Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy, has an elongated, fjord-like shape, like all pre-Alpine valley glacial lakes. The narrow and uniform northern part is enclosed by mountains up to 2,000 m high, while the southern part, which has a half circular shape, is enclosed in the moraine amphitheatre that goes into the Po Valley.
Administratively, the northern part belongs to the autonomous province of Trento, the eastern part to the Veneto region and the western part to the Lombardy region. The Lake Garda bike tour, about 180 km long, has always been a classic among the excursions in the region. With the increase in traffic, cycling on the „Gardesana“ along the coast is increasingly dangerous, especially on the Brescia side because of the many long tunnels, which can be crossed only with lights and high-vis vest. The „Tour by bike around Lake Garda“ is very interesting in terms of landscape, tourism and culture, but extremely non homogeneous in terms of safety levels for cyclists. The „Garda Ring Route“ has attracted great interest as it has been included in the ItalianNational System of Tourist Cycle Routes and studies are being carried out to determine the best route that will be created. In particular, the municipality of Limone sul Garda, on the Lombardy side of the lake, has moved up the schedule by building a section about 2 km long in a cantilevered metal structure attached to the rock face. A spectacular work, but unfortunately only a tiny part of the ring route. Navigation by boats and ferries operated by Navigarda significantly increases the tourist and cycling potential, but bicycle transport is being developed on the various routes, as is public bus transport. See the respective unique QR codes unico.si with the corresponding updates inside. Under these general precautions, the Garda circuit is presented here in homogeneous sections in terms of safety for cyclists. Sometimes you may encounter one-way streets that you must go around, or beautiful but traffic-calmed sections of the lakefront where you must push your bike.
In its entirety, the route is beautiful but with different levels of difficulty. Experienced cyclists or bike tourists can manage it in its entirety if they ride carefully on the sections on the Gardesana road and are well equipped with lights and high-vis vest in the tunnels. The four sections of the cycling route can also be divided into day trips, which can be done with the family if you live here or stay nearby on vacation. You can reach the sections by your car, in which you load the bikes, or by the boats and ferries. The Lower Half Ring route from Garda to Salò is a beautiful excursion, skilled cyclists can do it in one day, but better two or three to better enjoy the landscape and sightseeing and close the circle with the crossing of the lake with the boats and ferries of Navigarda or the public buses. On the basis the timetables of Navigarda, Trentino Trasporti, ATV Verona and Brescia Trasporti it is possible to consult the timetables of the various shipping and transport lines, to check the possibility of transporting bicycles and to compose a series of travel or day trip alternatives depending on the characteristics of one‘s group, the weather of the day and the possibility of always choosing variations and stops that can make the itinerary really interesting and exciting.
