From Sirmione to Riva and back: (almost) the entire Garda circuit by bike

And he must have been very convincing, because at his words, the podestà himself, as reported in Viaggio in Italia, turned towards the castle and was enraptured, looking at it for the first time through the eyes of the stranger from the North.

Almost two and a half centuries have passed since then. Many things have changed. The Garda basin is now an area of very high anthropisation. Tourism dominates. The enchanting villages on the shores of the lake, such as Sirmione, Limone, Riva, Lazise, have to face the challenges posed by overtourism.

Yet the beauty of this scenic gem has been well preserved and continues to attract visitors of all shapes, ages and backgrounds, including, of course, cycle tourists.

Yes, the cycle tourists. From their point of view the Garda tour immediately poses a problem: how do you avoid the narrow and dangerous tunnels of the Gardesana occidentale? The question touches a nerve of local administrators and cyclists to the extent that some municipalities would welcome a ban on bicycles on the busiest traffic days: a punch in the stomach for two-wheelers.

It is a fact that, to date, there is no Garda Cycle Path. There are individual segments of cycle paths or cycle-pedestrian paths, not stitched together, which only allow safe cycling in places. This is especially true for the eastern Gardesana along the Veneto shore, a large part of which (almost half) can already be cycled safely. It does not apply, however, to the western Gardesana, the Lombardy and Trentino banks.

So, what to do while waiting for the dream of the cycle ring to become reality? The simplest solution is the ferry, at least on the Gardone-Limone stretch.

A suggested starting point is Sirmione, located at the end of a tongue of land that extends northwards into the lake from the southern shore of Lake Garda. Sirmione is a pearl. Catullus, the Latin poet who put love into verse and who chose the very tip of this isthmus for his villa, later transformed into an imposing luxury residence in imperial times, knew this well.

The panorama of the lake and surrounding mountains takes your breath away. Not for nothing has Sirmione continued to exert a strong fascination on artists, painters, musicians and writers of all times, including Maria Callas.

But Sirmione also means thermal baths, bathing in water at 36 degrees on the lake shore. The Scaliger castle with its fortified harbour is worth a visit in itself. Sirmione, in essence, is a must-see.

From Sirmione it is best to set the bike tour clockwise, so that you always have the lake on your right. As far as Desenzano you can cycle on a cycle-pedestrian path, which, making extensive use of pavements, keeps cyclists clear of cars.

Then, having passed Desenzano, we leave the lakeshore and take a very pleasant, well-marked hilly cycle path, which passes through Lonato and Padenghe and leads to Salò, a pleasant town despite the dark weight of history, and then on to Gardone (Gpx tracks of the complete tour are available on the author's Komoot profile).

Another must-see is the Vittoriale, the villa where Gabriele D'Annunzio spent seventeen years until his death in 1938. The location is magnificent. Despite the bright light and the spectacular view, the "Prioria", the flat where D'Annunzio lived, is a dark and decadent place, deliberately dark (the "Vate" was a photophobe), full of thousands of objects, books, heirlooms, knick-knacks, chinoiserie, that tell of his military exploits linked to the post-Risorgimento irredentism and the First World War, but also the poet's neuroses, egocentricity and hypochondria. Outside, in the park, the monumental mausoleum houses D'Annunzio's tomb.

From Gardone the embarkation for Limone, right under the Grand Hotel, a historic building that has hosted monarchs and actors, later transformed into a military lazaret during the Republic of Salò.

Navigation is a pleasure. On the Lombard shore, the mountains plunge vertically into the lake. They evoke the landscapes of the Amalfi Coast with the Monti Lattari plunging into the sea from a height of almost a thousand metres.

To make up for the kilometres saved by the lake, a diversion on the Strada della Forra, from Limone to Pieve di Tremosine, is highly recommended. It is one of the most spectacular roads in Italia, not for nothing chosen by 007 for the first scenes of Quantum of Solace (2008) with Daniel Craig.

On arrival, after a series of hairpin bends that climb vertically and after crossing a narrow canyon, where a car barely passes, the 'Terrazza del Brivido', one of the most panoramic points of the entire Garda area, awaits you.

From there, the view, as the name suggests, will send shivers down your spine.

Back on the lake, it is a must to cycle along the cantilevered cycle path from Limone towards Riva. But be careful! Because it does not take you all the way to Riva. It stops after just two and a half kilometres of cycling bliss, suspended in the void fifty metres above the water surface.

It is the cycle path of discord. Inaugurated in 2018, it was hailed at first as 'the most beautiful cycle path in the world'. And indeed it is. But in the face of so much enthusiasm, there has been no shortage of criticism. Some even spoke (improperly) of an 'ecomoster'. According to the detractors, the impact on the landscape is too strong, and the construction and maintenance costs are too high. Hence, setback.

To date, the track stops at the border between Lombardy and Trentino. The project should go ahead. But who knows if it will ever be completed. Getting twenty-four municipalities, three provinces and as many regions to agree is certainly not easy. But if the dream of the Garda cycling ring were to remain in the drawer, it would really be a shame.

From Limone towards Riva one must resign oneself to travelling three kilometres out of ten in a tunnel or, again, take the ferry. From Riva, another diversions is required: the Ponale Road, a masterpiece of 19th-century engineering, now a cycle-pedestrian path, which, taking into account nine hundred metres of uphill gradient, leads to Punta Larici, another 'Stendhal syndrome' place.

In the second half of the tour the traffic is friendlier. Up to Torbole it is all cycleable. Surfers from half of Europe meet here to find certain wind all year round. The Gardesana Orientale, lined for long stretches by cycle paths, poses no particular problems for bicycles.

One after the other come the Veneto villages: Malcesine, Torri del Benaco, Garda with the magnificent Punta San Vigilio, Bardolino, Lazise, Peschiera. From Bardolino you can again leave the lake and enter the hills, cycling through the vineyards to the ramparts of Peschiera, a military bulwark of the Austrians in Lombardy-Veneto.

Then for the last stretch, to Sirmione, again a protected path. If Lake Garda attracts you, you do not have to wait for the cycle path around the lake to become a reality. With a bit of ingenuity, the loop is already practicable today. And you will give yourself a nice gift!