that has changed hands, a price that has gone up. People who live on the lake often hear first, and we answer every message.

Contact form

Send us a message

We reply within a few days, in English or Italian. We do not answer requests for paid listings.

Good to know

Do businesses pay to be included?

No. No one has ever paid to be on one of our lists, and no one can. We do not sell placements, sponsored entries or "featured" badges, and we do not accept free meals or rooms in exchange for coverage. If a place is on a list, it is because we would send a friend there, and the label at the top of the list tells you whether that comes from our own visits or from research.

How do you make money?

Some links to hotels, tours and boat rentals may be affiliate links. If you book through one we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never affects what we recommend or where it sits on a list: the ranking is decided before any link is added, and plenty of our number ones have no booking link at all.

How often are the guides updated?

Every list is re-checked at least once a year, usually over the spring and early summer before the season starts, and the date at the top of each guide tells you when. Between checks we fix anything a reader tells us about within a few days.

Can I suggest a place?

Please do. People who live on the lake know places we have not found yet. Send us the name and the town and we will look into it. We cannot promise it will make the list, but we read every suggestion.

Something is wrong on one of your pages. What should I do?

Tell us. Opening hours, prices and ferry timetables change faster than we can visit, and a note from someone who was there last week is worth more than our visit last spring. Use the contact details at the bottom of this page.

Where do the photos come from?

Where a photograph is not ours, the credit is at the foot of the page: the photographer, the source and the licence. We only use pictures that are in the public domain or released under a Creative Commons licence that allows it.

Do you cover the whole lake?

Yes. All 29 towns and villages with a town page, from Sirmione in the south to Riva at the top, and the hill villages above the western shore that most guides skip. If you think we have missed somewhere, see the question above.