The Most Beautiful Lake Garda Promenade

I was extremely tired when I woke up this morning after driving almost 1000 miles yesterday to get from my home town in England to my adopted home in Lake Garda, Italy. It’s the first time I’ve been here at this time of the year but I needed to get some work done on my new place so it’s a trip I had to make. I was going to spend the day doing absolutely nothing, maybe a walk up my mountain but I had no intention of going any further.

It was such a magnificent day, the air was crisp and the sun was shining, the affect of it lighting up the snow covered Monte Pizzoccolo and Monte Baldo was stunning. It was so glorious out there that I asked my wife if she wanted to go for a walk with me (she could leave the unpacking until tomorrow). “I’m not walking up any mountain but I’ll walk around the bay into Salo”.

Great idea I thought, not so strenuous, Lugolago Salo is one of the easiest walks I have listed on my website, but it’s a great walk and I’d probably get an aperitivo out of it. We quickly got ready, jumped in the poor car, which was probably hoping for a day off after yesterdays journey, and drove off down to Salo.

We parked in one of the free parking spaces round by the beach (I love that about Italy, lot’s of free parking in some of the hottest spots), which is where the longest lungolago (promenade) on the lake begins (or ends, depending on where you start). Once you leave the beach, the first section of the lugolago is a wooden board walk which leads you over a bridge and past the Arcangeli Marina where the famous Riva boats are stored. During the summer you can stand on the bridge and watch as these beautiful crafts are plopped into the water and prepared for there lucky owners for a day out on the lake. The sound of the engine being started and the noise they make as they move through the water is like no other sound on the planet.

Where the board walk finishes big marble slabs begin, taking you all the way into the historic center of Salo. You pass some of Salo’s pretty hotels on one side and thin strips of beach on the other, with jetties protruding out into the crystal clear Lake Garda blue. Over a few more bridges and past the marina with the magnificent sight in front of you of Salo and Al Duomo, with Monte Baldo towering above on the other side of the lake. The photo opportunities are endless, especially on a day as beautiful as today (of which there are many in this part of the world), except of course if you go out without remembering to charge your battery, I did manage to take some shots though.

The route is a very popular route for joggers, if you’re in the area on your hols it really is a fantastic route to counter some of those ‘gelati’. But as the sign where the board-walk begins…

At the top of the sign it also says “Come and discover the most beautiful Lake Garda Promenade”, which it almost certainly is.

I couldn’t have put it better myself. I usually do the walk in flip flops, t shirt and shorts, I was a bit more wrapped up today, it was slightly chilly but I would totally recommend Salo at this time of the year. As we walked into Salo, the lake was alive with sail boats, the crews shouting and the sound of the wind blowing in the sails adding to a wonderful atmosphere. In the historic center, stalls selling antiques, clothes and artiginale products lined the promenade which made the walk even more interesting. We arrived at the far end of Salo and found that Papillon, our favourite Pizza restaurant, was open and although it had never been our intention we thought…..why not? Before eating pizza in Italy I never really ate it. Those stodgy things you get served up in the pizza chains in the UK never really appealed to me……but in Italy it’s a different thing altogether and I eat them at every opportunity. Papillon is my favourite but to be honest….you rarely have a bad pizza in Italy.

After eating an amazing pizza we left the restaurant and found that the lungolago was now full of the locals out for their ‘passaggiata’. In the summer the crowds for this Sunday afternoon tradition are bolstered by the tourists, but it was great to see so many immaculately dressed Italians who carry the tradition throughout the year.

We made our way through them, stopping at a few stalls on the way and made our way back round to the car…..walking off our unplanned pizza and wondering why on earth tourists only come to Lake Garda when it’s really hot.