LA DOLCE VITA

A guided tour of Lake Garda, Verona and Venice is the ultimate uplifting trip, says Jane Druker

- Jane Druker

Everyone knows that Italy is a vibrant and diverse explosion of all that is great in life – fabulous food, fun, sun, sea, torrid history and intense conversation. Just the ticket after a year spent largely sofa-side.

I had been slightly wary of taking a coach tour of this incredible part of the country, but I can report that it’s a really protected way of learning a lot of inside info from a tour guide who knows their stuff, and all from the security of a soft seat, while seeing sites aplenty in the process. Masks are obligatory here on the coach, on the ferry and pretty much everywhere outside unless you’re sat at a restaurant.

Lake Garda

The first day began with a magical sunrise swim at the comfortable Hotel Kristal Palace in Riva del Garda. The rooms here are bijou but the jewel in the crown is the rooftop pool sat snuggly in the Dolomite mountains, firmly in the freshest of air and with the most spectacular of majestic views.

Onward then to the first coach tour of the three-day trip – circling the magnificent villages of Garda itself.

As you turn the bend to see a vista of Garda – the largest lake in Italy at 51.9km long – you catch your breath. Spectacular is too small a word to do justice to the vast expanse of glittering water, which, at 9am, is sparkling silver and littered with water sports enthusiasts.