Tailormade tour Lake Garda by train holiday Italy

9 nights /10 days

Overnight stops in Switzerland • Eurostar London to Paris return • Lake Garda

This rail holiday to Lake Garda allows you to experience the beauty of the largest lake in Italy, renowned for its mild climate, beautiful Mediterranean and sub-tropical vegetation and pretty villages along the lake shore. You travel to Verona and back with an overnight stop each way in Switzerland and then there is a private transfer to your hotel on Lake Garda. This holiday offers you a choice of hotels on the Gardone Riviera, a 4-star hotel at Malcesine or a 5-star option at Gardone Riviera.

Holiday price guide

Available year-round subject to the opening period of the hotels, from £2,870 per person.

Luxury rail tailormade holiday to Lake Garda

Highlights

Eurostar London to Paris return • Lake Garda • Visit Sirmione • Visit Verona • Day-trip to Venice • Cable car to Monte Baldo • Vittoriale d’Italia • Visit the gardens of Isola del Garda

Day by day

The first day of your Lake Garda by train holiday takes you from London to Paris by Eurostar where you change stations to take the TGV to Zurich. You spend one night here.

The journey today by train takes you south from Zurich through the Alps to northern Italy. You change trains in Milan and continue to Desenzano, which is the closest station to Lake Garda. From here you are transferred by private car to your hotel on Lake Garda.

Spend six days at leisure on Lake Garda. On the lower slopes of the hills around Lake Garda are a profusion of lemons and olives, chestnuts and palms, magnolias and camellias. Pretty villages hug the sheltered bays and fishing boats moor next to sailing boats. Monte Baldo, above the lake, can be reached by cable car and affords spectacular views. At Gargnano on Lake Garda you can see the stone pavilions where lemons were traditionally cultivated. Sirmione behind its mediaeval walls enjoys a beautiful position at the southern end of the lake, dominated by Scaligero castle. You can also visit the residence of Gabriele d’Annunzio, Il Vittoriale, at Gardone Riviera. Another beautiful excursion is the Isola del Garda, an island in the lake where you can visit the Italian and English gardens and some rooms inside the neo-gothic Venetian-style villa dating from the early 1900s. In terms of getting around whilst you are staying on Lake Garda, if you don’t want to have the use of a hire-car, it is easy enough to use the lake ferries that criss-cross the lake between all the main points.

Your return journey from Lake Garda starts with a car transfer back to Desenzano station for the train to Milan. Change here and then continue northwards through the Alps once more until you reach Lausanne on the shores of Lake Geneva, where you spend the night.

Today's train journey takes from from Lake Geneva to Paris, where you change trains and stations, to take the Eurostar from the Gare du Nord back to London.

Special offers for this holiday>

I thought I'd take the opportunity to say what an absolutely wonderful honeymoon we had in Bellagio and Santa Margherita di Ligure: the holiday of a lifetime. Both hotels were amazing - the Villa Serbelloni was particularly off the scale - and the food and service in both hotels were perfect. Good choices. Thank you also for dealing with all our pre-departure queries so quickly and, all in all I would certainly recommend the services of Expressions.
Mr M, July 2022

Holiday price guide Prices per person based on second class rail: Bellevue San Lorenzo, Malcesine from £2,870, Hotel Villa del Sogno Gardone Riviera from £3,480, Grand Hotel Fasano Gardone Riviera from £3,310. First class supplement from £570 per person

Holiday Code ITBR01

Luxury rail tailormade holiday to Lake Garda

Special offers for this holiday>

I thought I'd take the opportunity to say what an absolutely wonderful honeymoon we had in Bellagio and Santa Margherita di Ligure: the holiday of a lifetime. Both hotels were amazing - the Villa Serbelloni was particularly off the scale - and the food and service in both hotels were perfect. Good choices. Thank you also for dealing with all our pre-departure queries so quickly and, all in all I would certainly recommend the services of Expressions.
Mr M, July 2022

Holiday price guide Prices per person based on second class rail: Bellevue San Lorenzo, Malcesine from £2,870, Hotel Villa del Sogno Gardone Riviera from £3,480, Grand Hotel Fasano Gardone Riviera from £3,310. First class supplement from £570 per person

Holiday Code ITBR01

Our prices include ● Second-class travel on all trains, with standard class on Eurostar (first and standard premier can be booked at a supplement)
● Private car transfers from Desenzano to your hotel and back to Desenzano
● 1 night's bed and breakfast in a Standard room at the Hotel St Gotthard in Zurich
● 7 nights' bed and breakfast in an Executive Lake view room at Hotel Villa del Sogno or a Partial lake view room at Grand Hotel Fasano, Gardone Riviera or half board in Lake view room at Bellevue San Lorenzo, Malcesine
● 1 night's bed and breakfast in a Classic room at the Hotel Residence et Angleterre in Lausanne
● Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints

Our prices do not include ● Early check-in or late check-out at any hotels (although we can arrange this on request at additional cost)
● Any other services not mentioned above, such as transfers and meals except breakfast at hotels
● Personal holiday insurance. This is essential and cover should be in place from when you book the holiday.
● Local tourist tax, usually between Euros 1 and 3 per person per night, and payable locally to the hotel
● Transfers in Paris

Luxury rail tailormade holiday to Lake Garda

Expressions Holidays includes these hotels in this touring holiday as suggestions, but they can be substituted by others in the same region, if you have a preference to stay elsewhere.
Hotels included in this tour

Special offers

Call to make your booking and save an extra £50 per adult Call us instead of emailing us when you are thinking of booking a holiday and save an extra £50 per adult (in addition to any special offers that might be available). We want to talk to you to discuss your requirements and a phone call is usually the best way for you to define what you want enabling us to respond more accurately. We want to talk to you and you save an extra £50 per adult.

I thought I'd take the opportunity to say what an absolutely wonderful honeymoon we had in Bellagio and Santa Margherita di Ligure: the holiday of a lifetime. Both hotels were amazing - the Villa Serbelloni was particularly off the scale - and the food and service in both hotels were perfect. Good choices. Thank you also for dealing with all our pre-departure queries so quickly and, all in all I would certainly recommend the services of Expressions.
Mr M, July 2022

Holiday price guide Prices per person based on second class rail: Bellevue San Lorenzo, Malcesine from £2,870, Hotel Villa del Sogno Gardone Riviera from £3,480, Grand Hotel Fasano Gardone Riviera from £3,310. First class supplement from £570 per person

Holiday Code ITBR01

Luxury rail tailormade holiday to Lake Garda

Highlights of the Italian Lakes

Historic villas are to be found on every lake from the Grotte di Catullo Roman villa at Sirmione on Lake Garda to Villa Melzi and Villa Olmo on Lake Como and the Palazzo Estense in Varese. Most of these villas also have extraordinarily beautiful gardens (which can be visited as part of an Expressions Garden Tour holiday) such as the Villa Carlotta on Lake Como, the Isola Bella in Lake Maggiore and Villa Taranto at Punta della Castagnola on Lake Maggiore. Monte Mottarone above Stresa on Lake Maggiore and Monte Baldo above Lake Garda can both be reached by cable car and afford spectacular views. At Gargnano on Lake Garda you can see the stone pavilions where lemons were traditionally cultivated. Within the region there are national parks such as the Stelvio National Park north of Orta and the Parco Nazionale della Val Grande above Verbania on Lake Maggiore.

Cultural highlights of the Italian Lakes

Much of the artistic and architectural cultural wealth in the region is concentrated in the great cities such as Milan and Verona but also in the less well-known but culturally-rich centres of Bergamo, Brescia, Pavia, Mantova and Vicenza (not directly on the Lakes but within reach for a day`s excursion). Highlights include the frescoes by Masolino at Castiglione Olona, the Rocca (castle) at Angera, the Flemish tapestries on the Isola Bella Lake Maggiore, the marble cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore at Como and the works of art in the Galleria dell`Accademia Tadini at Lovere on Lake Iseo. Milan has La Scala, the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, the Brera Gallery (containing Raphael`s `Marriage of the Virgin` and the Montefeltro altarpiece by Piero della Francesca) and its Gothic cathedral. Verona has its annual opera festival from June until the end of August, the Romanesque church of San Zeno, the Renaissance Loggia del Consiglio and the Roman Arena.

Festivals in the Italian Lakes

The Verona Opera Festival takes place in the Roman Arena every year with performances running from June until the end of August. Verona also celebrates Carnival every year culminating on the Friday before Shrove Tuesday. Como holds a flea market, the Fiera di Pasqua, over the Easter weekend. Music festivals take place in Bergamo throughout the year. The Mille Miglia veteran car race starts and ends in Brescia (via Ferrara to Rome in May each year).

Gastronomy in the Italian Lakes

The cuisine of northern Italy tends to contain more meat and butter than further south and rice and polenta compete with pasta. Saffron is used extensively as in Risotto alla Milanese. Bresaola is cured raw beef served as an antipasta (now often with rocket and parmesan). Manzo al Barolo (beef in Barolo wine), Costolette alla Milanese (veal cutlets in breadcrumbs) and Ossobucco (veal in wine and tomatoes) are all popular dishes. Panettone cake and Zabaglione are two regional desserts. This region produces some of Italy's most famous cheeses such as Gorgonzola, Bel Paese, Fontina and Taleggio as well as some of Italy's most exportable wines such as Soave, Bardolino and Valpolicella. Less well known but interesting wines are produced in the Valtellina in the north of Lombardy and in Franciacorta near Lake Iseo.

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