Guide to Lake Garda

'Smart towns with Lilliput good looks. Med-blue waters freckled with yachts. And a mountain backdrop straight from a Bronte novel. Lake Garda's your regular Italian Eden.'

If Italy drew up a league table of destinations, this place would be in the premiership. The country's answer to the Cote d'Azur, Lake Garda's a thoroughbred - an all-Italian pedigree. And it's not surprising – it's had plenty of time to get it right. Italy's biggest lake first appeared on the radar back in the 1st century BC when Roman poet Catullus decided to set up home here. Since then, Lake Garda's visitors' book has amassed quite a few names – everyone from Dante to DH Lawrence has holiday-ed on its shores. The attraction is two-fold. Firstly, it's got the looks. The misty mountain tops, the shimmering lake, the bright bursts of bougainvillea that threaten to turn the whole place purple – Mother Nature certainly didn't hold back the day she designed Lake Garda. The towns, too, are ridiculously pretty – grand villas dressed in shades of butterscotch and peach, terracotta-topped houses tangled up in vines and Medieval lanes well-stocked with coffee houses and boutiques. But spellbinding though it is, that's only half the story. Forget the old proverb about beauty being skin deep – Lake Garda's got the personality to match. Outdoorsy, laid-back, relaxed- this place lives life in the key of easy. Most people want to spend as much time outside as possible - the giddy combination of hot sun and crisp mountain air may have something to do with it – and it's a desire that's easily fulfilled. Wherever you go, you can lose time hiking, cycling, horse-riding and rock-climbing. Just don't forget that rippling mass of water that seems to wink at you from every direction – it offers up everything from sailing to paragliding. Deciding how to fill your time is a cinch, it's deciding where to stay that's tricky. Perhaps it'll be Catullus' old stomping ground, Sirmione, whose moated castle could have fallen out of a fairytale. Or Limone, a lemon-scented toy town that scores highly on the quaintometer. Then there's Bardolino whose wine is the talk of the lake. Salo where the smart set hide behind oversized sunglasses… You get the idea. Choice abounds – and the good news is, so do ferries. Which means you can zip back and forth to your heart's content. Never mind the premiership, Lake Garda deserves to be in a league of its own.

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