We were so excited to be finally going abroad again this time visiting Lake Garda. It’s been over three years since we last headed overseas. That was back in February 2020 when we went to Orlando for the third time as a family. COVID certainly put a spanner in the works with travel, we were very fortunate to squeeze in that trip before lockdown started. Now we have renewed our passports we plan to travel more regularly again.

First Visit To Italy

I have always wanted to visit Italy and Lake Garda looked so beautiful I thought it would be the ideal place for us to visit. Plus, we needed a change from Orlando. You can get stuck in a holiday rut with what’s familiar and fantastic, we do still love Orlando, I don’t think that will ever change. But it’s good to branch out and try new experiences. It’s such a BIG world and I definitely need to see more of it!

Plus the flight time was only two hours which was a welcome bonus! When you are used to the long flight to Orlando it was lovely arriving at our destination so much quicker. I think it might actually encourage me to book more Europe breaks going forward… well apart from Vegas that is! However, if that wasn’t already booked, I think I would have swayed my husband somewhere closer.

RTA Doria, Garda

It took about thirty to forty minutes to arrive at our hotel. We were the second stop on the airport transfer coach. I did feel for some of the other guests on the other side of the lake with considerably longer journeys. We choose Garda itself as it is considered a good base for visiting Lake Garda. I think it was a wise decision as we visited a few different places around the lake and of those we went my husband preferred Garda. Although I don’t think you can go wrong with most of the places around the lake, everywhere looked almost picture perfect, was very clean and felt safe too.

We were staying at RTA Doria in Garda. We picked this hotel as it had good reviews on Tripadvisor, a rooftop pool and was in such a convenient location. It was only a short walk to the lakefront promenade (pictured) and lots of fantastic restaurants and shops. It is a family run hotel, so you felt they really cared about making sure you had a nice stay. We slept on the sofa bed in the lounge/kitchenette area and the boys had a room to share. It was good having a little extra space and not being in one room for the whole holiday.

Hotel Bar

On arrival they gave us a voucher for a free drink each at the bar, we were hot and bothered after our trip so ended up using that to get a drink to cool off with. It was a good way to introduce us to the bar, which we ended up visiting most days.

The bar staff were very attentive, and it was good value, a decent sized pizza for example was 5 euros (about £4.29). Plus, the bar had better Wi-Fi much to my teens approval. You soon realize when you’re travelling with teens just how much a priority good internet access is, it can make or break a holiday! Sigh…

Pool

Then we went to check out the rooftop pool. The pool is a recent addition to the hotel. We loved the views from the pool, its so scenic up there. The boys were glad of a chance to cool down as it was incredibly hot during our week visiting Lake Garda.

Casa Lady

We then headed out for food. The holiday was off to a great start when we found Casa Lady in Garda. We all ordered pizzas and myself and my husband had sangria.

On our table they added a little tub with bread, breadsticks and crackers. They seem quite generous like that in Italy as we would soon find out in every restaurant we ate.

After tummies were filled we did a little exploring.

Garda Land Train

We went on the little land train. It cost 3 euros each and lasted about 15 minutes. It took us along the lakeside promenade up to the swim point (a pebble beach area where you could swim). The water looked very clean but we didn’t swim in the lake during our week stay. It looked very busy when we saw it in the early evening, I think the morning might be a better time if you wanted a quieter swim.

Then it was time to walk back to our hotel and unpack and prepare for day two, which was a walk into Bardolino.