Lake Garda, Pictures from the Italian Lakes

We recently visited Lake Garda in Northern Italy. Lake Garda, or Lago di Garda is the largest of the Italian lakes and is a long, thin shape due to being carved out by glaciers at the end of the last ice age.

We stayed in Limone, on the western shore towards the north end of the lake. Limone is famous for it's many lemon groves, although these days they are mostly derelict, leaving behind just the instantly recognisable long buildings with the pillars of stone. Limone actually got it's name from "border", as it was once the border between Italy and Austria. Surrounded by mountains, we found it an excellent base for our trip as it wasn't too large, but still had plenty of cafes and restaurants to keep you occupied in the evenings.

We didn't just stay in Limone - we hired a car and toured around the Garda area a little. I found the landscape to the north of the lake to be very pretty and almost Tyrolian in feel. We had an enjoyable walk around the small Lago di Tenno some miles north of Riva - this tiny lake is bright turquoisy blue in colour, more like you would expect of a greek island beach, and was a nice peaceful spot. On the way back, we stopped off at Canale di Tenno. This village dates from the middle ages and is a fascinating place, being a network of little tunnels and passages between ancient stone buildings. A couple of the photos below are from here.

We also visited the nearby waterfall, the Cascada de Verone. The waterfall rushes at the end of a deep narrow gorge, and you can view it from both above and at the base. Be prepared to get wet though! Further south from Limone, a trip up into the villages of Tremosine is worthwhile, if only to sit on the terrace of the Hotel Paradiso in Pieve. The tiny villages are perched high above the lake and some buildings are very precariously positioned over a sheer drop to the lake below. A couple of the photos below show the view down, and when you're stood there you can feel quite uneasy! The road up is also fabulous, twisting back and over on itself as it climbs up the narrow gorge. At night, parts of it are lit up.

If you have never visited the Italian lakes, we can highly recommend the Garda region- there is loads to see and the scenery is fantastic.

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