In summer 2023 we headed back to Lake Garda, Italy for a two week holiday. We drove from Leicester and gave ourselves 2 days to get there and 3 days to drive home. This was our third road trip to Lake Garda since 2016. After two holidays staying in Cisano on the east shore in 2016 and 2019, this time we decided to stay slightly further south and chose Peschiera del Garda to the south-east of the lake.

We are a family of six and at the time of travel the children were aged 16, 12 and 8 year old twins. We decided to drive to Italy as the cost of flights and car hire for the six of us was prohibitive. We are all used to long road trips and like to make this part of the adventure of the holiday.

We love Lake Garda as we’ve found that the weather is always hot, swimming in the fresh water of the lake is a welcome change from salty seawater, the locals are really friendly and we all love Italian food. On top of that, the local Bardolino red wine and Prosecco is very cheap.

On our first visit in 2016 I was really surprised how clean and well maintained everything was and how relatively inexpensive eating out and the supermarkets were – we’d been warned beforehand that Italy was really expensive.

This time was no different, we had a lovely, mostly relaxing (read on to find out about the non-relaxing part!) holiday with friends, enjoying the climate, food and local culture. The campsite did not have as many water slides or pools as some that we’ve previously visited but with four pools, a large bar and restaurant with stage area for entertainment and all the expected sports areas, it had the amenities that we needed and on top of that, a really relaxed atmosphere.

Car free lanes meant that the children could roam around freely and safely and the practical outward positioning of the mobile homes enabled you to make friends with your neighbours yet didn’t make you feel hemmed in on your pitch. The staff were brilliant, especially when dealing with an unexpected freak weather event which almost de-railed the whole holiday and severely damaged the site and local town.

• The road trip there
• Lake Garda
• Where we stayed
• Places we visited
• Peschiera Del Garda
• Sirmione
• Malcesine
• Other things to do in Lake Garda
• The Storm!
• Would we go back?
• Holiday run

The road trip there

To get to Italy we took the Channel Tunnel, drove to Mons in Belgium for a coffee and ice cream stop and then through Luxembourg to Nancy back in France where we’d booked a cheap hotel room for the night. By nipping out of France and into Belgium straight away, we avoided several toll roads, saving some pennies, something we will consider doing from now on when making this journey.

On the second day we headed for Basel in Switzerland, then along the shore of Lake Lucerne and into the Swiss Alps and the Gotthard Tunnel (10 miles long), crossing the border into Italy at Lake Como. We arrived at the campsite in the early evening approximately 36 hours after leaving home in Leicestershire.

We had planned a more relaxed journey home giving ourselves three days travel and two night stopovers in hotels booked in Besancon and Reims in France. However, things don’t always go to plan and we had to make alternative travel plans for the journey home …more on that below.

On previous road trips to Italy we’ve stayed for a week at a Eurocamp in the Jura Region of France https://www.camping-valdebonnal.com/?lang=en_US; at a motel near Metz and a lovely apartment in Baden Baden Germany.

Lake Garda

• The largest lake in Italy
• Famed for its crystal clear fresh water
• The northern part of the lake is surrounded by the Dolomite Mountains
• Has summer temperatures into the late 30s to 40 degrees Celsius.
• Within reach of international airports at Verona, Milan and Venice.

Click here for further Lake Garda information from First Choice.

Where we stayed

We stayed on a large campsite called Del Garda Village and Camping in a mobile home booked through Eurocamp. https://www.delgarda.it

The site is quite large with 383 pitches, 4 swimming pools, 2 shops, a restaurant, kids game arcade and bar. It does not have direct access to the lake but this is only a short walk away through the back gate of the campsite. There is also a large supermarket nearby, within a 5 minute walk, which is useful on a self-catering holiday.

On the fourth day of our holiday we were joined by friends, a family of four with two children aged 15 and 13, who had flown to Italy and spent their first few days staying at a campsite in Tuscany sightseeing in Florence and Pisa.

Places we visited

In addition to enjoying the pools and swimming in the lake we also did some sight-seeing exploring the local area. This included the following:

• We walked around Peschiera Del Garda and its UNESCO World Heritage listed Venetian fortifications.
• We took a ferry to Sirmione and explored the peninsular at the south end of Lake Garda.
• We drove to the small town of Malcesine and rode the cable car to the top of Monte Baldo.

Peschiera Del Garda

The centre of Peschiera was about a 20 minute walk along the shores of the lake or slightly shorter via the side entrance of the campsite. The town is on the south-eastern corner of Lake Garda where it flows into the River Mincio which in turn flows to Mantua and into the River Po.

The large fortifications protect the port and the entrance to the lake and river. Within the walls the old town is very pretty and contains lots of small tourist and fashion retailers, plenty of ice cream parlours, cafes and restaurants on the river front.

Sirmione

There is a regular ferry service on Lake Garda which travels between most of the towns and large villages including Peschiera, Sirmione, Cisano, Bardolino, Garda and Malcesine.

We caught the ferry from Peschiera to Sirmione and enjoyed walking through the historic streets and taking a dip in the lake at Jamaica Beach, aptly named due to the large, flat rocks below the surface giving the water a turquoise appearance like the sea in Jamaica! The Scaligero Castle is the main focal point of the town. There are also Roman ruins which you can visit and many small shops selling tourist gifts, designer clothes and jewellery.

We stopped for lunch at one of the many pizzerias on a small piazza and were glad to be under a large awning when the heavens opened with torrential rain during a short thunderstorm.

The town was very busy with tourists and very few cars on the narrow streets which are absolutely beautiful, as many of the historic buildings are covered in Bougainvillea glabra with vibrant purple flowers.

Malcesine

We drove up to the small medieval town of Malcesine which was about 28 miles from the campsite. The drive along the eastern shore of Lake Garda took us to the northern part of the lake where the Dolomite mountains rise up from the waters edge.

After another Italian meal and photos by the lake, we walked to the cable car station and bought return tickets for a ride to the top of Monte Baldo. The cable car takes you up from close to lake level to 1700m in a few minutes in a gondola which slowly rotates so that you can enjoy the panoramic views.

The climate at the top of the mountain is cooler than the intense heat of the town and it was nice to spend an hour or so walking further uphill to vantage points over looking the whole of Lake Garda to the west and the Dolomite mountain range to the east. We even saw a golden eagle (which we did have to Google to check that they actually inhabited the mountain range!).

We had a lovely afternoon in Malcesine but did find it difficult to find a parking space as it was so busy. We also should have taken the roof box off the car before setting out as that limited which car parks we could try and we eventually had to take it off while we were there!

It is possible to travel to Malcesine on the ferry which we did consider but it was 2 hours each way and about 15 euros each.

Other things to do in Lake Garda

On our previous two trips to Lake Garda we enjoyed visiting the following towns and villages on the eastern side of the lake:

• Garda town
• Lazise
• Bardolino
• Cisano

These all have similar Venetian style architecture, ports, castles, piazzas and restaurants. From the campsite in Cisano we could walk south along the lake to Lazise or north to Bardolino in about 30 minutes. There is a pedestrian paved path all along this side of the lake with beautiful far reaching views at every turn. https://www.camping-cisano.it/

We drove to fair Verona back in 2016 and spent an extremely hot and humid afternoon walking round the sites with our friends. It was definitely worth a visit and we particularly enjoyed visiting the Roman era Verona Arena and Juliet’s balcony at La Casa di Giulietta – said to be the home behind the inspiration for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

The Storm!

Having visited Lake Garda previously, we were used to hot sunny weather in the day and powerful thunderstorms that occurred most nights for several hours. Watching the forked lightning across the lake can be breath-taking. Therefore, we weren’t too worried by the thunderstorms which rumbled most evenings for the first 8 nights of the holiday.

Last summer saw a heatwave across much of the Mediterranean with unprecedented wild fires in many tourist destinations across the region. It was exceptionally hot for the first week where we were staying, over 40 degrees Celsius by lunch time most days and we were glad of the air conditioning in the mobile home and having the swimming pools and lake to cool off in.

On the eighth night of our holiday, there was a hail storm during a thunderstorm which produced golf ball size hail stones for about 20 minutes which we were quite impressed by. Being in the mobile home or under the awning on the decking the noise of the hail was incredible. Luckily there was no resultant damage.

The following night we were enjoying a drink on our friends decking at about 11pm, listening to the thunder which had been getting closer and louder over the previous hours, and watching with awe the huge forks of lightning spreading across the sky. Suddenly the hail started again but this time the golf balls were replaced with hailstones the size of cricket balls which made a lot more noise!

Retreating into the mobile home to avoid being hit, the atmosphere became quite frightening for the kids and worrying for the adults. After about 10 minutes the hail relented and the storm moved on. Venturing back outside we found that there were holes in the cladding to the sides of many mobile homes, many smashed windows, smashed barbeques, sun loungers and patio furniture on all of the pitches. The roads and paths had a deep covering of leaves and branches which had been shredded from the trees.

As I walked towards our car other people were surveying the damage to their own cars and I feared the worst. The car had been hit by over 50 hail stones completely blowing out the rear windscreen and damaging the front windscreen beyond repair. The roof box had a number of holes where hail stones had punched through but luckily this protected the panoramic glass roof.

Headlights, brake lights and wing mirrors were cracked or missing glass and the rear window wiper was missing. The bonnet, radiator grill, all panels, doors and pillars had deep impact dents. Everyone who saw the car thought that it was likely to be written-off by the insurance company as the damage was so extensive.

The inside of the car was absolutely covered in thousands of shards of glass and the front windscreen was loose and could easily have been pushed in. There was similar damage on all of the cars on the campsite and in the surrounding area / town.

We got straight onto the insurance company that night who advised that they would arrange for a glazier to call us and carry out a repair on the windscreens the next day, so that we could drive home as planned three days later. However, due to the thousands of vehicles in a similar condition, we didn’t end up hearing from the Italian glazier for nearly three weeks – by which point we were back at home in Leicester.

The next day was spent mostly on the phone to our car insurers trying to arrange to get the car repaired, but it soon became clear that the mechanics in the area were overwhelmed and that there would be a shortage of windscreens.

Everyone on the campsite was in a state of shock, walking around assessing the damage of their own vehicles, the mobile homes, roof tiles, windows, rendered and glazed facades of all local buildings. All of the sun loungers around all of the swimming pools and outside of the mobile homes were damaged and had to be collected and replaced. There were a number of sun-bed graveyards on site where they were piled up awaiting removal.

Other than some damage to the plastic cladding, our chalet (and that of our friends) was not badly damaged and we were able to stay put. However, many people had to move pitches or leave altogether as their chalets had broken windows or other damage. The campsite had to cancel or rearrange the holidays of people who were due to arrive in the days after the storm.

Unfortunately, there was also a lack of hire cars in the region as they had also been damaged in the same way, and so many people were in need of a hire car whilst waiting for their own car to be repaired. After coming to the realisation that our car was going nowhere fast, we were unable to source a 7 seater through our insurance company which we could have used to make our homeward journey.

After much deliberating and internet searching, Susie managed to find some inexpensive one-way flights from Verona Airport to Stansted on the day that we were originally due to leave the campsite for our planned three day journey home through northern Italy and France. We quickly booked the flights after the insurance company agreed that they would arrange for the car to be repatriated to the UK (packed full of our belongings that we could not fit in the suitcase and holdalls which we had to buy for the flight).

As mentioned above, the campsite staff were very helpful. They had never known a hail storm like this and their own homes and vehicles had also been damaged. The reception staff provided large sheets of strong plastic and tape to weatherproof broken windows and industrial size vacuum cleaners for trying to clear out the broken glass – there was a long queue of cars waiting to use these in the days after the storm!

Once we had confirmed the arrangements with the insurance company and the campsite for the collection of the car, secured it with plastic sheeting as best we could, booked the flights back to the UK and a transfer to Verona Airport, we could relax again and make the most of the last 2 days of the holiday.

With the help of our friends (who had luckily returned their hire car a few days before the storm), lots of wine and prosecco, and the benefit of being in a beautiful location with family and good friends, nearly normal holidaying was resumed. My favourite part of the last few days was taking some food and drinks down to the lake late afternoon enjoying the water and watching the sun set behind the mountains across the water to the west.

We eventually made it back to the UK but at such short notice we were unable to find an airport taxi available from Stansted to Leicester. Luckily there is a train station in our village with a direct train from Stansted to Leicester so we decided to catch it home as the best alternative. This worked out well apart from the 5 hour wait at the airport for the first train to Leicester at 05:30. Some of us ended up sleeping on the airport floor and then we all fell asleep on the train itself.

The car, on the other hand, had an extended stay at the campsite on holiday with the insurance company not able to arrange repatriation for another month! After that it was finally assessed and the decision was that it had enough second-hand value to be repaired – thank goodness! I’m not sure the total cost of the repairs but the garage told me that the insurers would pay for up to around £12,000 of repairs and I think that the work must have come close to this.

The repairs took around two months which was very frustrating and involved a lot of phone calls with the garage and insurance company. We finally got the car back at the end of October, after the half term holidays, over three months from the date of the storm.

Would we go back?

Despite the unfortunate issue with the hail storm, I think that we will go back to Lake Garda one day. It is still one of my favourite places to visit. We love Italy and have also holidayed in Rome in 2022 and Campania in 2018. There are so many other parts of the country that I’d like to visit though so we may not return to Lake Garda for a few years.

We would definitely recommend Lake Garda for a family holiday. If you don’t fancy driving then flying into Verona is a good option as it was only a 20 minute drive from Peschiera. There are also good train and other public transport routes in the area with a train station within walking distance of our campsite with a direct service to Verona.

Holiday run

When away from home I love to get out and go for a run around the sites or local countryside. I run a lot at home around the same few routes so it is really good to go for a run with more interesting sites to see along the way.

Along much of the eastern shore of the lake is a pedestrian path which is well maintained and offers spectacular views across the lake to the mountains beyond. The path is also largely flat so running is not too difficult. Saying that, with the temperature reaching the early 40s by lunchtime it is essential to head out early to avoid the intense heat. I went for several runs of 4 – 6 miles, some with our eldest son (12). Ending the run close to the campsite we would jump off a jetty into the lake to cool down before heading home for breakfast.

You can see the routes of my runs on Strava on the following link – https://www.strava.com/activities/9479390202

About Us

After the shock of finding out that we were expecting twins in 2015, one of the first things that we realised was that …we’re gonna need a bigger car!

We’re a family of six with two girls and two boys aged 16, 13 and 9 year old twins.

Follow our blog and social media posts for inspiration, ideas, tips and hacks for non-package family holidays and as we prepare for our next adventure.

Inspiration for the Blog

Thank you for visiting our site. Follow us on social media for updates and notifications of new blog posts (Links below).

Content and information on We’re gonna need a bigger car is provided free of charge. If you would like to show your appreciation or support then please share on social media and follow our Facebook page. You can also show your support by buying me a coffee below.