How To Get From Verona To Lake Garda – Bus Train Ferry & Car Transfers

 

Lake Garda is Italy’s biggest lake and one of my favourite places to visit in Italy. Below I will be sharing how to get from Verona to Lake Garda by train, bus taxi, and cars. Covering tips on how to get from Verona Airport to Lake Garda’s Limone, Sirmione, Malcesine and more. 

The lake has some best towns to visit in Lake Garda, if you have not been to Lake Garda now is the time to start planning your holiday to one of Italy’s more beautiful lakes.

 

Being the biggest lake in Italy, it is surrounded by amazing lake towns and all sporting peaceful waters, stunning views and even cuter towns to explore. Imagine a day of scenic and lovely wine tasting, and surrounding areas house fine restaurants, picturesque farmlands, and luxurious spas.

The distance from Verona to Lake Garda is only 30 miles which makes it super easy to do a day trip to one of the towns on the lake or make a weekend of it. I have also shared on the blog a day trip to Lake Garda from Verona itinerary.

 

Also See

• Exploring Verona
• Tips On Doing Venice On A Budget
• The Best Areas To Stay In Rome

 

 

Tripping From Verona To Lake Garda At A Glance

 

Train travel in Northern Italy is pretty easy. To travel from Verona to Lake Garda, you have several convenient options, each with its own advantages. Here’s a brief overview of the available transportation choices and their approximate costs and journey durations:

1. Train: The most economical and eco-friendly way to get from Verona to Lake Garda is by train. You can take a regional train from Verona Porta Nuova station to various towns around Lake Garda, such as Desenzano del Garda or Peschiera del Garda. The journey typically takes around 20-30 minutes, and ticket prices range from €3 to €10, depending on the destination.
2. Bus: Alternatively, you can opt for a bus service that connects Verona with different towns on Lake Garda. Buses are a cost-effective option, with prices averaging around €5 to €15, and the journey time varies depending on your specific destination, typically taking between 30 minutes to an hour.
3. Taxi: Taking a taxi can be a more convenient but pricier choice. The cost of a taxi from Verona to Lake Garda will depend on your exact starting and ending points around the lake, but it can range from €50 to €100 or more. Journey times will vary accordingly but usually take between 20 minutes to an hour.
4. Car Rental: Renting a car is a flexible option that allows you to explore Lake Garda at your own pace. Rental prices depend on the type of vehicle and rental duration, but you can expect to pay around €30 to €70 per day for a standard car. The journey duration will depend on your chosen route and stops along the way.
5. Flights: Although there are no direct flights between Verona and Lake Garda, you can book a flight to Verona Villafranca Airport (VRN) and then continue your journey by taxi or public transportation. Flight prices vary depending on your departure location, but domestic flights within Italy are generally affordable. The airport is approximately a 20-minute drive from Verona city center.

In summary, the choice between train, bus, taxi, or car rental largely depends on your budget, travel preferences, and the specific town you wish to visit on Lake Garda. Train and bus options are cost-effective, while taxis and car rentals offer convenience and flexibility. Flight options are available if you’re arriving from a distant location. Always check current prices and schedules before your trip for the most accurate information.

 

ALSO SEE: How To Plan A Trip To Italy The Right Way!

 

 

 

Getting from Verona to Lake Garda: Smart Travel & Booking Tips

Whether you’re visiting Lake Garda for a day or adding it to your Northern Italy itinerary, getting there from Verona is easy — and can be both affordable and luxurious with the right planning. From scenic train routes to flexible rental car options, here’s how to make the most of the journey.

🚗 1. Car Rental for Maximum Flexibility

If you want to explore lakeside villages like Sirmione, Limone sul Garda, or Riva del Garda at your own pace, look for car rental deals in Italy. Renting a car allows you to stop at scenic viewpoints, visit wineries, and reach smaller beaches that aren’t always accessible by train or ferry.

🚆 2. Train Travel in Northern Italy: Scenic & Stress-Free

Prefer not to drive? Train travel in Northern Italy is fast, scenic, and affordable. From Verona Porta Nuova station, you can reach Desenzano del Garda or Peschiera del Garda in under an hour. Perfect for a stress-free day trip or a relaxed start to a longer lakeside stay.

🛡️ 3. Protect Your Trip with the Right Coverage

If you’re mixing car rentals, rail travel, and hotel bookings, it’s smart to get travel insurance for multi-city trips in Italy. Look for policies that cover both rail and road transport, especially the best travel insurance for Italy rail and rental car trips — ideal for unexpected delays, cancellations, or car-related issues.

💳 4. Book Smarter with a Travel Credit Card

Paying for your tickets, hotel, or rental car? Use travel credit cards for booking Italian rail or car rentals. Many offer extra points, trip cancellation coverage, and no foreign transaction fees — plus added perks like rental insurance or lounge access for longer journeys.

 

ALSO SEE: Perfect Packing List for Europe In Summer

 

 

How To get from Verona to Lake Garda

 

You can do plenty of day trips from Verona. You can do Venice as well as many towns on Lake Garda. There are a lot of ways to travel from Verona to Lake Garda, from trains to the local buses and coaches; with many service providers.  Some are cheap, and some are extremely expensive.

Below I will cover will not only cover how to get from Verona to Lake Garda by train, how to get from Verona airport to Lake Garda by airport shuttle, taxis and train. As we had based ourselves in Dezanano del Garda so the first few sections of instructions are based on our journey from Verona to Desenzano

 

ALSO SEE: Post Cards From Desenzano | Why You Need To Visit Italy’s Post Card Cute Towns On Lake Garda

 

How to get from Verona to Lake Garda by Train

 

There are plenty of scenic routes between Verona and Lake Garda. A train traveling in Italy is an immensely efficient, favorable and one of the most popular way to set an informal meetup between the cities all around.

Trains itself offers a rich in class traveling experience with maximum comfortability than any other traveling way. The simplest route is from Verona to Desenzano del Garda.

 

From Desenzano,  you can effortlessly access the lake and the reverse towns surrounding it. There are total two major rail companies which are operating a direct route from Verona to Lake Garda; Italo and Trenitalia. Both of these train companies offer up to 44 trains from Verona to Lake Garda a day.

They even have trains running on Sunday. The average journey time from Verona to Desenzano del Garda and Sirmione is approximately 24 to 30 minutes while the fastest direct route offers journey times of around 19 minutes.

 

 

Verona (Porta Nuova) Railway Station to Lake Garda Train Times

 

To get from to Lake Garda from Verona, the nearest rail station is at Verona Porta Nuova. This is the main station to many cities surrounding Verona. We also used this to get to Venice. I will be sharing more details shortly. The first train departs Verona Porta Nuova at the 05:45am on the station with the last train departing at the 10:02pm. There is roughly a train every 30 minutes.

 

Overall both rail companies offer similar timing and destinations, but the prices are different on each. The train ticket prices range starts from 4€ and up to €60 – the average cost is 8€ economy class.

We found that some trains offer seat allocation so make sure you are firstly in the right courage and the right seat to avoid being charged when the ticket inspector comes through.

 

 

How To Get To Lake Garda From Verona By Bus

 

The best way to get from Veron to Lake Garda is by train. It’s not as expensive as you can also opt to buy the cheaper ticket. If you are looking to save some money you can also opt to travel by.

The bus is one of the cheapest way to explore the real beauty of the Italy pathways. While the train passes through countryside scenery, taking the bus means that you can also pass through some of the towns. Another bonus I guess.

 

There are three local bus companies that provide buses from Verona to the Lake Garda. These are Linee bus, Lago Di Garda, and Opera bus services.

 

Bus Times From Verona To Lake Garda

 

To get to  Lake Garda from Verona by bus, the easiest and shortest route is from Verona Stazione FS bus station, or you can head to the nearest train station (Verona Porta Nuova)  as the bus stops here too.  Travel time by bus from Verona to Lake Garda is about an hour and 10 minutes. You can check the bus timetable for buses to Lake Garda and many other parts of Italy here.

 

The buses run every hour, with the first bus leaving at 6.37am and arrive in Desenzano at 7.44 and makes 13 stops. A couple of these stop are Lake Garda towns; Peschiera del Garda, Colombare, Sirmione, Rivoltella and the arriving in Desenzano.

 

 

Taxis and Transfers From Verona To Lake Garda

 

You can also opt to take a taxi from Verona to Lake Garda but this is a little more expensive than the above two methods.  The Verona to Lake Garda taxi costs around £60-70. The journey time is around 30 minutes. This is a much simpler option if you have lots of suitcases or can split the fare between friends.

Verona airport to lake garda taxis costs roughly the same. You might want to ask the taxi driver first before getting into the car. Also, note that if arriving in the evening you may be likely to pay a premium for the journey. You can also book a private transfer from Verona airport to Lake Garda. The price ranges from £75 to about £80. You can details transfers from Verona to Lake Garda here.

 

Travelling For Verona To Lake Garda By Car

 

As with a taxi journey, travel by car takes roughly about 30 minutes or slightly longer if you are just getting your bearings. Verona airport has rental companies which allow you to book in advance. You can find rental companies like Europcar at Verona airport and in the city too if you choose to explore the city before heading to Lake Garda.

You can also book via Easycar which offers a wide range from Herts, Dollar, Europcar, Avis, Budget, Alamo, Thrifty and Enterprise so you can compare prices on one page.

 

 

How To Get From Verona Airport To Lake Garda

 

To Travel from Verona Airport to Lake Garda: 

Bus from Verona to Lake Garda: You need to take a shuttle Verona Porta Nuova station and the from here take the buses as detailed above.

Train from Verona Airport to Lake Garda:  You need to take a shuttle from the airport heading into town to Verona Porta Nuova station and then take a train as detailed above.

Taxi from Verona airport to Lake Garda are available outside the airport. Just make sure to ask the driver first as some may not want to do the distance especially in the evening as you may also be paying more late in the evening for the journey.

 

 

Traveling From Verona To Some of the Towns

 

From Verona To Sirmione

 

Getting from Verona to Sirmione by train means using the train to first travel to Desenzano and then a bus from Desenzano to Sirmione. There business from Verona to Sirmione. In fact this might be a better way to get from Verona to Sirmione as you wont have to change modes of transport. Especially if you have suitcases.

 

From Verona To Malcesine

 

The best way to get from from Verona to Malcesine is either bus or car rental Both are also likely cheaper less time too. There are direct buses from Verona to Malcesine and cost less than £10. You can also rent a car for a couple of days at a fraction of what the taxi from Verona to Malcesine will cost you.

Taxi costs from Verona to Malcesine are between £80 and £100. For that price you can have a car rental for a couple of days and explore Lake Garda towns at leisure.

 

From Milan To Lake Garda

 

If you want to do Verona and Lake Garda day trip from Milan, you might need to travel early in the morning. The first train from Milan leaves at 6.15am and takes 51 minutes. This is the Trenitalia Frecce service. You also have Italo Treno which has 51 minute trains but that service doesn’t start until 8.30am.

There is also a slower service by Trenord which takes 1 hour and 20 minutes.  This one also starts earlier at 6.45am. The prices all vary. The trains by Italo start from £14 to £25, the Trenitalia start from £13-20 and the Trenord train ticket prices start from £6 to £25.

 

For the day trip to both Verona to Desenzano Del Garda. First spend the first part of the day in Lake Garda’s Desenzano and then take the 20 minute train to Verona. Explore until  8pm. Bear in mind that the last trains back to Milan from Verona leave at 9.02pm, 9.12pm and 9.45 for each of the train companies. All take around 1 hour 15 minutes with the Trenord taking longer at 1 hour and 50 minutes.

 

 

From Verona Airport to Limone Lake Garda

 

Limone is right at the top of Lake Garda, in my previous on the towns to visit in Lake Garda I mentioned that as the lake is vast its best to base your self in the North or the South and explore the towns near by before moving on to another part to base yourself. We started by basing ourselves in the South; Desensano del Garda.

 

If you want to start from the North of Lake Garda. Travel from Verona airport to Limone Lake Garda takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes. As I mentioned above the taxi cost would likely cost you in excess of £100 so you are better off renting your own car or taking a private or shared transfer as well as the options for bus or train.

 

Train from Verona to Limone – You have to take the train from Verona and get off Avio. From here you need to take a bus or a taxi likely cost of taxis from here is about £50 as its still another 20 miles to get to Limone from this station.

 

Driving from Verona to Limone – Rental Cars from Verona cost around £17 per day which works out a better option. Driving from Verona to Limone is about 1h20min

 

Longer more scenic option from Verona to Limone sul Garda – We had the pleasure of exploring Lake Garda by ferry, which you can also do from the get go of your holidays to Lake Garda. You can check out the scenery in some in my post on Desenzano postcards here. This option will take you at least 4 hours as it combines bus and ferry.

 

You need to take the bus from Verona Porta Nuova to Cisano, buses leave every hour and journey time is 57 minutes. From Cisano you then have to take the Ferry to Limone Centro(city centre). The ferry journey time is 2 hours and 30mins. Its a longer journey but you get used to using the ferries too, the main transportation for town hopping across the lake.

 

 

 

 

Additional Italian transport sites to check out

• Ferry timetables for towns on Lake Garda, Lake Como, and Lake Maggiore check here.
• For bus timetables from Verona and other cites click here for Arriva buses.
• For train timetables check out Omio which allows you too book many of the main train routes; Trenitalia(make sure you book tickets on the fast routes in advance as tickets sell out), Trenord and Italo Treno and Rome2Rio is also handy as it will have all the information for all train and bus companies on one. You can also book some tickets directly on their site.

 

There you have it! Tips on how to get from Verona to Lake Garda. Have you been to any of the lake towns before?

 

More on Italy

• The Best Towns To Visit On Lake Como
• A Weekend In Pisa
• Best Areas To Stay In Venice
• How To See Rome In 4 Days

 

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