Best Things to Do in Padenghe sul Garda

Things to do in Padenghe sul Garda

1. 

   01 Sightseeing

   Wander inside the walls of Padenghe castle

   • Top of the village, Via Castello
   • 45 minutes
   • Free

   The Castello di Padenghe dates from the 10th century, when the villages of the west shore built walls against Hungarian raids, and it is one of the few Garda castles that is still lived in. Inside the ring of walls and the two corner towers are narrow lanes of stone houses, window boxes and cats, and you are free to walk in through the gate at any time. From the ramparts on the lake side you look straight down onto the marina and across to Sirmione.

   It takes 15 minutes to see and an hour to enjoy. Go early or at dusk when residents are about and the light is on the towers.

   Map
2. 

   02 Beach & lake

   Swim from the beach by the marina

   • Lungolago, north of the marina
   • Half a day
   • Free

   Padenghe’s main beach runs north from the West Garda marina: a wide strip of lawn and small pebbles with mature trees for shade, a shallow entry that suits small children and a view across the lake to the Sirmione peninsula and Monte Baldo. There is a bar, showers and a paid car park (€1.50 an hour, capped at €9 a day) that fills by 11am on July weekends. Facing east, it gets the morning sun and goes into shade by late afternoon, which is either a blessing or a nuisance depending on the day.

   We rate it in our pick of the best Lake Garda beaches alongside its neighbours in Moniga and Manerba.

   Map
3. 

   03 Culture & history

   Find the Romanesque church of Sant'Emiliano

   • Via Sant'Emiliano, below the castle
   • 30 minutes
   • Free

   On the hill just below the castle, the little church of Sant’Emiliano is a plain 12th-century Romanesque building with a single nave, traces of frescoes and a bell tower that looks out over the olive groves towards the lake. It is usually open only at set times and for services, but the outside and the setting are worth the walk on their own.

   The parish church of Santa Maria in the lower village is the grander one, an 18th-century building with a big altar and a cool, quiet interior on a hot afternoon.

   Map
4. 

   04 Outdoors

   Cycle or walk the shoreline path to Desenzano

   • Lungolago, south from the marina
   • 1–2 hours
   • Free, bike hire €20–30 a day

   A cycle and footpath follows the shore south from Padenghe’s marina to Desenzano, about 5 km of flat, mostly car-free lakeside past small beaches, reed beds and villas. It makes a good morning: coffee at the marina, an easy hour to Desenzano’s harbour, a wander around the old town and market, then back the same way or on the bus.

   Heading north the road takes over for a stretch, but you can pick up quiet lanes again through Moniga’s vineyards. Both directions feature in our guide to the best Lake Garda bike rides.

   Map
5. 

   05 Food & wine

   Taste Chiaretto and Groppello in the Valtenesi

   • Hills between Padenghe, Moniga and Puegnago
   • 2 hours
   • €15–25 per tasting

   Padenghe is the southern gateway to the Valtenesi, the strip of hills between Desenzano and Salò that makes Chiaretto, Garda’s pale, dry rosé, and Groppello, a light red grape grown almost nowhere else. Family wineries within a 10-minute drive open their cellars for tastings of four or five wines, usually €15–25 with bread, cheese and the estate’s olive oil, and most will sell you a case at prices that make the supermarket look silly.

   Our favourites in this stretch are in our pick of the best Lake Garda vineyards. Book a day ahead, especially at weekends.

   Map
6. 

   06 Food & wine

   Visit an olive mill in Soiano

   • Soiano del Lago, 6 km north-west
   • 1 hour
   • Free to visit, oil from about €15 a bottle

   The Valtenesi is olive country as much as wine country, and the DOP Garda Bresciano oil made here is light, green and slightly peppery. Frantoio Manestrini in Soiano del Lago, 10 minutes up the hill, is a working mill with a shop and a small museum of old presses, and in November you can watch the new harvest being crushed. Tastings are informal: a few oils on bread, a chat about the trees, and a bottle to take home.

   Map
7. 

   07 Beach & lake

   Hire a boat from the West Garda marina

   • Porto di Padenghe
   • Half a day
   • €120–180 half day plus fuel

   The marina at Padenghe is one of the biggest on the lower lake and a handful of operators hire out small motorboats that need no licence, typically 40hp and room for six. From here Sirmione’s castle and the Grotte di Catullo are 20 minutes across the water, Isola del Garda is 30 minutes north, and the bays under the Rocca di Manerba are the best place to stop for a swim.

   Half-day hire runs €120–180 plus fuel in high season. See our guide to the best Lake Garda boat rentals for who we use and what to check before you sign.

   Map
8. 

   08 Family

   Sit in the park of Villa Barbieri

   • Via Italo Barbieri, lower village
   • 1 hour
   • Free

   Villa Barbieri, a 17th-century villa in the lower village, is now Padenghe’s town hall, and its park is open to the public: lawns, big old trees, a playground and benches with a view up to the castle. It is the place families end up in the late afternoon when the beach has gone into shade, and the comune stages concerts and summer events here.

   Map
9. 

   09 Outdoors

   Play a round at Arzaga or Gardagolf

   • Calvagese della Riviera and Soiano del Lago
   • Half a day
   • Green fees €70–120

   Two of northern Italy’s best-known courses are within 15 minutes of Padenghe. Golf Club Arzaga at Calvagese has 27 holes designed by Jack Nicklaus II and Gary Player in the moraine hills to the south-west, and Gardagolf Country Club in Soiano has 27 holes with the Rocca di Manerba and the lake in view from the higher tees. Both take visiting players with a handicap card and both have decent clubhouse restaurants.

   Map
10. 

    10 Food & wine

    Eat lake fish at the marina

    • Marina and the village
    • 2 hours
    • €30–50 per person

    The restaurants around the marina and on the lakefront do what the west shore does best: lavarello and coregone from the lake, grilled or in a light carpione marinade, bigoli with sardine sauce, risotto with tench, and Chiaretto by the carafe. Up in the village the trattorie are simpler and cheaper, with Brescian dishes like casoncelli and polenta that suit an evening when the wind is off the lake.

    For places worth a longer drive, see our pick of the best Lake Garda restaurants.

    Map
11. 

    11 Culture & history

    Take the boat or the car to Sirmione for the day

    • Sirmione, 15 km
    • A day
    • Ferry from Desenzano a few euros, castle €6–8

    Sirmione is the view from Padenghe’s beach, and it is 20 minutes away by car or a short hop from Desenzano on the ferry. The Scaligero castle, the Roman villa at the Grotte di Catullo and the thermal baths make it the best single day trip from here, as long as you arrive early or late to dodge the tour groups on the causeway.

    We have a full guide to the best things to do in Sirmione, including where to park.

    Map
12. 

    12 Evening

    Watch the lights come on across the lake

    • Marina and Piazza d'Annunzio
    • 1–2 hours
    • €5–9 a drink

    Padenghe faces east, so the sun sets behind the hills and the show is on the far side of the water: the sky over Monte Baldo goes pink, then the lights of Sirmione, Peschiera and Lazise come on one by one. The bars on the marina and the terrace tables in the village square are the places to be with a spritz or a glass of Groppello. It is quiet after 11pm; for late nights, Desenzano’s lakefront is 10 minutes away.

    Our favourite drinking spots around the lake are in our pick of the best Lake Garda bars.

    Map

Padenghe sul Garda in pictures