The northern part of Lake Garda is surrounded by hills. On the western side, the mountains rise up straight from the edge of the lake. On the eastern side, they rise up gentler. Although a gentler rise, it is still a steep walk. At Malcesine, there is a cable car that runs up Monte Baldo. Getting up the hill can take little effort.
The views at the top of Monte Baldo are spectacular. It provides a good place to look further eastwards over more mountains.
Turning to the west, there are great views of the lake and the mountains beyond it.
There are fun things to see at the top too. People have built cairns and Llamas and cows graze in the sunshine.
It is also a favourite spot for paragliders to launch from. We saw some tandem pairs, with an experienced pilot taking an inexperienced passenger. Their flights were quite gentle and will have provided great views. We also saw some solo pilots taking slightly more of a risk and playing with the thermal winds along the side of the mountain.
We chose to walk down Monte Baldo. A ramble of around 2.5 hours just to the mid-station of the cable car. Definitely easier than having walked up, but it’s still quite a hike. The views along the way were amazing and well worthwhile. At the same time, I was glad we got to S Michele in time to catch the last cable car down to the Malcesine!
travel tales 