Best Things to Do in Sirmione

Things to do in Sirmione

1. 

   01 Sightseeing

   Cross the drawbridge into the Castello Scaligero

   • Piazza Castello, at the entrance to the old town
   • 1 hour
   • €6–8 adults

   The 13th-century castle is the reason most people come, and it is one of the best preserved in Italy: a full moat, a fortified dock where the Scaliger fleet moored, and a 47-metre keep you can climb for the view down the whole peninsula. Inside there is not much beyond stone and stairs, but the walk round the walls and the view over the harbour from the top are worth the ticket. It is closed on Mondays and the queue at the ticket desk builds fast from 10.30am.

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2. 

   02 Culture & history

   Walk the Grotte di Catullo Roman villa

   • Piazzale Orti Manara, northern tip of the peninsula
   • 1.5 hours
   • €8–10 adults, reduced for EU under-25s

   At the far tip of the peninsula, the Grotte di Catullo are the remains of a two-hectare Roman villa from around the 1st century AD, terraced down to the water among olive trees. The name is a romantic guess (the poet Catullus had a house at Sirmione, but probably not this one) and the arches, cisterns and long cryptoporticus are impressive whatever they were. The small museum by the entrance has the mosaics and frescoes. It is a 15-minute walk from the castle, and there is little shade on site.

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3. 

   03 Beach & lake

   Swim from the white slabs at Jamaica Beach

   • Below the Grotte di Catullo, northern tip
   • 2–3 hours
   • Free

   Just below the Grotte di Catullo, the shore is a shelf of flat white limestone slabs that runs out into water so clear and shallow you can wade a long way from the beach. This is Jamaica Beach, free, with no facilities and a rough path down from the ruins, and it is the best swim in the south of the lake. Bring water shoes for the rock and go early or late; there is no shade and by midday in August every slab has a towel on it. We rank it in our pick of the best Lake Garda beaches.

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4. 

   04 Beach & lake

   Float in the thermal pools at Aquaria

   • Piazza Don Angelo Piatti, old town
   • Half a day or evening
   • €45–70 for a day or evening pass

   Sirmione’s spring comes out of the lake bed at around 69°C and Terme di Sirmione pipe it into Aquaria, a large thermal spa in the middle of the old town with an outdoor pool at lake level, hydro jets, saunas and a lakeside terrace. It is a proper spa day rather than a swim, with robes and slippers included, and the evening sessions in summer are the best value. Book online, especially at weekends, and note that under-14s are not admitted.

   Book a session Map
5. 

   05 Outdoors

   Take a boat trip around the peninsula

   • Jetties by the castle and Piazza Carducci
   • 30 minutes to 2 hours
   • €10–15 per person for the loop

   Small motorboats leave from the jetties beside the castle and by Piazza Carducci for a 25–30 minute loop of the peninsula: under the castle walls, past Villa Callas, the spa and the Grotte, and back down the western side. It costs €10–15 a head, there is no need to book, and it is the only way to see the Roman villa from the water. Longer private hires and no-licence boat rentals are available from Colombare and Peschiera; see our pick of the best Lake Garda boat rentals.

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6. 

   06 Culture & history

   Find the frescoes at San Pietro in Mavino

   • Via San Pietro in Mavino, 10 minutes' walk from the castle
   • 30 minutes
   • Free

   On the hill between the old town and the Grotte, among the olive trees, the little church of San Pietro in Mavino is the oldest in Sirmione, founded in the 8th century and rebuilt in the 1300s, with frescoes from the 12th to 16th centuries inside. It is quiet, cool and usually open in the daytime, and the path there is a pleasant escape from the lanes. Pair it with Santa Maria Maggiore back in town, a 15th-century church with more frescoes and a column reused from a Roman building in its portico.

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7. 

   07 Food & wine

   Eat lake fish and drink Lugana in the old town

   • Old town and Colombare
   • 2 hours
   • €35–60 per person with wine

   Sirmione is the heart of the Lugana DOC, so order the local white with lake fish: grilled lavarello, fried lake sardines, luccio in salsa (pike in a caper and anchovy sauce) or risotto with tench. The terraces on Piazza Carducci and along the harbour charge for the view (mains €18–28); the trattorias in the side lanes off Via Vittorio Emanuele and the places out at Colombare are better value and often better cooked. Book for dinner in summer. Our best Lake Garda restaurants list has our favourites around the lake.

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8. 

   08 Food & wine

   Visit a Lugana winery on the mainland

   • Lugana and Colombare, 3–5 km south of the old town
   • 2 hours
   • €15–35 per tasting

   The vineyards start as soon as the peninsula widens at Lugana and Colombare, on white clay soils that give the Turbiana grape its weight and citrus edge. Ca’ dei Frati at Lugana is the best-known estate and does tastings and cellar tours by appointment, and there are a dozen smaller producers within ten minutes’ drive towards Pozzolengo and Peschiera. Tastings run €15–35 and most sell at cellar-door prices. We list the ones we go back to in our guide to the best Lake Garda vineyards.

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9. 

   09 Family

   Rent a sunbed at Lido delle Bionde

   • Via Lido delle Bionde, east side of the peninsula
   • Half a day
   • Free entry; sunbed and umbrella €15–25

   On the eastern side of the peninsula, a 10-minute walk from the castle, Lido delle Bionde is the family beach: a strip of pebbles and lawn with sunbeds and umbrellas for hire, pedalos, a bar-restaurant and shallow water that stays warm from June. It is busy, but it is the only beach on the peninsula with facilities and shade, and the view across to the eastern shore is good. Further south at Lugana, Spiaggia Brema and Punta Grò are wider, freer and less crowded.

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10. 

    10 Outdoors

    Walk the whole peninsula from Colombare to the tip

    • Start at Colombare, 4 km south of the castle
    • 2 hours
    • Free

    Leave the car (or the bus) at Colombare and walk the 4 km up the peninsula: along the eastern lakefront path past the campsites and Lido delle Bionde, over the drawbridge into the old town, up through the olive groves past San Pietro in Mavino to the Grotte and Jamaica Beach, then back down the western side past Villa Cortine’s park and the Villa Callas. It is flat, mostly on paths, and shows you the whole place in a morning. Our best Lake Garda walks list has more like it.

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11. 

    11 Markets & shopping

    Browse the Friday market at Colombare

    • Colombare, Friday mornings
    • Morning
    • Free

    Sirmione’s weekly market is on Friday mornings at Colombare, on the mainland end of the peninsula, with food, clothes, leather and household stalls; it is a better bet for cheese, salumi and fruit than the old town shops. In the old town itself the lanes are lined with ceramics, linen, olive oil, Lugana wine and the inevitable limoncello, and prices are among the highest on the lake. For more on where to shop, see our Lake Garda shopping guide.

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12. 

    12 Evening

    Stay for the evening when the day-trippers leave

    • Piazza Carducci and the harbour
    • Evening
    • Drinks €5–9

    From about 6pm the coaches go, the Monte Baldo car park empties and Sirmione turns into a different town. Have an aperitivo on Piazza Carducci as the ferries make their last calls, walk out to the harbour wall for the sunset behind the castle, and wander the lit lanes afterwards; the shops stay open until 10 or 11pm in summer. There are no clubs and it is not a late town, which is rather the point. For livelier nights, Desenzano is 20 minutes away.

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Sirmione in pictures