Italy- Milan & Lake Garda

This summer I visited Italy for the first time with my boyfriend. We got really cheap flights to Milan Bergamo with Ryanair. Originally when planning the holiday we had just planned to stay in Milan. After doing some research I realised how close Milan was to Lake Garda and decided to venture there during the trip. We travelled to Milan arrived very early in the morning, so we had the full day to explore the fashion capital. We stayed one night in Milan and then took the train to Peschiera Del Garda where we spent three nights.

Milan:

As beautiful as Milan was I didn't really love the city. I had different expectations before travelling there. The city is busy and full of amazing buildings such as the famous cathedral. ( See pictures). The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping mall, is absolutely incredible to walk through and of course have a nosey at all the designer shops. It also has plenty of restaurant options and places playing live music.

Milan Cathedral

One thing I didn’t expect from Milan was the amount of people trying to beg and scam you out of money. It was quite intimidating as people would come right up to you with various stories and look for money from you, particularly targeting tourists. For such a rich city there was a lot of poverty which was quite sad. So just beware!!
We just did a lot of walking in Milan and saw all the main sites. After one day we felt like we had spent enough time there. That evening we did a bit of research on where to go for a few drinks and came across such a cute cocktail bar called Monkey Cocktail Bar. This bar does not have a menu but will make any cocktail for you and have many speciality cocktails themselves. It is a small little bar and very well priced. We absolutely loved this little spot and spent quite a few hours and quite a bit of money there haha, but well worth the fresh fruit cocktails and atmosphere.

Monkey Cocktail Bar - fresh fruit cocktails.

Peschiera Del Garda:

Having heard many things over the years about Lake Garda I am so happy to have finally visited the lake myself. We stayed in Peschiera Del Garda  which is about 1 hour 30 minutes train ride from Milan centre and cost us around 11 euros one way. The highlight of our trip to Lake Garda had to be the hostel we stayed in. Meet Garda Lake Hostel was the name of our hostel and it was 5 minutes walk from the train station and 30 seconds walk to the lake. The location was just perfect. The hostel itself is probably the nicest I have ever stayed in, featuring a rooftop terrace where they hold bbqs and events. (See view from roof)

The hostel also arranged a social dinner each night and had a bar and organised activities each night of the week. Myself and Mark loved the hostel and really wish we could of spent longer at Lake Garda. We will 100% be returning. The area of the lake we stayed in was ideal as many things were in cycling distance of the lake or a short bus journey. One of the best things about where we stayed is how close it is to other cities such as Verona and Venice. Another reason we want to return to have the opportunity to stay at the lake and take day trips to these cities.

We spent time at the lake swimming and also rented bikes on two of the days. We cycled to a town called Sirmione, which has a beautiful castle called Scaliger Castle (see pictures) This was an amazing way to spend the day as the cycle is so scenic and Sirmione is spectacular.

We visited two theme parks while at Lake Garda.

#1 Gardaland

We loved gardaland and our ticket was so cheap! We purchased an afternoon ticket as we went at a non peak time and this still gave us more than enough time to explore the park and get on the rides. There is rides and attractions to suit everyone and plenty of food options too.

#2 Movieland

We visited here on our last day to kill some time. This theme park was not as good as Gardaland but still had some pretty good rides and we had a great time. ( See pictures)

Other things to do at the lake:

-Ferry trips across the lake

-Cycling

-Range of water activities

-Swimming

-Paddle boating

-Hiking

-Day trips

The food and drink is so reasonably priced at the lake. Plenty of family run Italian restaurants what more could you want??? PASTA :-)

Top tip: If you haven't before I would definitely recommend staying in a hostel. As a couple it was our first trip where we shared with other people in Meet Hostel, it was the best decision of the trip. We made so many nice friends from around the world in the few nights we stayed there.

Overall: I probably wouldn't visit Milan again, but I cannot wait to get back to Lake Garda.

Next post: Brussels