Around the shores of Lake Garda, Italy's surprising adventure playground
In northern Italy, Lake Garda offers adventurers opportunities for rock climbing, scaling via ferratas, and hiking.
Italy's Lake Garda bleeds into the Dolomites, making it a popular destination for hikers with a taste for aperitivo.
Photograph by Slawek Kozdras
Story and photographs bySlawek Kozdras
May 24, 2024
This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).
In northern Italy, the upper reaches of Lake Garda wash into the Dolomites. An elemental landscape of water and stone, this area offers natural highs and tranquil lows, with rock climbing, via ferratas and hikes through cypress-lined hills. And when the sun starts to set, you’re never far from a waterside piazza where you can unwind during aperitivo hour — and rest your weary limbs.
The Brenta Dolomites are a moonscape of spires and pinnacles about an hour’s drive north from Lake Garda. Looping for 60 miles around the entire mountain range and split into 11 stages, the Dolomiti di Brenta Trek is popular for its via ferratas, where each step unveils a new panorama — though, at times, it’s best not to look down at the vertiginous drops.
Photograph by Slawek Kozdras
Breaking up stages three and four is Rifugio Tuckett, named after British mountaineer Francis Fox Tuckett, one of the first to explore the Dolomites in the 19th-century ‘golden age of alpinism’ — a period in which many peaks saw their first ascents. The camaraderie forged with fellow hikers in these mountain refuges adds another dimension to the experience.
Photograph by Slawek Kozdras
At the northern end of the lake, the town of Arco has via ferratas and hiking trails — as well as over a hundred boulders to scale, making it one of Europe’s leading rock-climbing destinations.
Photograph by Slawek Kozdras
This was one of two locations for Sportroccia, the first internationally recognised climbing competition, held in the 80s. It laid the groundwork for Rock Master, an event now known as the ‘Oscars of climbing’, which gathers some of the sport’s biggest names in this small town at the end of every summer. Enthusiasts come to emulate professionals, trying to crack the code of their chosen route. While there’s no statuette waiting for them, the view from the top of the sheer limestone cliffs is enough of a reward.
Photograph by Slawek Kozdras
For a few hours every evening, otherwise-tranquil lake towns like Limone sul Garda — which leans dramatically against an exposed rock face — and Malcesine become hives of activity.
Photograph by Slawek Kozdras
The dinner of choice is simple and hearty; familiar dishes like penne with carbonara sauce, freshly sprinkled with tangy pecorino cheese, are perfect fuel for the next day’s thrills.
Photograph by Slawek Kozdras
In the latter, there’s no better way to spend the evening than sitting back in the waterfront Piazza Guglielmo Marconi, sipping a glass of regional wine — a fresh Lugana white, perhaps — and watching remote houses light up on the hills by the shore.
Photograph by Slawek Kozdras
Arco may be famous for rock climbing, but it’s the namesake castle locals are most proud of. It’s perched high on a crag, a 20-minute hike above Arco town. Inside are frescoes from the 14th century. Outside, the panorama — which reaches as far as Lake Garda on a clear day — is so memorable that it was immortalised in 1495 by German painter Albrecht Dürer, in a watercolour now displayed at the Louvre.
Photograph by Slawek Kozdras
For those who’d rather stay at water level, nearby Riva del Garda — one of the lake’s most popular resorts — is a hub for windsurfing and sailing. And when you’re ready to call it a day, you can have your pick of sun-drenched pebble beaches for some well-earned lounging.
Photograph by Slawek Kozdras
Published in the Alps guide 2024, distributed with the May 2024 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK).
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